All Chapters of Daughter’s Regret After Choosing Stepmother Over Me: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

When I opened my eyes, the soft glow of the evening sun was spilling across my face through the window.A familiar room. A familiar scene.Instinctively, I lifted my arms and moved my legs.All four limbs responded freely, without a trace of the stiffness or pain of paralysis.I sat frozen for a long time. When it finally sank in, my fingertips trembled with excitement.I had really come back.Before I could shake off the dizzy shock, I heard the familiar chirp of a car locking downstairs.The sound snapped me out of my thoughts.I stood by the window and looked down without thinking.The scene below was exactly as I remembered.Adam's car was parked at the building entrance.He stood beside it, a stylishly dressed woman pressed close to his side.Emily stood between them.All three wore matching Mickey-ear headbands.They laughed together, as close as any picture-perfect family.It all came back to me instantly.In my previous life, Adam had gone behind my back on this very day and ta

From that day on, she went out with Adam and Camilla constantly.I turned a blind eye.Until one night, when I was scrolling through her Instagram.It was a group photo taken at the top of a mountain.In the picture, she stood squarely in the middle, Adam on her left, the stylishly dressed stepmother on her right.The three of them pressed close together, beaming.As intimate as a real family of three.The caption read: Best trip ever with Dad and my new mom. My favorite people.The most popular girl in her class jumped into the comments."Wow, I've seen that bag your new mom is carrying. It's sixty thousand dollars at the boutique!"Emily replied at once."And that isn't even her most expensive one."My heart dropped, and my first instinct was the familiar dread.Emily's condition strictly prohibited altitude, exertion, and intense physical activity.Hiking was an absolute high-risk activity.Staring at that warm family photo, memories from my past life surged up.I remembered how I h

Emily froze, clearly not understanding what I meant.I continued where I had left off."Since the day you were born, every medical bill, every living expense, every tuition payment has been covered by me and me alone.""Your father hasn't paid a single cent of child support since you got sick. He hasn't covered a single tuition bill. He hasn't been part of your life for a single day.""I did everything in my power to raise you from a helpless child through high school graduation. My duty was fulfilled long ago. By any measure, moral or legal, every expense from here on, tuition, living costs, all of it, is your father's responsibility. It has nothing to do with me."I watched her expression turn rigid and spoke slowly."But we are still mother and daughter, so I will give you one concession. You can always come back to this house, and I will not turn you away.""But starting today, every service you receive under this roof costs money.""Cooking, laundry, cleaning, every service has a

I spent the next month traveling.Occasionally, while scrolling during downtime, I caught snippets of news from people I knew.Not long after starting college, Emily apparently began seeing an older man.No one seemed to know what he did for a living.He spent freely on her.He kept her out partying all night and indulged every whim.With no one left to rein her in, Emily grew more reckless by the day.She lost herself in a life of easy thrills and zero responsibility.In my previous life, hearing about any of this would have kept me up all night.I would have rushed to campus and begged her to come to her senses.But this time, I felt nothing.I had raised her safely to adulthood, put her through school, and managed her illness.My duty as a mother, every last year of it, was fulfilled.What circles she chose, what life she led, those were her own decisions now.They had nothing to do with me.I no longer had the energy to pay for someone else's choices.On that trip, my path kept cro

It had been six full months since I stopped looking after Emily.In those months, she had thrown off every restraint.Junk food at all hours, all-nighters, constant intense physical activity.She had run her body into the ground without a second thought, and whatever reserves she had were long gone.Her collapse today was something I had seen coming.Once the brawl ended, the police arrived within minutes.Adam had forged a power of attorney and attempted to illegally mortgage someone else's home.The evidence was overwhelming. The police arrested him on forgery and fraud charges.As for Camilla who had spent years driving us apart, she saw that Adam was finished.That same night, she took the last of their money and disappeared.After everything, it was just Emily and me again.After the doctors worked through the night, Emily finally regained consciousness.The first thing she saw was me, sitting by her bed.Every ounce of bottled-up pain and despair broke loose at once.Her eyes wen