Chapter 4Switched at Birth: I Was Replaced, But I Refuse to Play the Victim

"Because her mother—Brenda Miller—shredded all my clothes so I couldn't go to school. And that wasn't all. When the neighbors couldn't stand watching me freeze and gave me their old hand-me-downs, she burned and cut those up, too."

"Later, those aunties you look down on came up with a plan. They recruited me into their dance crew as a helper. They told Brenda these tracksuits were the team's official property. If she destroyed them, she'd have to pay the crew back in cash. Only then was I able to wear these tracksuits and leave the house like a normal person."

"Oh, right. Do you know why your mother tried to stop me from going to school?"

I stared dead into Serena's eyes.

"It's because during the middle school math decathlon, she realized you and I were testing at the same regional center. She suddenly realized that if I kept succeeding in school, the truth might be exposed."

"And speaking of... Auntie Martha and the others were too polite to say it earlier. Do you know what Brenda Miller did on the day of my final high school scholarship exams?"

"She locked me in a room and let a creepy old drifter inside. She said she sold me to him for three hundred bucks, telling him he could take my virginity..."

"Stop it!" Catherine's face went deathly pale. She clutched her chest, looking as if she couldn't bear to hear another word.

The rest of the Sterlings looked sick to their stomachs, completely at a loss for words.

"Heh." I chuckled softly, as if oblivious to their expressions. "So you see, you really should be thanking my aunties. If they hadn't smashed the door down, dragged me out of there, and personally driven me to the testing center, I would either be dead right now, or chained in a drifter's basement, probably already a mother of three."

The entire car went dead silent.

I curled my lips into a smile, leaned back against the leather seat, and closed my eyes to rest.

Perhaps my words were a little too hardcore. As soon as we arrived at the Sterling estate, my biological parents used "urgent work" as an excuse and fled the scene.

Unable to withstand my gaze, Serena and Mason quickly scurried away, too.

Leaving only my eldest brother, Grayson, to take me to my prepared room—a converted guest bedroom on the first floor.

I glanced up the stairs where Serena and Mason had vanished, and simply smiled at Grayson.

Grayson instantly looked embarrassed. He quickly explained, "This is just temporary. I'll have the empty suite on the second floor renovated for you, and then you can move upstairs."

Seeing that I just kept smiling without a word, his expression darkened.

"Chloe, we know you suffered a lot, but all of that is in the past. Mom, Dad, and I will make it up to you. Why must you aggressively cling to the past and embarrass everyone like this?"

"Embarrass?"

I asked as I slowly paced around the room.

"Did you not see Mom and Dad's faces just now?" he said, his tone full of reprimand. "And not just them, but Serena. How do you expect her to live in this house after hearing the horrifying things you said?"

I spotted a heavy, cylindrical wooden sculpture on the desk. My eyes lit up. I grabbed it and swung it hard right into Grayson's back.

Hit out of nowhere, Grayson stumbled forward, clutching his back and glaring at me in fury. "Are you insane?!"

I weighed the wooden baton in my hand and smiled. "Does it hurt?"

"What do you think?!" Grayson looked at me like I was a psychopath. "Chloe Miller, apologize right now!"

"But I hit you seconds ago, so it's already in the past. Besides, this strike is barely a tickle compared to what I've endured. Why must you aggressively cling to the past and embarrass me, brother?"

I repeated his exact tone and words back to him.

Grayson choked on his rage.

I just waved my hand at him and shut the door in his face. "Bye, brother."