The Daughter She Never Chose Chapter 04

The Daughter She Never Chose Chapter 04

“If you remembered even half of it, you wouldn’t have spent all these years trying to drive him away!”

Mom wouldn’t even look at me. She grabbed her bag and stood up.

“I can’t eat another bite. You’ve ruined my appetite.”

“Wait.”

I stood up before she could.

“You don’t have to go. I’ll leave.”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I walked out of the private dining room.

Nobody said a word. Nobody came after me.

The second the door clicked shut behind me, the conversation started up again. Polite laughter. The clink of glasses. Like nothing had happened.

The sting of it stayed in my chest the whole cab ride home.

I’d barely walked through the door when my phone rang. It was the HR manager from work.

“The company got a call from your mother recently. She filed a formal complaint.”

“She claimed that the transcripts and degrees on your application actually belong to Julian. She wants us to transfer your position to him.”

“Is any of that true?”

“I…”

I couldn’t get air into my lungs.

Of course it wasn’t true.

Every line on that résumé was mine. Every grade, every degree—I earned them myself.

And they were willing to destroy all of it just to hand Julian a job he didn’t earn.

I remembered now. Some time ago, Mom had asked, in that roundabout way of hers, if Julian could borrow my college transcripts.

I told her no. Flat out.

If HR caught us committing fraud, both of us could be blacklisted from the industry.

She heard me. And then she went behind my back and did it anyway.

I couldn’t breathe. Something that should have stopped hurting a long time ago tore open all over again.

When I didn’t answer, she kept going.

“Look, true or not, the company cares about what you can do, not what was on a résumé years ago.”

“But…”

“If your family keeps calling the office and harassing our staff, that’s a different story.”

“I can’t promise how the higher-ups will handle it. It becomes a liability.”

I understood.

My track record at the company was solid—years of strong performance.

They could overlook a baseless résumé dispute.

But they wouldn’t tolerate my family dragging the company into a circus.

“I’ll… figure it out.”

My voice barely held.

I had no idea how.

There was no reasoning with my parents.

We’d worked together long enough that the HR manager was willing to do me a favor. Her voice dropped.

“If things get worse, there’s an overseas assignment opening up soon.”

“As far as your family knows, I can say you… resigned.”

The pay would be better overseas. But I wouldn’t be able to come home for years.

And even then.

If I actually left, my parents would only hate me more for it.

“…Let me think about it.”

I wasn’t ready to run away just yet.

I hung up and opened my phone. Mom had posted a photo.

Julian was in it.

He was sitting in the chair that had been empty all night, both arms around my parents, grinning.

Mom was glowing. Dad had his wrist turned just right, the gold Tiffany & Co. watch catching the light.

The caption read, [A son like him makes everything worth it.]