Chapter 1

On the first day of college, my roommate told me she loved older men. She said mature guys had undeniable charm. I just smiled and nodded, paying little mind to it.

It wasn't until I saw her official launch on Instagram that I froze. The older daddy she was raving about was my biological father.

She claimed she loved how sweet, handsome, and wealthy he was. In her eyes, true love had nothing to do with age or marital status, and as his daughter, I was supposed to bless their romance.

Was that really the father I grew up with?

She tried to force me to call her my stepmother. When I tried to warn her out of basic human decency, she accused me of being jealous because he loved her more. She even spread filthy rumors about me, turning the whole campus against me.

When she showed up with a growing baby bump, gave my mom a heart attack that sent her to the emergency room, and dropped out of school to marry my dad, I simply laughed.

“Then I wish you two a long and miserable life together.”

1

My roommate Nadine skipped classes all day and strutted back to the dorm the next morning, decked out in designer gear. It was obvious she had spent the entire night fooling around with her man. The only sick twist was that this man was my own father.

“Look, my baby bought this for me. Pretty, right, Tessa? Do you even recognize this brand?”

She flaunted her gold necklace, jewelry, designer jacket, and mini skirt in my face with a smug grin. Even though I barely reacted, she had no intention of stopping.

“Oh, you probably don't even know it. Let me enlighten you. The cheapest necklace from this line costs at least a grand, and this jacket is practically impossible to find in stores.”

I had nothing to say. Not because she was wrong, but because those luxury brands were things I had never even heard of, let alone owned.

I couldn't fathom how my mother was breaking her back doing grueling shifts to pinch pennies, while my father was squandering cash from god-knows-where to fool around with a college girl.

No wonder he had suddenly offered to drop me off at my dorm on move-in day after ignoring my existence for years. He had an agenda all along.

A bitter scoff caught in my throat. My grim expression only fueled Nadine’s arrogance.

“I know we're classmates, but technically, I’m about to become your stepmom. If you call me mom right now, maybe I’ll share some of these goodies with you.”

Nadine held her head high, sneering as she demanded I call her mom.

Seeing how deeply brainwashed she was by the fairy tale my father spun for her, a shred of pity surfaced inside me.

She was just a naive college freshman who barely stepped into adulthood. Throwing her life away into my father's trap was truly pathetic. After hesitating for a moment, I spoke up.

“You’d better watch your back. Ask yourself what kind of grown man goes after a girl twenty years younger than him.”

Of course, a girl intoxicated by delusions wasn't going to listen.

“Just because he loves me more than his own useless daughter, you dare slander him? You ungrateful brat!”

She lashed out defensively, already acting like a devoted wife protecting her beloved husband.

I let out a tired sigh. My shift was about to start, and I had no time to waste on her bullshit.

When I got back home, my exhausted mother had already fallen asleep. But right beside her bed stood an uninvited guest.

My father was tiptoeing around the bedroom, rifling through mom’s purse and stuffing every single hundred-dollar bill he could find into his pockets. Just as he turned to leave, his eyes locked with mine at the doorway.

This wasn't the first time. The deadbeat rarely came home, and whenever he did, it was strictly to rob us blind.

The sickening stench of cheap booze mixed with tacky women's perfume on him made me want to throw up.

Not wanting to wake my sleeping mother, I glared at him and motioned for him to step into the living room.

“You have the guts to fool around with college girls, but no balls to earn your own cash?”

I confronted him head-on, not just for myself, but for my mother who had quietly suffered to keep a roof over our heads.