Chapter 4

When Erin saw my swollen cheek, she immediately stepped in front of me to protect me. "Audrey, are you insane? Sienna never did anything to betray you, and she didn't ask me to be her mother!"

However, to my mom, Erin's defense was nothing more than a smug display of victory.

She sneered and shot back, saying, "I've seen plenty of manipulative women like you in novels! You came back with your son just to steal Connor from me, didn't you? And now this ungrateful father-daughter pair is practically worshiping you!

"Mark my words, within three months, they'll be on their knees begging for my forgiveness, begging me to come back!"

With that, she turned around and left.

Erin ignored her dramatic outburst. Instead, she crouched and gently examined the marks on my face. "Sienna, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. Does it hurt? Should I take you to see a doctor?"

I shook my head. Compared to the suffering I had endured in my previous two lives, this slap was nothing.

Nonetheless, my mom's revenge obviously would not stop at just one slap.

Soon enough, she copied the heroines from her novels and adopted a girl around my age from the orphanage, Laura Greene. Somehow, she even managed to get Laura transferred into my class.

Under my mom's instruction, Laura constantly bullied me at school. The other kids, knowing that my mom had abandoned me, kept taunting me with cruel words, trying to embarrass me.

Even my teacher, Mary Doyle, once phoned her in front of me.

My mom laughed smugly and said, "Ms. Doyle, Sienna's father and I are divorced now. I'm not her mother anymore! From now on, whether she has a heart attack or gets into trouble, please don't call me anymore. By the way, my daughter is Laura. She's so much better than that ungrateful Sienna..."

She thought those words would make me sad. However, I simply grabbed Mary's phone and said coldly, "Ms. Greene, Laura broke the smartwatch Ms. Brooks bought me. It's worth 3000 dollars. Please pay me back immediately!"

Hearing me call her that must have hit her like a hammer. She instantly lost her composure.

"So it's true, you've fallen in love with money! That vixen buys you one watch, and suddenly you deny your own mother?! All these years you've eaten my food and lived under my roof, and I never charged you a cent! And now you dare ask me for money?!"

The matter eventually fizzled out. However, the next day, I spotted an even more expensive smartwatch on Laura's wrist.

When the school held a parent-child event, my mom deliberately dressed in designer clothes and showed up with her childhood friend, Matthew Klein, along with Laura, who was also dressed in an expensive princess dress.

The three of them looked loving and happy, like a perfect little family.

Seeing me standing alone, my mom hugged Laura and mocked me. "Sienna, where's your father? And where's Ms. Brooks? Why didn't they come to the parent-child event with you? Don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet. He's out having fun with Ms. Brooks and that half-brother of yours right now!

"Let me spell it out for you. It's too late for regrets now. The moment you chose to betray me, I stopped being your mother!"

When I did not respond, she leaned closer to my ear and said, "Oh, and even if your dad wants to remarry me, I won't take you back, you ungrateful brat."

She was obviously still dreaming about my dad begging her to remarry him.

"Audrey! What are you trying to do to Sienna?" My dad came running anxiously from a distance, followed by Erin and Oliver.

The moment she saw my dad, she deliberately linked arms with Mathew, trying to provoke him. "Connor, you don't know yet, do you? Matt already proposed to me."

My dad glanced at their odd family combination and frowned. My mom must have thought he was jealous and smiled smugly. "But as long as you're willing to beg me to come back, I'll still..."

Before she could finish, I pulled the marriage certificate from my dad's briefcase. "Ms. Greene, Dad and I both wish you and Mr. Klein all the best! Because Dad has already married Ms. Brooks!"