Chapter 4The Heiress Who Walked Away

The word "Mom" was alien to me.

In my past life, I only learned the truth on my eighteenth birthday.

Officially, my mother was Vanessa's older sister.

They fought constantly growing up. Vanessa insisted on marrying into a wealthy family despite her family's objections.

Once she married into the Sterlings, she cut ties with her maiden family.

When Ethan was born, Vanessa was busy.

The nanny, grieving her own grandson, resented Ethan.

Abusing a baby is easy. The Sterlings trusted the nanny who had served them for twenty years.

By the time Vanessa found out, Ethan was one.

Due to abuse, he couldn't walk or talk.

The Sterlings, initially overjoyed by the first grandson, didn't give up on him at first.

But as rumors of his autism spread, the mockery grew.

Vanessa's position in the Sterling family became precarious.

Then she got pregnant again.

She prayed for a healthy boy.

Instead, I was born. A girl born into disappointment.

Terrified and depressed, Vanessa paid the nanny to send me to an orphanage, claiming I was stolen.

The nanny, guilty, dumped me in a remote place instead of the designated orphanage.

She took the money and ran.

The Sterlings lost a child, but no one looked for her. They urged Vanessa to have another boy.

That same year, Ethan started to recover.

When he stumbled through his first "Mama," Vanessa remembered me.

When he said "Dada," the family rejoiced, and she forgot me forever.

Vanessa's sister—my biological aunt—found me by accident in an orphanage.

She brought me to Vanessa's door, demanding answers.

When the door opened, Vanessa was holding Ethan's hand.

I was four. I vaguely remember the beautiful woman looking down at me.

She sneered at her sister. "This is your child? Look at her. Thin as a monkey. No fortune in her face."

My aunt was furious.

They fought. When my aunt mentioned the "stolen" girl, Vanessa snapped.

The unspoken truth was buried under Vanessa's cruel words.

She stared into my eyes and said, word by word:

"You are a short-lived ghost. A curse."

I shivered. Even in the orphanage, cold and hungry, I never felt this cold.

My aunt slapped her and took me away.

She told everyone I was her daughter. She adopted me.

That year, Vanessa finally thought of her lost daughter.

She checked the orphanage records.

Coincidentally, another girl the same age arrived the day I was abandoned.

Vanessa thought it was me.

She adopted her. She announced she found her biological daughter.

That child became Chloe.

With a son and a daughter, both healthy, Vanessa secured her place in the Sterling family.

She lived a perfect life.

I became my aunt's daughter.

Until my aunt and her husband died in an accident, leaving me a massive inheritance and entrusting me to Grandma.

Grandma died soon after.

My guardianship fell to my only living relative. Vanessa.

I circled back to her.

But this time, I had to call her Aunt.

And Vanessa's curse came true.

I died young.

A short-lived ghost.