The Daughter She Never Chose Chapter 05

The Daughter She Never Chose Chapter 05

The comments were all congratulations and heart reactions. Everyone assumed Julian had paid for the dinner.

Mom didn’t correct them.

[He’s always been such a sweet boy, ever since he was little!]

[We keep telling him to save his money, but he just won’t listen.]

That hit me right in the gut.

So she did know what it looked like when a child showed appreciation.

She just couldn’t see it when I was the one doing it.

I swallowed the bitter lump in my throat and hit Like.

Dad called almost immediately.

He didn’t even say hello.

“What’s your problem now?”

“Wasn’t tonight enough? Your mother just calmed down, and you’re already starting again!”

“You won’t be satisfied until this whole family falls apart, will you?”

“I…”

I tried to explain.

He cut me off.

“Enough. I don’t want to hear it.”

“Come by tomorrow, apologize to your mother, and we’ll put tonight behind us.”

“…Okay.”

The word came out hollow.

I was up before dawn the next morning.

I picked up a box of pastries from the bakery on the way and drove to my parents’ house.

I raised my hand to knock and heard Mom’s voice through the door.

“When she gets here, I’ll tell her to sign both houses over to you.”

“Your father and I will take one. You and Chloe can take the other.”

My fist stopped an inch from the door.

Chloe Thorne was Julian’s girlfriend.

Both houses were mine. I’d bought them after I started working.

I bought my parents’ house first. Two strong years at work had pushed my compensation into seven figures, and I paid it off in full.

The second house, my house, was only half paid off. It was the one I’d planned to live in.

They’d already decided what to do with both of them. Without telling me.

I just wasn’t part of the plan.

“What if she says no?”

Julian sounded uncertain.

“She won’t.” Mom scoffed, sounding completely unbothered.

“And even if she tries, we’ve still got the flood. That’s all it takes to keep her in line.”

Dad chuckled.

“Good thing she doesn’t remember any of it. Because the truth is, she was the one who dragged Julian out. She was running a dangerously high fever, and she still got him out of that house.”

“She was in that water so long her body gave out. The fever did the rest. Wiped her memory clean. She woke up and didn’t remember a thing.”

Mom laughed. “Best move I ever made.”

“Without that guilt tripping her up, Elena would have walked out on us years ago. That story is the only reason she still does what she’s told.”

The floor dropped out from under me.

Every nerve in my body went cold.

It was the middle of summer, and I couldn’t stop shaking.

The debt I’d carried my entire life, the weapon they’d held to my head every single time…

It was a lie. All of it.

They made it up so they could keep me on a leash.

A laugh broke out of me, ugly and jagged, nothing close to funny. The tears came right behind it.

I stood in that hallway until I could see straight. Then I pulled out my phone and texted the HR manager.

[I’ll take the overseas assignment.]

Then I opened the door and walked in.