Familial Bond Short Stories & Bias Face Slapping Novels

On the day Mom transfers the house to my younger brother, Elio Campbell, I'm busy paying off his fourth credit card. "You're his older sister. It's your duty to take care of your younger brother. The house may be in his name, but you'll always have a room here," she reminds me. However, later on, my sister-in-law, Bonnie Smith, transforms that room into a nursery without even consulting me. At the ripe old age of 38, I'm single, homeless, and have no savings. Mom tells me, "Your brother's second child is starting kindergarten soon. Why don't you help out with the tuition? It's not like you have much to spend your money on anyway." I chip in because I still care about my family. I'm diagnosed with uterine fibroids at 42 years old, and I need to undergo surgery. Mom's silent on the phone for a moment before responding, "Money's tight at home right now. Why don't you borrow some from your colleagues?" After hanging up, she transfers 100 thousand dollars to Elio. The surgery fails, and I die on the hospital bed, without even a single person to claim my body. … When I open my eyes again, I'm back at the dining table where Mom's about to transfer the house. The deed's on the table, and Elio raises his glass. "Don't worry, Irene. You're always welcome here." I accept it and set it down in front of me. Then, I fish out my phone, pull up my account information, and look up at Mom. "Mom, I paid half the down payment for this house and covered the mortgage for ten years. That's three million dollars in total. Let's settle the money you owe me first. Then, we can talk about who gets the house."

My family always used me as an example to teach Yvette Langley, my twin sister, a lesson. When we were little, my mom would purposely leave me alone on the street. She would let Yvette watch me break down in tears so she would learn never to wander off. My brother, Martin Langley, would get kids from outside school to corner me in an alley. He wanted Yvette to see me get slapped and forced to my knees so she would learn to stay away from troublemakers. So I became more and more timid, and they grew to like me less and less. Then, the day before the SAT, my mom gave me an order I could not refuse. “Tomorrow, you’re going to turn in a blank SAT.” I stared at her in shock. Tears filled my eyes as I asked, “Why?” Martin sat beside her and spoke as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. “Once you fail the SAT and have to struggle because you can’t get into college, Yvette will learn to appreciate her chance to go to college. She’ll work harder and become a better student. “We need you to push her forward.” They talked about sacrificing my future as if it were nothing. My heart sank. I had held everything inside for nineteen years. That last thread finally snapped. All I felt was heartbreak. That was when I finally decided to leave my family behind, the family that had always sacrificed me for Yvette.

Borevia City's golden-boy heir crashed his car and ended up paralyzed from the waist down. Just like that, his shot at taking over Alwyn Corp was on the line. The second the news hit the Twyford mansion, Rory—the girl my parents had raised instead of me—came to me in tears, begging me to take her place and marry Axel. I tightened my grip on my water glass and laughed. "Seriously? You used to act like I was embarrassing because I grew up in a small town. You said I wasn't classy enough for your crowd, so you handed my engagement to Rory. "Now Axel's paralyzed and might lose everything, you want me to switch back and deal with it? Yeah, no." The door flew open. Jared Pritchard—my boyfriend—walked in, pulled Rory against him, and shot me a glare. "Thea, you were supposed to marry Axel in the first place. We're just fixing it. "We're done. Rory and I are getting engaged tomorrow. Once it's official, you're marrying Axel whether you like it or not." I froze, staring at the guy I'd grown up with. "The Alwyns asked for the daughter you've always shown off in public. You barely admit I'm family. You really think they won't notice if you suddenly swap me in for Rory?" Right then, my biological parents, Richard and Diane Twyford, came downstairs with icy expressions and tossed an amended birth certificate in front of me. "Starting tomorrow, we'll tell everyone you're our biological daughter. Rory's been spoiled her whole life. She can't handle being married to a man who can't walk. "It's time you did your part. Marry Axel Alwyn and accept your new life as Mrs. Alwyn." I laughed bitterly. Any hope I still had for them died right there. "Fine. I'll marry him. Just don't come begging me to come back someday."

After winning 20 million dollars in the lottery, I immediately quit my job and head to the hospital. Having worked as a programmer at a major company for over a decade, I've accumulated a host of health problems, such as hemorrhoids, cavities, chronic gastritis, cervical spondylosis, and more. I get treated for everything at one go, and the pain is so bad that I can barely even walk. My aunt, Jessica Davidson, happens to see me like that and spreads rumors about me having stage-4 cancer and barely hanging on in the ICU. My relatives all send me well-wishes on my social media accounts. I don't bother clarifying myself because I'm too distracted by the pain, and also, I'm too busy recovering. As it turns out, my own mother is the first one to visit me at the hospital with some documents—a waiver of my inheritance rights. She tells me, "You need to transfer that house you own to your younger brother before you die."

