Three years after being brought back into the family, my fake heiress sister took my hand warmly and offered her congratulations.

"Abby, I'm so happy for you!" she said. "Mom and Dad are going to announce tonight that they're transferring all their company shares to you—as compensation for missing out on your upbringing all these years."

I pretended to be deeply moved, hugging her tearfully like I was overwhelmed with emotion.

Then came the highlight of the banquet. My parents took the fake heiress by the hand and announced that they were transferring every single share to her. They even publicly declared that they were cutting ties with me.

The fake sister wiped away her crocodile tears and said, "Abby, I know we were switched at birth, but you just can't force Mom and Dad to love you. Please don't blame them…"

My biological mother even jabbed a finger at my nose and snarled, "You ungrateful little brat. Let's make this perfectly clear starting today: stay away from our family!"

The onlookers gave me sympathetic looks, but I nearly burst out laughing.

I couldn't have cared less. After all, I wasn't the original girl who'd spent years craving family affection. I was a gold-tier task agent from the Quick Transmigration Bureau. And my mission? To bring this company down.

Now that they'd concentrated all the shares in the hands of an idiot, driving it into the ground would be easier than ever.

In that moment, the surrounding guests lowered their voices to whisper among themselves.

"How tragic. Their own flesh and blood, publicly cast out."

"She just wasn't born to wealth, I suppose. Three years back in the family, and she still reeks of small-town manners."

"Now look at Cathleen. She's someone with class. Exactly what you'd expect from the Newark family's careful upbringing."

I kept my head down, my shoulders trembling slightly.

Cathleen Newark thought I was crying. She gathered the hem of her six-figure haute couture dress and strode smugly over to me, her voice dripping with false gentleness.

"Abby, don't be sad. Even though Mom and Dad gave me the shares, we'll always be family. As long as you're willing, there will always be a place for you at the Newark family table."

My biological mother, Rita Rowan, stood nearby, her face twisted with disgust as she shielded Cathleen as though I carried some contagious disease.

"Cathleen, you're too kind! Why waste words on an ungrateful wretch like her?"

"Abby, let me make this clear: sign this family severance agreement, and from now on, if you cause trouble out there, don't even think of dragging the Newark family into it. Our family has only one heiress—Cathleen."

My biological father, Gary Newark, wore an expression of stern authority. He held a document he'd prepared ahead of time and looked at me coldly.

"Abby, this decision is for the good of the company. You lack ability, and you're narrow-minded. Handing the shares to you would only harm the company. Sign the papers. Let's at least leave each other some dignity."

Dignity? This family had the nerve to talk to me about dignity?

The original owner of this body had wanted that so-called dignity too badly. She had craved even a crumb of recognition from these parents. That was why she stayed up late fixing Cathleen's sloppy, error-ridden code.

That was why she ruined her eyes optimizing the company's systems. An IQ of 180, and she still ended up depressed and dead.

How could she ever have competed with Cathleen, blessed as she was by fortune itself?

Cathleen had a built-in charisma halo. All she had to do was get teary-eyed and shed a couple of crocodile tears, and no matter how outrageous her actions, everyone around would fall under her spell and defend her blindly.

No wonder the original owner of this body had wished away her family ties in exchange for… something else.

I took a deep breath. When I lifted my head again, my eyes were bloodshot, tears trembling on the verge of falling.

"Dad, Mom… are you really set on being this heartless?"

My voice cracked with misery, looking utterly pitiful.

A flash of smug triumph lit up Cathleen's eyes. She sighed. "Abby, don't make things harder for Mom and Dad."

With trembling hands, I took the document.

Originally, I'd been plotting how to bring the company down from within. But this? This was even better. They were handing me the ammunition themselves—and kicking out the only core technical expert they had.

Fine. If they wanted to stake everything on a talentless thief who could only plagiarize, I'd give them exactly what they asked for.

I picked up the pen. In front of the crowd, I signed my name on the severance agreement.

"Fine." My voice broke with fake sobs, but every word came out clear. "Since you don't want me, I'll leave."

Rita exhaled in relief, as if she'd finally scraped off a piece of chewing gum stuck to her shoe. "At least you have some sense left!"

After the banquet, the happy family of three waited for me in the back lounge.

The moment the door closed, Rita's elegant mask crumbled into pure contempt.

"Who are you making that sour face for? You've signed the papers. Move out of the villa tomorrow. Stop getting in Cathleen's way."

Cathleen lounged on the sofa, admiring her freshly done nails, and said with indifference, "Abby, don't take Mom's bluntness personally. I've already had your things packed. They're right by the back door, next to the trash bins."

I pulled out a chair, sat down like I owned the place, and dropped every trace of tears and weakness.

I crossed one leg over the other, pulled a mint from my bag, and popped it into my mouth. "Moving out is fine."

I raised my eyes and swept a cold gaze across the three of them. "Pay up."

The air froze for three seconds.

Gary slammed the table and shot to his feet. "What did you say? You have the nerve to ask for money? Three years we fed you, housed you, and now you dare demand payment from me?"

"Abby, have you lost your mind?" Rita shrieked. "Who do you think you are?"

