"Grandma, you're playing favorites!"

"You've got ten million dollars—either pay for your own treatment or don't blame your eldest daughter for being heartless!"

"Exactly! If not her, make your younger daughter pay!"

Mom's eyes reddened.

"Susan's still just a child. How could I ask her for money?"

I let out a cold laugh.

I pushed past Susan and strode out.

I didn't look back.

After leaving the hospital, I headed for my rental apartment.

The Audi I'd saved up to buy five years ago—that was gone too, sold to cover Mom's medical bills.

I stumbled onto the subway in a daze.

My phone buzzed with a message from Mom:

You just left like that? Abandoned your mother alone at the hospital? They're already trying to discharge me.

I was exhausted beyond words:

Don't you have money? Just pay the bill.

Absolutely not! Your sister has so many expenses ahead of her! That money is for her!

Then go home and wait to die.

I never knew I was capable of saying something so vicious.

The moment I hit send, I broke down sobbing.

Everyone on the train turned to stare.

I couldn't bring myself to care.

All these years—I'd lost my job, my savings, my car.

All because of that tiny flicker of hope for a mother-daughter bond. The fantasy that before she died, we might finally mend things between us.

That I could show her I wasn't the bully of a sister that Susan always made me out to be.

That she'd finally see me as her daughter too.

But in the end, none of that seemed to matter to her.

She knew I'd never actually abandon her.

She had nothing to fear.

By the time I got off the subway, my eyes were swollen and raw.

I unlocked my door—and froze.

The apartment was packed with people.

"Uncle? Uncle Chen? Uncle Wei? What are you all—"

I stared at the crowd of relatives in disbelief.

At the center of them sat Mom, weeping.

She clutched her phone tight.

"I never imagined... I raised her all those years, and she tells me to go die!

"She abandoned me and ran off on her own—but not a single day went by that I didn't think about her.

"When she came back to take care of me, I thought she'd finally remembered what family meant. But the moment she heard Susan was getting more of the inheritance, she told me to drop dead.

"How much longer do I even have? She couldn't keep up the act for that long?"

I pulled out my phone.

The family group chat—the one I'd muted ages ago—had 99+ unread messages.

I scrolled up. The very first message was a screenshot Mom had posted.

Our conversation.

Go home and wait to die.

The words burned.

"Trudy Simmons, your father died young! If it weren't for your mother, do you think you'd have survived this long?"

"Apologize to her right now! If we hadn't rushed over, she would've jumped off the building!"

"Trudy, you disappeared for ten years. Your sister stayed by your mother's side—of course she's been there more than you! You don't fulfill your duties as a daughter, but you want a bigger share? How can anyone be this heartless?"

Mom choked back a sob.

"It's fine. It's fine. After all these years, I've made my peace.

"If she doesn't want to call me her mother, that's her choice. I've done everything I could. My own daughter won't take care of me? Fine—I'd rather die than be a burden!"

She stood up, trembling, and lurched toward the window.

Everyone rushed to hold her back.

"Trudy Simmons! Get on your knees! The Simmons family doesn't raise ungrateful wolves like you!"

"If you don't kneel and apologize, don't you ever call yourself a Simmons again! Your father was a good man—don't drag his name through the mud!"

"After you apologize, take your mother back to the hospital and care for her properly. The whole family will be watching!"

Crash!

The glass shattered against the floor.

I was trembling with rage.

"Are you all done yet?!"

Everyone turned to stare at me in shock.

My breath came in ragged gasps.

I pointed at my uncle. "You—you lent her a hundred thousand dollars for her surgery, didn't you?"

He froze.

I swung my finger toward my other uncle. "And you lent her two hundred thousand."

Then I turned to my aunt. "You gave her the hundred and fifty thousand you'd been saving to build your son a house. Am I wrong?"

My mother's face went white. "Trudy! Shut your mouth!"

"Do you all know she's sitting on ten million dollars? She just refuses to spend it—she's saving every last cent for Susan!"

"What?!"

Every head in the room snapped toward my mother.