As an exploration geologist, I'm caught in a landslide during a mission, and one of my arms is crushed. Before we set out, our exploration team has accurately predicted the weather. There's no chance of heavy rain that day. It isn't until I overhear my wife, Diana Nelson, talking to a doctor friend that I learn the truth. "Diana, you knew Adam was going out on a mission that day, yet you spent a fortune on creating cloud seeding just to get him injured and eventually cost him an arm. You really went too far for Flynn." Diana frowns. "Who told him to care so much about that exploration project? The only way the project can go to Flynn is if Adam gets disabled. "Otherwise, Flynn will be sent to Nambara. You think I can bear to let him suffer in a place like that?" What she doesn't know is that the Nambaran assignment will go to either Flynn Cooper or me. Before leaving, I put my medical report, which states that I've lost my reproductive ability, into a box. The day Flynn makes a name for himself, the box will be delivered to Diana as a gift.

On the day of the avalanche, my own brother cut the safety rope around my waist to save his fake sister who had stolen my place in the family. As the snow piled high above me and my body heat began to fade, I cried out to Shawn Lingard, reaching out my stiff, frozen hands. "Shawn! Don't leave me behind, or my adoptive father's men will come for you and blow this whole mountain up!" It had been a year since I was found and brought back to the prestigious Lingard family. I had always played the part of a timid, submissive girl, never talking about my adoptive parents abroad. Therefore, the Lingard family didn't know that the couple who adopted me were the leaders of an international mercenary group. My adoptive father was a master marksman, my adoptive mother was an explosives expert, and I was the beloved little princess in their unit. But my biological brother only laughed coldly as he pulled the rope back. "Stop lying! You're just a country bumpkin, what powerful men could your adoptive father possibly have? "I was kind enough to take you skiing, but you actually dared to compete with Janice? Don't you know she can't handle even the slightest shock?" With that, he grabbed the fake sister and turned to leave. "If your adoptive parents are so impressive, have them send a helicopter to rescue you!" I watched the light above disappear, then used the last of my strength to press the red button on my satellite locator. Little did Shawn know, the moment this signal went out, the entire snowy mountain would become his grave.

I was the real daughter of the Jenkins family, recently brought home, while Coco, the fake, unexpectedly procured the College Entrance Exam Leech System. All she had to do was give a name, and the person's score would be transferred to her exam sheet. She was overjoyed when she mistook me for the star student who had been the top scorer in the city's high school for three years, and quickly put my name in. Then, in the three months leading up to the college entrance exam, she would be watching Youtube videos in class, getting her nails done after school, all while bragging she could get over 700—even with her eyes closed. I warned her that college entrance exams were no joke, but her boyfriend leapt to her defense, snapping at me, "Coco is a genius! What would a bumpkin like you know?!" Our parents were playing favorites as ever, yelling at me too. "Don't get jealous! Coco is a born genius!" They had no idea that there was another Jojo Jenkins at the school, and a boy at that. He was also given guaranteed admission to a prestigious university without needing to take college entrance exam, while I was just an art student who was addicted to drawing. On the day the results were published, Coco even invited the media on her livestream as she checked her score, ready to set her reputation as a young prodigy. I watched her smiling smugly, quietly putting away my arts school admission notice. She liked stealing college entrance exam scores? She had my blessing to steal mine!

During the Spring Hunt, my Alpha mate's adopted sister, Susie Blackwood, used the bow I'd designed for him to shoot two werewolves in the forest. The wounded were rushed to the healing center. Susie was so terrified she broke down in tears. Charles Blackwood immediately paid someone to take the fall for her, then booked two flights heading north. He didn't call to let me know until after he'd landed. "Susie's not in a good place right now. I'm taking her somewhere to clear her head. Stay home while we're gone, and don't bother me unless it's important! "She needs peace and quiet." I was standing outside the emergency room, so frantic that tears streamed down my face. "You need to come to the healing center right now. Your—" Before I could finish, Charles cut me off sharply. "Is this really the time for this? You're still pulling these jealous stunts! I'm not even in the pack right now. "Don't call me unless it's important." Then he ended the call. What Charles didn't know was that the ones lying on the operating table, the ones Susie had shot, were his parents.

