Chapter 2

After I questioned her repeatedly, Gabrielle finally said softly, “I want some Lego, Mom. I’ve always wanted some, but they’re so expensive. In the past, you would always buy a set of everything for both me and Kristen. I didn’t dare to ask for Lego because I was worried that you wouldn’t have enough money and start spending less on yourself. It would hurt me to see that.”

My eyes started to sting with tears.

My daughter truly cared so much for me.

Kristen was the ungrateful child who had spent all my money and accused me of abusing her in her essay.

But that was not the immediate problem.

There were still ten more days before that essay would go viral online.

It was enough.

Ten days was enough time for me to make my preparations to teach that ungrateful niece of mine a lesson!

I really looked forward to that day.

…

I made a detour to stop at the mall and get the Lego for Gabrielle.

When we got home, my husband, Samuel Drake, was cooking in the kitchen. When he saw me come home with the Lego, he was stunned.

“Why did you suddenly get Lego? Those things aren’t cheap, and our budget this month…”

“I sent Kristen back home to the farm.”

Samuel’s hand stilled.

After a few seconds, he suddenly laughed and said, “That’s good. That’s really good. You’ve finally seen the light.”

I chuckled a little helplessly.

He had talked to me about it more than once, saying that we could not afford to raise two kids.

He said that Gabrielle was our actual daughter, and that we could not put all our effort on someone else’s child.

He said that it was alright to help Caleb and Harmony out with their expenses, but we should not be raising their daughter for them.

I had always taken his words seriously. However, whenever I wanted to call them to get them to bring their daughter home, I could not stand the way they talked about Kristen and her supposed lower worth than Kinsley. With the sad and pitiful way Kristen looked at me, I relented every time.

I could not bear to shove Kristen back into that kind of purgatory.

I was not going to be that soft-hearted again.

In this timeline, I would only care for my true family.

As for the essay that would cause the destruction and deaths of my family…

I pondered for a moment before taking out my phone.

I took a photo of Samuel cooking and then one of Gabrielle playing with her Lego. Her back was turned to me.

I posted them on TikTok with the caption: Making things up to my daughter after sending my niece home. I’ve been taking so much care of my niece for the past three years and only just realized how much I owe my daughter. Finally took the plunge and bought her the Lego she always wanted. I feel so happy yet guilty seeing her smile. I was a good aunt, but as a mom, I really owe my girl too much.

I posted it.

“Time for dinner.”

Samuel put the last dish on the table and called for me and Gabrielle to come eat.

I came back to myself and turned my phone off.

Gabrielle set her Lego aside and sat by my side.

Without Kristen, we had a quiet and happy meal.

That night, after washing up and getting into bed, I checked TikTok.

The post I had published had about half a dozen comments. Some asked for details, while others suggested ways I could make things up to Gabrielle.

I chose some to reply to.

[For the past three years, I gave my niece all the same things my daughter got. It could be a pen or notebook, but it also included their allowance and tutors. They both got exactly the same things from me.]

Then, I posted screenshots of the records of purchases I had made.

The dates, amounts, and items were all clearly stated.

I knew Kristen’s essay would go viral in ten days.

Enterprising netizens would quickly find all these details.

When the time came, these records would show the truth, and Kristen would get what was coming to her!

…

The next day, I took Gabrielle to a theme park, which she had always wanted to visit.

I took a picture of her in front of the castle and posted it on TikTok. It was captioned: Day two of making things up to my daughter after sending my niece home.

My first post must have garnered quite some attention, because this post quickly got dozens of comments.

The majority of them expressed positive sentiments toward me and Gabrielle.

However, one of them was hostile.

It was posted by a throwaway account named “Anonymous Samaritan” and was several paragraphs long.

[Apologies for shooting too straight, but there’s no way there’s such a good aunt as you in the world. I don’t believe you could give such perfectly equal treatment to your niece and your daughter.]

[Also, I saw your screenshots of purchases yesterday. Those are all some practical things. You’re obviously not rich. How is it that you can buy Lego and bring your daughter to a theme park the moment your niece left? Where did you get the money?]

[If I could make a bold guess, I would say that you stole your niece’s living expenses. You took her money to spend on your daughter, but you’re posting online to garner sympathy and pretend to be a model aunt? That’s some classic toxic behavior!]