Chapter 2

2.

The doctors in the room exchanged uneasy glances.

They had seen how fiercely Mom cared for Chelsea and had assumed she was a devoted mother, but they never expected her favoritism to be this cruel.

The doctor who answered the call stuttered nervously, "Director, Rainey really passed away. It was respiratory failure from tuberculosis."

"Did Rainey put you up to this? She always uses that damned illness as an excuse!"

"How dare you conspire with her to deceive me? Do you want to lose your job at my hospital?!"

Looking at Mom's furious, twisted face, every last illusion I had about maternal love shattered completely. I finally saw my true place in her heart.

Being kidnapped and trafficked had been my darkest childhood nightmare, yet Mom brought it up casually in front of strangers without a shred of empathy.

When I was four years old, my parents took me to a famous mountain retreat in the next state.

Mom was six months pregnant back then, and they went there hoping for a blessing to have a son.

All I remembered from that evening was Mom whispering frantically with Dad on our way down the trail.

Along the path, Mom had apologized to me over and over again.

Clueless, I turned around for a second, and my parents were gone.

A trafficker dragged me into a remote rural village, and it took until I was twelve for the police to rescue me and bring me back home.

On the day I was reunited with Mom, her eyes held nothing but raw terror.

There were no tears of joy or warm embraces. Instead, she rushed me to the hospital for an expedited DNA test.

That was the first and only time Mom ever used her authority as hospital director for my sake.

Only after confirming I was indeed her biological daughter did she bring me home.

Perhaps out of lingering guilt, my parents treated me decently for the first two months.

But my return made Chelsea deeply insecure, and she did everything she could to make our parents despise me.

I never knew if Mom and Dad genuinely believed her lies or if they simply couldn't accept my existence to begin with.

Before long, I was kicked out of my bedroom and forced to move into the tiny utility closet.

The housekeeper was fired, and all the household chores were dumped onto my shoulders.

Before I could dwell on the past any longer, Dad's voice shattered my memories.

He walked through the front door, carrying several luxury shopping bags.

"Oh, my poor Chelsea. You must be suffering so much with this sickness."

"Look at all the presents Daddy bought for you!"

Chelsea's eyes lit up instantly, showing none of the weakness of a critically ill patient.

She propped herself up in bed, barely able to hide her triumphant grin as she looked at the designer logos.

Seeing Chelsea so thrilled brought a smile to Mom's face as well.

Mom escorted the doctors out of the house and stepped onto the porch to tell Dad about my phone call.

Watching Dad's face darken with rage, I knew nothing good would come out of his mouth.

"She has no discipline at all! Now she dares to conspire with your staff to play tricks on you?"

"Cut off her allowance for next month!"

Floating nearby, I couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.

Ever since I started high school, I had paid for all my own expenses by working part-time jobs.

Any allowance they ever gave me had always been snatched away by Chelsea anyway.