After I started college, Mom said she'd send me money in installments. "Lucia, you're an adult now. I want you to learn how to manage money, so I'll give you your living expenses in installments." I figured she meant monthly. Maybe weekly, worst case. Then move-in day came. Mom walked around the cafeteria, checked the prices, and sent $8 to my payment app. I stared at my phone. "Mom, did you send the wrong amount?" She smiled. "Silly girl. That's your lunch money for today. I checked already. Just get the cheapest grab-and-go meal. "From now on, ask me for money before each meal." I froze. So by installments, she didn't mean monthly. Or weekly. She meant one meal at a time. By day three, I stood at the breakfast counter, unable to afford a $1.50 egg. Mom still wouldn't send me anything. "I just bought Ryan a house outright yesterday. I don't have extra cash right now. Skipping one meal won't kill you." The cafeteria worker looked at me with shock and pity. Her expression crushed what was left of my pride. That day, clutching the egg the worker had given me, I started looking for a job online. But once I stopped needing Mom, she panicked.

I was a stickler for rules. When I was in elementary school, we were supposed to vote for class president, but the teacher simply appointed the principal's daughter instead. Hence, I followed the school rule that whoever received the most votes would win and brought all 42 students to the principal's office to hold a proper vote. After I started working, my boss handed me a 1,500-dollar invoice and told me to claim 15,000 dollars in expenses. I told him that wasn't allowed under company policy, but he said that, in this company, the boss' word was the only rule that mattered. "You need to learn to be flexible," he claimed. "Otherwise, the company may as well replace you with someone more obedient." I nodded, wrote his exact words in the signature section, and sent a copy of the invoice to the tax authorities. "This is a new rule the company has added. It's not up to me. I'm sure you can review it." After that, no one ever asked me to break the rules again. That changed when the Collins family found me, 25 years after I went missing. On the day they officially welcomed me back into the family, I discovered that Blair, their adopted daughter, was listed ahead of me in the family trust as their eldest child. "Mom and Dad put my name there when they adopted me. It'd be difficult to change it now," Blair Collins claimed. "Surely you don't mind?" I looked her straight in the eye. "Are you asking me to accept being listed after you in the family trust so you can keep your status as the eldest daughter? Or are you saying you have no intention of giving up the inheritance and assets that legally belong to me as their firstborn daughter?" The smile on Blair's face froze. My father frowned. "It's just the order of the names. Do you really think we'd take away your inheritance?" I looked up at him. "So am I supposed to understand that my parents know perfectly well that the family rules say the legitimate eldest daughter inherits the family business, yet they're

I was one month away from donating a kidney when strangers ambushed me on vacation and tried to drag me away to harvest it. I fought with everything I had, drawing a crowd of onlookers. "Miss Ashford, my mother needs a kidney transplant right now! "You took my $1.5 million and signed the agreement. Running off with the money is pretty low, don't you think?" As he spoke, his men tried to drag me into a black car. But the patient I had agreed to donate to was a man. I had signed an agreement, yes, but I had volunteered to give this kidney free of charge to the man who had saved my life. He was one of the most powerful men in New York. He would never stoop to tactics this dirty, and he had no need to. I tore free of their grip, pulled out my phone, and sent a text.

My mom is the kind of person who values achievement above all else. Consequently, just because I opened my eyes a little later than my twin brother, Alan Barton, when we were born, she decided I was the inferior twin—even treating me to watery baby cereal while Alan got the best of everything. From then on, Alan always came out ahead. The whole family bent over backward to give him every advantage, while I had no one to rely on but myself. After a lot of hard work, I finally achieved my goal on the SATs, beating Alan for the very first time. But when I arrived at the college acceptance party, Alan was already holding court and toasting the guests. When I broke down, sobbing and screaming at Mom over her blatant favoritism, Alan casually mentioned that he had already been accepted to Swafford College early and only took the SATs for fun; ergo, I still lost. Mom looked at me with utter disappointment, calling me worthless. Furious and heartbroken, I ran away from home. I put myself through college and built a career entirely on my own. Just as my life is finally starting to come together, I got diagnosed with cancer, threatening both my health and livelihood. After five years of complete estrangement, I swallow my pride to ask Mom for help. Instead, Alan steps in and destroys my last chance of survival.

