Chapter 2Shattered Fairytales: The Heiress Who Gave Up

I thought I knew my family well. No, wait—Chloe's family.

But facts proved me wrong.

My mom—or rather, my adoptive mom—actually came.

She sat next to me. I couldn't see her, but I could hear her voice. "Doctor, haven't we paid enough for her treatments? Why is she still deteriorating?"

The doctor paused, explaining by the book: "Currently, the patient herself has lost the will to live. Some things cannot be solved by medicine. With many illnesses, once the patient gives up hope, their body quickly collapses. This psychological issue requires the cooperation of her family."

My mom sounded annoyed. I could hear it in her tone. "I know her better than anyone. She loves luxury, she loves going out and having fun. She is not the type to just give up on life."

The doctor was stunned again.

After a moment, he asked hesitantly, "Do you still wish to continue her treatments? If not, you actually have the option to pull the plug..."

My mom flared up. "Who said we don't want to?! She is my daugh—"

She stopped herself mid-sentence. After a long pause, she muttered, "She called me Mom for twenty years, at least."

The doctor then suggested, "In that case, try thinking about the books she used to like, the shows she watched, the celebrities she followed. Read to her, talk to her. Maybe it will strengthen her will to live."

My mom thought about it and called my brother.

I heard my brother's cheerful voice echo through the receiver. "Mom, I'm helping Liam plan his proposal right now. What's up?"

A proposal.

If I could control my eyelids, I would have shed a tear. Holding it in was agonizing.

Liam was going to propose to Chloe.

My mom also froze for a second, then simply said, "Mm. Come home and bring the books Harper used to love to the hospital. I want to read to her."

My brother sounded deeply impatient. "That's what doctors and nurses are for. Why are you stressing over this? As long as we pay the hospital bills, who cares?"

My mom paused. She didn't say anything else; she just told him to hurry up and bring the books before hanging up.

I completely understood their behavior.

In their eyes, I had stolen the true heiress's life and ruined Chloe. I had ruined the Kensington family.

In her second month back home, my mom discovered Chloe had depression.

Chloe said she kept thinking about those years of grinding poverty. In those years, she was forced to do hard labor until her hands were covered in cracked, bleeding chilblains. Because of their poverty, the Millers grew increasingly violent, and she was relentlessly mocked at school.

My mom broke down. Looking at Chloe's scarred hands, she wept uncontrollably.

I stood to the side, completely at a loss.

I didn't know what to say. I just felt a primal fear. Just the day before, I was the beloved princess of the Kensington family. How did I suddenly become a sinful imposter?

Seeing me zone out, my mom looked at me with eyes colder than ice for the first time. "Shouldn't you say something?"

I stood there, frozen.

I had always been the little girl who rolled around in my mother's embrace. My mom used to say that even when I grew up, I would still be her baby. I even jokingly called myself a mama's girl.

But now, she was looking at me with absolute freezing hatred.

She hadn't even looked that cold when our maid was caught stealing.

My face instantly flushed red. A lifetime of being pampered had blinded me to the impending crisis. I even stomped my foot and whined, "Mom, don't look at me like that!"

My mom gripped Chloe's hand, gritting her teeth. "Then how should I look at you? Should I throw a parade to thank your biological parents?!"

Your parents...

I instantly fell silent.

A profound, suffocating terror bloomed in my chest.

The mother who had given me all her love, the person I was closest to in the world—she was gone.

Even though, on the day they found Chloe, my mom had told me I was still her child and I just had a new sister... instinct told me things would not end up that way.

Something absolutely terrifying was about to happen.