She waved her hands frantically, trying to deny it.

I let out a cold laugh.

"The reason she never told you? She's waiting for all those debts to fall on my shoulders.

"But I've already been bled dry for her. You won't see a penny of that money back for the next ten years—if ever."

The color drained from my relatives' faces.

I pressed on. "You all felt so sorry for her. You thought she was broke and still lent her money to save her life. But she never considered any of you family."

"Juliana! Is what she's saying true?!"

My uncle shot to his feet.

"Yeah—Trudy's dad died in the line of duty years ago. We never asked about the compensation. How much was it, exactly?"

"I—that's—"

My mother clutched the hem of her shirt, white-knuckled, unable to force out a single word.

"If this is how you've been treating us, then Trudy did nothing wrong!"

"Someone like you deserves to go home and rot!"

One by one, they stormed toward the door.

"I'm telling you right now—if you can't pay us back, we're going after Susan, not Trudy. Figure it out yourself!"

"You—all of you—!"

My mother watched helplessly as everyone left.

Finally, her desperate gaze landed on me.

I turned away without a word.

It didn't take long to pack my bags.

"I'm going back to Greenville for work. Good luck."

"If you leave, what's going to happen to me?"

"That's your problem."

I shut the door behind me.

These past few years, I'd lost my car and my savings.

But at least I still had my fiancé—the man I'd been with for five years.

Over the past three years, as I'd emptied my bank account, he'd quietly transferred me five hundred thousand dollars to help me get by.

This time, when I came back, he proposed.

Seeing how worn down I looked, Edwin Wiley pulled me into his arms and held me tight.

"It's okay. From now on, I'm your family. I'll be the husband you deserve."

Gold prices were at an all-time high, but he insisted on expanding the traditional five gold pieces to eleven.

Just one part of his proposal.

His mother welcomed me into their home and cooked an entire table full of dishes.

The kind of meal my own mother had never made for me.

Tears streamed down my face. For the first time in three years, I posted on social media:

Finally found you.

After dinner, I noticed my mother had called countless times.

The moment I picked up, she launched into a tirade.

"You're out there dripping in gold and jewelry—did you even think about my situation?!

"Your mother is suffering in the hospital while you're out there living it up! What kind of daughter are you?! Get back here! Your sister's getting married, and as the older sister, you need to come help! Stop only thinking about yourself!"

I laughed—cold and hollow.

I hung up.

I blocked her number.

I was done with this family. Completely done.

If they refused to treat me like one of their own, then fine—I'd become a stranger for real.

But the day I went to try on wedding dresses, Edwin suddenly burst into the bridal boutique.

He snatched the wedding dress I'd been admiring right out of my hands.

"You have a fiancé back home—why did you hide this from me?!"

I froze. "What are you talking about?"

He shoved his phone in my face.

On the screen was a wedding invitation sent from a number I knew all too well.

The bride... Trudy Simmons?

I stood there, stunned. "Edwin! I'm not engaged! This groom is just someone I went to middle school with—I have no idea why my name is on this invitation!"

"Stop pretending!" His eyes were red-rimmed. "Your mother called me."

"She... what?"

I couldn't move.

"I didn't believe it at first either. But then I saw the venue, the officiant, the guest list—even the groom! I saw all of it!

"Your sister told me you two have been together since middle school. She said the only reason you were stringing me along was because your mother got sick and you needed money!"

"Edwin..."

I reached for him, desperate to explain. He shook me off.

"What was I to you?

"The wedding's off. We're done."

He walked away.

Didn't look back once.

I stood alone on the empty street, watching his car disappear into the distance.

I clenched my jaw and dialed that familiar number.

"Mom. Did you tell him I was engaged?"

"Of course I did. Since you refuse to spend money on your own family, don't think you get to keep it all for yourself. The invitation was edited from your sister's—she's not like you, always thinking only of herself."

The line went dead.

I let out a cold laugh.

Then I booked a flight home.

My sister was getting married?

Well, if I couldn't have my wedding, she sure as hell wasn't having hers.