I was born into a family where beauty was everything. My father was an Oscar-winning actor, and my mother was a Grammy-winning singer. They had built their lives around beauty, fame, and the image of a perfect family. Then I was born premature, frail, and with a large birthmark covering part of my face. I wasn't the daughter they wanted the public to see, so they left me with my grandmother in the countryside and raised my younger sister, Vivian, instead. Grandma sent them letters and photographs every year. They never answered. Now Grandma was moving into assisted living, and my college dorm wouldn't open for another few days. With nowhere else to stay, I went to my parents' house for the first time. Dad looked at my hat, sunglasses, and mask with open disapproval. "Why are you covering yourself from head to toe? Are you ashamed to be seen?" Mom gave a mocking laugh. "She's probably seen all the photographs of us taking Vivian to premieres and award shows. She doesn't want her first meeting with us to become a comparison with her prettier sister." Vivian took my hand and smiled. "Don't worry, Skye. Looks aren't everything. You don't have to feel insecure around me." My hand froze on the edge of my mask. Grandma had been writing to them every month for the past two years, practically begging them to come get me. "Come pick up Skye already. She's grown into such a beauty that people keep climbing the fence just to take pictures of her!" So not one of them had ever seen what I looked like now?

My mother makes three million dollars a month overseas, yet my monthly allowance is only ten dollars. When my father confronts her about it, they nearly get a divorce. My brother, Peter Thorne, takes pity on me and secretly gives me some money. However, he is punished for his actions. Hence, every time I get so hungry that my stomach feels like it's digesting itself, sheer resentment wells in me toward my mother. I hate her for being so ruthless and cruel, for giving birth to me yet being unwilling to take care of me. And then, one day, I receive a video call from myself ten years into the future. I eagerly ask, "How is life for me ten years from now? Did I finally cut off all ties with that wicked and terrible woman I call my mother?" However, my future self's eyes immediately redden as she yells at me furiously, "Just so you know, that 'wicked and terrible woman' you speak of donated her kidney to you without any hesitation when your precious father and brother caused you to get kidney failure! "Not just that either! She spent her entire fortune on paying them off so that they would leave you alone and cut off all ties with you! Due to that, she didn't even have enough money to afford anti-inflammatory drugs after the operation and died from the pain on the hospital bed!" As my future self takes in the disbelieving look in my eyes, her lips curl into a smile that is even uglier than a grimace. "Your monthly allowance is actually supposed to be 100,000 dollars, but they skimmed off 99,000 dollars of it and gave it to Dad's illegitimate daughter. If you still don't believe me, just head over to Botanic Villas on the east side of the city."

Mom and Dad always disappear at midnight and don't come back until 8:00 am the next day. Even when I'm forced onto the roof because of a flash flood and try calling them 99 times, they still refuse to show up. I've tried clinging to them like glue as it gets close to midnight once. As the clock hands creep toward midnight, they hit me for the first time, lock me in my room, and then vanish once more. That all changes when a prestigious family comes knocking because of an old marriage arrangement and the fake heiress, Suzanne Weston, walks out through a secret door. Only then do I find out that ten years ago, Mom and Dad didn't actually send her back to her real parents. Instead, they secretly bought the villa next door and set up a whole second home there. Mom and Dad push the fake heiress forward before blocking me. "We've only spent eight hours with her every day for the past ten years. She's already had to put up with enough, so don't even try to fight her for this, Danielle Weston." I can't believe what I'm hearing. I try to storm next door and trash the place, but Suzanne shoves me into the man-made lake. As I'm drowning, I catch a glimpse of myself ten years from now beneath the water. She's skin and bones, and all her hair has fallen out. After Mom and Dad pull me out of the water, I speak up before they can say anything. "Mom, Dad, I'm not fighting for the engagement anymore." And I'm done fighting for your love, too.

After having been missing for many years, my biological parents found me at the age of sixteen. By that time, there was already someone else living in the family home who had taken my place as the Johnston family’s daughter. My parents, my older brother, and my fiance said warningly, “Don’t you dare act spoiled or entitled just because you’re a Johnston by blood. Also, don’t cause Hannah one ounce of trouble.” The entire family prioritized Hannah in every matter, which made me seem more like a maid whenever I was with them. For two years, I let them walk all over me, until they decided to use my near-perfect SAT score of 1550 to get Hannah, who had scraped together an 850, into an Ivy League school, Pranceton University. That was when I decided I was done playing nice. I called my adoptive parents.

