Chapter 2

Back then, I divorced Thomas right away and struggled to get by on my own, raising my daughter, Poppy McCarthy, by myself.

But less than six months later, Poppy was diagnosed with leukemia.

The doctors couldn't find a suitable match in the bone marrow registry or the cord blood banks.

I had no choice but to go back to Thomas, all so I could conceive a new life to save my daughter.

At our remarriage ceremony, Thomas's furious voice rang in my ears, "You do whatever I tell you to do. I told you to go die, so why haven't you?"

I looked up and forced a smile. "Fine. Then how about you do the generous thing and give me another hundred thousand dollars? I'll give dying a try for you."

Thomas sneered. "You'd actually be willing to die? You'd abandon that bastard kid of yours?"

The word "bastard" grated harshly in my ears. My smile stiffened slightly.

The truth was, I had thought about ending my life.

After Thomas turned against me, I'd cried and made scenes. After my daughter was born, I'd even tried to kill myself. But every time, her cries pulled me back.

Countless times, I told myself I couldn't die. My daughter couldn't be left without a mother.

Before I could say anything, Stacie came over and deliberately knocked over a wine bottle, scattering shards of glass in front of me.

"If I remember right, you've never once apologized to Thomas after what you did. Since everyone's here today, why don't you get on your knees and admit your mistakes?"

The floor was covered in jagged shards of glass.

A flicker of reluctance crossed Thomas's eyes, but his voice came out stiff, "Rose, if you send that bastard to an orphanage, I'll consider starting over with you."

David and Lisa Browning came over when they heard. David frowned slightly and said, "Thomas, our family has always believed that wrongs get punished. Rose was wrong, period! Are you going to take her side again?

"Stacie has been our daughter for over twenty years. She's no different from our own flesh and blood. You have to make this right for her today!"

Lisa jabbed my forehead hard with her index finger. "Didn't I tell you on your very first day back that you have to give way to your sister? You may be used to hardship after growing up in the mountains, but Stacie isn't like you!

"Hurry up and apologize to Thomas and Stacie, or don't blame your father and me for teaching you some discipline!"

Even though I was the Brownings' real flesh and blood, that didn't stop them from openly siding with Stacie right in front of me.

I curled my lips and said, enunciating every word, "In your dreams."

The next second, someone shoved me hard.

Caught off guard, I landed on my knees right on the broken glass.

A sharp, stabbing pain shot through my whole body.

Just as Thomas stepped forward to help me up, Stacie suddenly clutched her calf and cried out in pain.

Thomas immediately turned and dropped to one knee to check her injury.

Seeing how heartbroken he looked over her, everyone present laughed mockingly.

I laughed too.

After all, this was hardly the first time.

On the day I went into premature labor after the car accident, Thomas was supposed to take me to the hospital.

On the way, Stacie called him to say her dog had gone missing. So Thomas left me on the highway.

I still remember clearly how I begged him not to go that day. But all I got in return was his icy rebuke.

"Rose, don't you know that dog is Stacie's whole world? Can't you be sensible for once and take a taxi to the hospital yourself?"

...

I took a deep breath, and the pain dragged me out of the memory.

Slowly, I pulled out the glass shards embedded in my knees. My hands were covered in blood.

Thomas swept Stacie up into his arms and headed straight for the door.

Without even sparing me a glance, he threw out an order, "Stacie developed a chronic condition after helping me through that drugging back then, and all you know how to do is put on a sob story to con people! Rose, stay on your knees and think long and hard about what you've done!"

The Brownings looked down their noses at me.

"Rose, it's not that we're heartless. But it's time to settle the score for tricking Thomas into raising another man's child!

"The Brownings are a distinguished family. How did we end up with a shameless daughter like you?

"If we'd known it would come to this, we never should have had you, let alone brought you back from the mountains!"

I tilted my head back and laughed. "Then why won't you cut ties with me?"

Lisa slapped me hard across the face.

"Who taught you that? Talking back now, are you?!"

Thomas paused mid-step and finally looked back at me.

But just as he was about to speak, Stacie wrapped her arms around his neck and said coyly, "Thomas, she had a bastard and disgraced the Brownings. It's only right that Mom and Dad teach her a lesson..."

The flicker of pity in Thomas's eyes vanished in an instant.

The door shut firmly behind them.

Before I could get up, I was kicked hard to the floor again. Blood slowly trickled from the corner of my mouth.

Curses and insults rained down around me, and amid wave after wave of stabbing pain, I soon lost consciousness.

But what Thomas didn't know was this: after Stacie drugged him back then, I was the one who went into his room.

From beginning to end, the one who helped him through it was me.

And the child he kept calling a bastard was actually his own flesh and blood.

But soon, he would lose her forever.