Chapter 1 Back to Where It All Began

"Anya, from now on, this is your home. And this is your sister, Wendy."

When I opened my eyes again, I was fourteen years old. It was the year the Sutton family found me and brought me home.

The memories of my previous life, the humiliation and torment I had endured, were still painfully vivid. Instinctively, I reached up and touched my neck. Instead of the scars I remembered, my fingers met the smooth, delicate skin of a teenage girl.

I looked around.

Wendy Sutton stood behind Penelope Somers, my biological mother, tears glistening in her eyes as she spoke timidly. "I'm sorry, Mom. Now that Anya is back, should I leave? I've been your daughter for all these years, and your real daughter has finally come home. I can't keep taking her place. But Mom… I'm really sad."

Penelope immediately pulled the tearful Wendy into her arms. "Wendy, don't say such foolish things. I'm not sending you away. You'll always be my daughter and a member of this family."

I watched their embrace coldly, hatred surging beneath the surface.

It had been exactly the same in my previous life.

On the day I returned home, Wendy had deliberately shown off how much Penelope adored her. I had been left standing awkwardly to the side, heartbroken and embarrassed, like an outsider who had barged into a place where I did not belong.

Back then, I had desperately longed for Penelope's love.

But thanks to Wendy's constant schemes, Penelope gradually grew to dislike me. Meanwhile, Wendy, the daughter of the woman responsible for everything, stole everything that should have been mine.

After endless disappointment and heartbreak, seeing this scene again no longer stirred any emotion in me.

And now that I had been given a second chance, knowing the two-faced person Wendy truly was, there was no way I would let her have everything her way.

"Mom…" My voice interrupted their embrace. "Are you really my mother?"

My frail body trembled as I pulled back my sleeves, revealing bruises and scars in shades of purple and blue.

"Maybe I shouldn't be here, but I've always wanted a mother of my own. It hurts so much, Mom."

At the beginning, Penelope had cared about me. She had felt sympathy for me. The problem was that quiet children never got the candy.

In my previous life, I had been obedient and cautious, trying my best to fit into this family. Years of suffering during my childhood had taught me to swallow every grievance in silence.

My tolerance only made Wendy more ruthless. All it took was a single tear from her, and every problem became my fault. I suffered in silence with no way to defend myself.

But this time was different.

I was going to use the small amount of pity and affection Penelope still had for me and reclaim everything that belonged to me, one step at a time.

Only then did Penelope truly notice the injuries hidden beneath my long sleeves. Her face filled with anguish. She barely spared Wendy another glance.

"I'm sorry, Anya. This is my fault. You've suffered so much all these years."

She wrapped me in a tight embrace.

The warmth I had never received in my previous life turned out to be so easy to obtain with just a few words.

Wendy froze. She even forgot to keep crying.

Her eyes locked onto me with naked resentment, as if they were screaming, 'So what if you're the biological daughter? Mom loves me most.'

Leaning against Penelope's shoulder, I looked at Wendy and her pathetic performance.

Thinking back, I could only laugh at how foolish I had been in my previous life to fall for such an obvious act.

I deliberately curled my lips into a mocking smile.

The moment Wendy saw it, she lost control. "Mom!"

Her shout was so sharp her voice cracked. "She's pretending. She's lying to you. She was making fun of me!"