When my billionaire birth parents tried yet again to bring me home, I shook my head without hesitation. As someone practically born with dollar signs in her eyes, I loved money more than just about anything. But even I knew better than to walk straight into the drama of a filthy-rich family. “I may love money more than life itself, but there’s no way I’m stepping into that mess. Knowing my luck, I’d walk away without a dime and get screwed over by the fake heiress instead.” My parents immediately protested. “Xena has always been such a sweet, sensible girl. She’d be too busy spoiling you to ever hurt you.” Since they clearly didn’t believe me, I pulled a document from my pocket titled “Fake Heiress Payback Price List.” “Then sign this first. “If she plants something on me and accuses me of stealing, you owe me a car. “If she hurts herself and frames me for it, you owe me a house. “If she poisons or kidnaps me, I get the entire family fortune. That’s fair, right?” Dad laughed, clearly thinking I was being ridiculous, and signed it on the spot. “Fine. If any of that actually happens, I’ll pay up.” Sure enough, on my very first day home, the fake heiress burst into tears and accused me of stealing the diamond bracelet Mom had given her. My older brother jabbed a finger in my face and called me a classless brat, while my younger sister immediately started patting me down like she wanted to strip-search me. I smiled. Looks like I was about to make some easy money. Mom and Dad were just about to lecture me too when they suddenly remembered the price list I had made them sign. They froze. “Hold on. Nobody accuse her of anything yet. Check the bracelet for fingerprints first.”

I put my six-year-old daughter in my mother-in-law’s hands as I was busy with an overseas project. Every month, I would send her 20,000 dollars in allowance, not including holiday cash gifts. My mother-in-law would always talk about how well my daughter ate and slept during every video call. In the video, a feast was always laid before my daughter. So when her teacher claimed that she had fainted out of hunger during class, my first thought was that she must have called the wrong number. I rushed back home and headed straight to the hospital. The doctor said that my daughter was suffering from long-term malnutrition and her weight was far below the average. She also had severe post-traumatic stress disorder with suspected autism. The homeroom teacher looked begrudgingly at me with furrowed brows. “Ms. Mason, this isn’t the first time Natalie fainted out of hunger during class. “She only brings one cold plain bun to school for lunch every day. Sometimes, she doesn’t even have that bun. “Each time I ask her about things at home, she refuses to speak.” I was utterly confused by the teacher’s questions. How could my child go hungry when I was sending over 20,000 dollars in allowance every month?

My sister, Cindy Gardner, and I are fraternal twins. She gets to be the elder sister because she comes out one minute before me, making me the younger brother. Luckily, there's little difference between us when it comes to intelligence. Throughout our school years, one of us always ranks first, and the other comes in second. But after three years of competing in high school, with me coming in second every time, I calmly agree to keep her secret about dating a delinquent named Rodney Sloan. Then the guaranteed-admission spots to Belton University, the country's top university, become available. Our homeroom teacher calls Cindy and me into her office. "There are two guaranteed-admission spots. They're awarded based on grades, and the two of you are next in line. "Fill out this form." I nod and quickly fill out the entire form. Just as I'm about to hand it over to her, Cindy, who is standing quietly beside us, suddenly moves. She snatches my form, tears it to pieces, and tosses the scraps into the air. "If you want me to take the guaranteed spot, there's one condition—Rodney has to get in with me." I laugh in disbelief. What a complete idiot. Mom and Dad are going to tear her apart for this.

I have just disembarked from the plane when I receive a call from my sister, Sienna Miller's, manager. "Bad news! Sienna's role was stolen from her." I immediately rush to the set only to see Sienna surrounded by a group of people. Her cheeks are red and swollen from being slapped repeatedly. A mixture of fury and panic rages within me. I'm just about to step forward when a young woman, who looks no older than 16 years old and is wearing a dress that is covered in ruffles and frills, slaps me across my face. I'm stunned by the slap. A murderous glint flickers in my eyes. "Do you have any idea who I am?" I hiss. The young woman scoffs and sneers. "Who do you think you are? How dare you try to intimidate me? You'll be offending the only daughter of Deslano's Miller family, Quinn Miller. You'll also be facing a fate worse than death if you dare to fight me for this role." The director's arrogance from before has disappeared. He rubs his hands together as he tries to smooth the situation over. "She invested a significant amount of funds when she joined the crew. You're no match for her. If you know what's good for you, you'll accept whatever role that is assigned to you." The only daughter of the Miller family? What does that make me and Sienna then? I immediately call Dad and coldly demand answers from him. "It hasn't even been a week since Mom passed away. Are you in that much of a rush to bring your mistress and other children into the family?"