Betrayed After Getting Rich Overnight Chapter 04

Betrayed After Getting Rich Overnight Chapter 04

Chapter 4 Owe

I took a breath and kept going. “I’m the one holding this family together.”

Felicia looked like I’d just slapped her across the face. She was so pissed she could barely stand still.

“So what? I gave birth to you! You’re supposed to do all this!”

“What about Autumn then? She’s been living here for five years without paying a dime. How come you never say anything to her?” I shot back.

Felicia looked at me like I was being ridiculous. “How can you even compare? She lost her parents when she was just a kid. She’s been through hell. Plus she got divorced and she’s raising a child all by herself. Don’t you think that’s hard enough? You’re her older sister. Shouldn’t you be helping her out? What happened to your compassion?”

She lost her parents? She was the pitiful one?

I laughed so hard I could feel tears pricking my eyes.

When Autumn was eight, both her parents died in an accident. Her relatives all thought she was too much trouble to deal with, but Michael and Felicia barely even knew her parents from work, and they still took her in. They raised her like she was their own daughter.

From the day she moved into our house, I never got new clothes again. I never had my own birthday party again.

Felicia would always say the same thing. Autumn didn’t have parents anymore, so she needed extra love. I had to be understanding and kind. I had to make sure she felt like she had a real home.

I kept telling myself that Michael and Felicia were my actual parents, my real blood. No matter what happened, Autumn could never take my place.

So I kept giving in. I kept stepping back.

And now look where that got me. I’d given up my parents. I’d given up my home.

I’d become the outsider in my own family.

I screamed at her.

“Haven’t I done enough for this family? My whole life, you’ve played favorites with her. Everything went to Autumn first, every single time.”

My voice cracked as I kept going. “When she got married, you came to me for her wedding gift money. After her divorce, she moved back home and I paid for everything. Timothy’s formula, his daycare, his clothes, every doctor’s visit. I covered it all. Mom, which one of us is actually your daughter?”

Felicia’s hand cracked across my face.

I turned my head with the impact, and my cheek burned where she’d hit me.

Felicia was breathing hard, and when she spoke, her voice was colder than I’d ever heard it.

‘Summer, if you think this family’s treated you so badly, you can leave. But we’re gonna settle up first. We need to go over exactly what you owe.”

My voice came out flat. “Owe you for what?”

Felicia’s expression was ice.

‘I gave birth to you and raised you. That cost at least 500 thousand, and with interest, let’s call it 800 thousand. Forget about the house, by the way. I already gave it to Autumn. So here’s the deal. Either hand over your compensation money and maybe Autumn will be generous enough to let you crash here for a few days, or give me 800 thousand dollars and get the hell out. Right now.”

I stared at her in disbelief.

The house I bought with my own money had been given to Autumn?

No wonder Autumn said I was some distant relative with no real connection to the family, shamelessly mooching off her.

She was right. We weren’t related at all.

They were the real family, and I was just some outsider who didn’t belong.

A cold laugh escaped my throat before I could stop it.

“Fine! I owe you 800 thousand dollars, and the house is worth 1.8 million now. It’s yours. You’re actually making a profit here! But since you want me gone so bad, I’m taking back every single gift I ever gave you. You don’t get to keep them!”

I stormed across the room and grabbed Autumn’s wrist. She’d been standing by the door, loving every second of this train wreck. I yanked the diamond bracelet right off her arm.

Then I marched into their bedroom and snatched back the designer bag, all the skincare products, the belt, and the tablet I’d bought them.

Felicia’s voice shook with rage. “Summer, have you lost your mind? That bracelet belongs to your sister! You’re taking it back? Have you no shame?”

“I paid for it with my own money,” I shot back.

“Your money? Where the hell would you even get money?” Felicia shrieked at me. ‘If I hadn’t raised you, you wouldn’t have a dime to your name! You shameless bitch! You’re not worth a fraction of your sister!”

She threw the disownment papers in my face. “Get out! Sign this and you’re not my daughter anymore, you vicious, ungrateful little snake!”

‘Fine. I’ll sign it,” I said.

Felicia froze. Michael rushed over to stop me.

She thought I’d beg. She thought if she pushed hard enough, I’d cave and go back to being the doormat I used to be, the one who let them bleed me dry.

But I wouldn’t. Not anymore. Never again.

The door slammed shut behind me, and my suitcase went flying out onto the sidewalk.

Felicia’s voice came shrieking from inside.

“You better drop dead out there and never come back!”

I grabbed my suitcase and clutched the check for 9.12 million dollars in my other hand.

I whispered, “Don’t worry. I won’t be back to bother your perfect little family of four ever again.”

I dragged my suitcase down the street as lights glowed warm in every window around me.

My heart didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would.

Maybe somewhere deep down, I’d always known that Michael and Felicia cared more about Autumn than they ever did about me. For years, I’d lied to myself, thinking that being their biological daughter meant something, that we had some kind of unbreakable bond.