The Billionaire's Forgotten Son,I Vanished and They Lost Everything

For as long as I could remember, my parents had drilled the same story into my head: money was hard to come by, the family was broke, and both of them worked two jobs a day just to keep us afloat. They told me to be sensible, to not ask for things. So I buried myself in my studies, determined to claw my way out of poverty on my own and give them an easy life in their old age.

It all fell apart on the holiday weekend. The night families were supposed to be together. The lie they had spent sixteen years carefully stitching together finally ripped at the seams.

A classmate had hooked me up with a temp gig as a server at a luxury six-star hotel.

That was where I saw them. My parents, walking into a VIP suite with my little sister between them.

The hotel manager trailed behind, bowing and scraping, practically tripping over himself to please them.

I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

The shift supervisor smacked me on the back of the head：“Hey, kid, what are you standing around for? If the big boss catches you all slacking off, I'm dead!”

“Who……who's the big boss?”

The words came out hollow.

“That couple the manager's escorting? That's the chairman and his wife from Starlight Group. And that little girl with them? That's the Henson heiress, born with a silver spoon in her mouth!”

My mind went blank.

Two jobs a day. Clothes patched and re-patched until the stitches showed.

The wealthiest people in Havenport?

——

I stood frozen, eyes wide, my whole body trembling before I even realized it.

They had been faking it. All of it.

Even the shift supervisor at this hotel knew my sister was the Henson heiress.

I was the only one kept in the dark.

“Space out again and you're gone!”

The supervisor moved on after the threat.

My classmate leaned over and whispered, asking what was wrong.

I shook my head and drew in a long breath：“Nothing.”

“We're heading into the suites to serve the dishes soon. Stay sharp. If we piss off anyone important, people like us are finished.”

“Got it.”

It wasn't long before we were assigned to deliver food.

I carried a platter of seafood worth thousands of dollars into the suite, keeping my head down the entire time so they wouldn't recognize me.

I had barely set the dish down.

My sister spoke up：“Mom, Dad, it's the holiday weekend! We're all out here together, but we just left my brother home alone. Isn't that kind of wrong?”

Her words sent a faint thread of warmth through a heart that had already gone cold.

At least someone in this family still thought about me.

But then my parents answered.

And whatever warmth I'd felt sank straight to the bottom.

My mother laughed：“Sweetie, don't worry about your brother. He's used to spending holidays alone. Hasn't it always been that way?”

My father didn't even bother looking up.

His eyes stayed fixed on his phone.

His voice was flat, unbothered：“Your brother can't be compared to you. As long as he doesn't starve, he's fine. You're different.”

He paused.

His gaze finally lifted from the screen, drifting over to his daughter.

The look in his eyes softened into something raw and unguarded, pure adoration, as he smiled：“You're our precious girl. The things your brother goes through? We'd never let you suffer like that.”

Nobody in that room noticed me shaking.

The color had drained from my face completely.

So that was it……

In their eyes, my life was worth less than dirt.

Every hardship, every empty stomach, every threadbare shirt was just what I deserved.

But not my sister.

She was their precious girl.

She could never be made to suffer. Not even a little.

We were born to the same parents.

So why was the difference this vast?

Then, quickly.

A darker thought surfaced.

What if……

What if I wasn't theirs at all?

“Hee hee!”

“Mommy and Daddy love me the most!”

“I love you guys!”

Letitia Henson bounced in her seat, giddy and beaming.

The hotel manager hovered beside them, laying the flattery on thick.