"Calm down." I pulled out my phone and opened a memo. "First: in the three years I lived with you, I ate leftovers and slept in a storage closet. The so-called true heiress lived worse than a maid.

"Second, and more importantly—"

I turned my gaze to Cathleen, whose expression had already started to flicker.

"The Newark Group's core security system, plus the smart algorithm that launched last month—both have Cathleen's name on them. But everyone in this room knows who actually wrote that code."

Cathleen's face went pale. She whipped around to face her father. "Dad, she's lying! That work is mine!"

I let out a cold laugh. "Oh really? Then tell me, Cathleen, what algorithm does the system's third-layer encryption use?"

Cathleen opened her mouth. Stuttered. Not a single word came out.

Gary wasn't stupid. Seeing his daughter's guilty panic, his heart sank.

But he was in too deep. The shares had been transferred. The public announcement had been made. Admitting now that Cathleen was a fraud would be akin to slapping his own face.

"What do you want?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"That system is worth at least 100 million, at market value."

I held up one finger. "Consider this a discount for giving birth to this body. Ninety percent off.

"Ten million. That covers my technology buyout fee and three years of back child support. Pay it, and I vanish. I guarantee you'll never see my face again for the rest of your lives."

"In your dreams!" Rita shrieked. "Ten million? Why don't you just rob a bank?"

I stood up, smoothed my clothes, and turned toward the door.

"Don't pay, then. But the backdoor to that system is still in my hands. I'll give you twelve hours to think it over. Tomorrow at nine in the morning, if the money isn't in my account, I'll make the Newark Group's stock price fall even lower than your family's moral standards."

"Are you threatening me?" Gary shook with rage.

I looked back over my shoulder and gave him a brilliant smile.

"I've got nothing to lose. You've got everything to lose. Go ahead. Test me."

Then I walked out and slammed the door behind me.

I knew they'd pay.

For a money-grubber like Gary, ten million would sting. But compared to the company's survival and the family's reputation, he had no choice.

Sure enough, the next morning at 8:59, my phone buzzed.

[Your account ending in 6789 has received a deposit of 10,000,000.00 dollars.]

I stared at that long string of zeros and let out a low whistle.

"Thanks for the seed money."

The moment the money hit my account, I canceled my old phone number, changed my address, and hit the enter key.

That was the final failsafe the original owner of this body had left behind.

It was a time-delayed logic lock.

Once I, the admin account holder, processed my own resignation from the backend, the entire core system of the Newark Group would begin its countdown to self-destruction.

While I sat back in peace, counting my money, all hell broke loose inside the Newark Group tower.

"Mr. Newark! We have a major problem!"

The tech director stumbled into the chairman's office.

"Every encrypted file is locked! The client database is sealed off! There's nothing on the system screen but a red countdown clock. It says… it says we have twenty-four hours before all the data gets wiped!"

"What?!"

The coffee cup shattered in Gary's hand.

"Quick! Get Cathleen in here! She built this system. She'll know what to do."

Half an hour later, they rushed Cathleen from the beauty parlor straight to the company.

In the tech department, dozens of eyes locked onto her like she was their only savior.

"Cathleen, hurry—unlock this logic lock!" Gary's forehead dripped with sweat. "The board of directors is blowing up my phone!"

Cathleen sat down at the master control terminal. She stared at the screen—dense, alien lines of code that might as well have been written in another language. Cold sweat soaked through her back in an instant.

What did she know about code?

Whenever a problem came up before, she'd just whine and throw a tantrum at home until the original owner of this body pulled an all-nighter to fix it. Then she'd take the USB drive to the office the next day and claim the credit.

But now, the original owner was gone, along with 10 million dollars.

"I… I'll try…"

Cathleen's fingers trembled over the keyboard. She tapped a few keys. The screen flashed a giant red skull, followed by a piercing alarm.

[UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS. COUNTDOWN REDUCED TO 12 HOURS.]

"Cathleen! What did you just do?!" the tech director screamed.

Gary stared at his prized daughter in disbelief. "Cathleen… do you even know what you're doing?!"

Cathleen burst into tears. "Dad… I… I forgot the key. Abby must have changed the password…"

"You useless fool!" Gary slammed his palm on the desk. "Didn't you tell me you developed that system yourself?!"

The news couldn't be contained.

By that afternoon, word had already spread: the Newark Group's entire system was down, and their core data was on the brink of total loss.

The stock price crashed the moment trading opened. Billions in market value evaporated overnight.

The board of directors issued an ultimatum: if the system wasn't restored by tomorrow morning, Gary would resign in disgrace.

Back at the Newark family villa, Cathleen curled up in the corner of the sofa, listening to her father's roar echoing from the study.

She knew the truth. She was finished. If she couldn't fix this, she wouldn't just lose her inheritance—she'd become the laughingstock of the entire elite circle.

"This is all Abby's fault… that bitch did this to me…"

A flash of venom lit up Cathleen's eyes.

If the gentle approach wouldn't work, she'd play hardball. All she had to do was catch Abby, force her to hand over the password, and squeeze that ten million back out of her. Then, stage a little accident. Make the problem disappear for good.

Her hands shaking, she pulled up a number stored in her encrypted photo album and dialed.

"Hello? Justin? I need you to kidnap someone for me…"