Inside the villa, I gathered up everything that belonged to me, which was only a small bundle.

Ezekiel had never given me many items, only a few, and I tossed every one of them into the trash.

Right as I prepared to leave, my son’s girlfriend, Eulalie Collins suddenly messaged me.

[Aunt, remember to come to my wedding with Jaxon tomorrow. I heard from Jaxon that your family is very rich, so I believe the gift you bring me tomorrow won’t let me down.]

After seeing this message, I froze completely.

Jaxon’s getting married tomorrow?

My son was getting married tomorrow, and I only learned it today.

Thinking about it, I opened Gwynne’s Instagram story, and there I saw an invitation in my son’s handwriting, just as I expected.*

So he had no intention of telling me from the beginning!

As I thought of this, my eyes grew hot, and it felt like part of my heart had been roughly torn away.

Unable to help myself, I searched the closet and took out a wedding dress, quietly looking at it for a long time.

This wedding dress wasn’t very beautiful, slightly yellow in color, with outdated sewing and patterns.

But it was the most treasured gift I had ever gotten.

This was the wedding dress my mother sewed for me herself. She thought I would wear it at the wedding thirty years ago and then enjoy a lifetime of happiness.

Unfortunately, that wedding never came true.

My hands shook uncontrollably. Everything I discovered today had already gone far past what I could bear.

The betrayal from my closest family, the coldness from my own child, my husband’s disgust, everything pressed on me with unbearable pain.

Right when I was about to put the wedding dress back, a hand suddenly appeared next to me.

She grabbed the dress in an instant, staring at me with a mocking expression.

“Heather,” she dragged out her tone, “this wedding dress is outdated. Want me to help you change it? Even though you probably won’t ever get to wear it, hahahaha.”

She burst into a sharp laugh.

“Give it back to me!”

My anger rose, and I grabbed the bottom of the wedding dress, trying hard to pull it back.

But Gwynne refused to release it.

During the struggle, she somehow pulled out a pair of scissors and, with just a few quick moves, completely chopped my wedding dress apart.

“No!”

Looking at the broken pieces scattered on the floor, tears streamed down my cheeks like rain. I knelt down, trying to gather and fit them back together.

But Gwynne smiled proudly beside me. “Heather, you should be thankful to me. You wouldn’t be able to use it anyway. This wedding dress is nothing but trash to you. I helped you throw out the garbage. I did you a big favor.”

Seeing me worryingly gathering the torn pieces on the floor, she cruelly stepped on my hand, the sharp heel of her high heels stabbing straight into the back of my hand.

I screamed from the pain and struggled, causing Gwynne to lose her footing and fall backward.

“Heather! What are you doing?!”

Ezekiel showed up at the doorway, shouting in worry.

He kicked me aside and gently helped Gwynne stand up.

“Ezekiel, don’t blame Heather. I just didn’t stand steady. I only wanted to help my sister pick up the wedding dress. I didn’t mean to ruin it,” Gwynne cried to Ezekiel at once.

With only a few words, she placed all the blame on me.

Ezekiel’s gaze turned cold as ice.

“Heather, you really are heartless!” he shouted. “Gwynne was only being nice, and you knocked her over. No wonder you ended up with cancer!”

I was kicked straight into the corner of the wall, and the old wound I got from saving Ezekiel years ago suddenly hurt again, making cold sweat break out from the pain.

Seeing that I didn’t answer, Ezekiel stepped forward once more and kicked the old wound again.

He even dug his heel into it harshly. “What are you pretending about? Still trying to use that old help from years ago to make me soft toward you?”

“I’ve endured you for all these years. If you hadn’t gone after Gwynne, maybe I would’ve allowed you to stay. But now, someone as harsh as you should get out of my home sooner!”

After speaking, he took the divorce certificate from his pocket and threw it onto my face, as though expecting me to kneel and ask for forgiveness.

I gripped the divorce certificate firmly, not saying a single word.

Seeing this, Ezekiel said coldly, “You have no right to stay here anymore. Leave tomorrow!”

After he finished talking, he lifted Gwynne up and turned around to leave.

I sat on the floor, the old injury from saving Ezekiel still aching deeply.

Thirty years had passed, long enough for Ezekiel to forget that this villa did not belong to him. It belonged to me.

But very soon, he would realize that I was the only person who had the right to send them away, not them pushing me out.

The next day, I put on a neat dress, getting ready to leave this place.

The real estate agency had already given me a clear answer. In three more days, this villa would be completely handed over to someone else.

I took hold of my suitcase, raised my head, and prepared to leave.

But my son’s girlfriend, Eulalie, suddenly showed up, looking at me with clear displeasure. “Aunt, the wedding is about to begin. Why are you still here? Is the gift ready? I’m going to open it right there later.”

While she talked, she ignored my struggles and dragged me straight to the wedding area.

When I saw the seat arranged for me at the wedding site, and Eulalie’s expression that allowed no refusal, I fought against it again and again, but in the end, I still remained.

After today, I would never see Jaxon again. A mother not missing her child’s wedding might have been the last gift I could give him.

With this thought, I began searching for a wedding gift I could hand to them.

Just then, a pair of hands suddenly pulled me up.

“What are you doing here?”

I jolted, and when I looked up, it was my son’s angry face.

He dragged me away from the seat and shouted, “This seat wasn’t set aside for you! How can you sit wherever you like? Why are you here? I don’t remember inviting you to my wedding!”

“I…” My voice quivered as I pointed at the card on the table that read “Mother.”

“Isn’t this seat for me? Am I not your mother?”

My son released a cold, sharp laugh.

“You already divorced my dad. This seat is for Aunt Gwynne. My mother now is, of course, Aunt Gwynne!”

I felt my whole body freeze.

“I took care of you for more than twenty years,” I said in a soft, strained voice.

“But you divorced my dad,” he said again, as if the moment I ended things with Ezekiel, I lost the right to call myself his mother.

“I was the one who raised you, I was the one who gave birth to you!”

I yelled without thinking, my body shaking all over.

My son stared at me like I was acting out for no reason.

Then I heard footsteps behind him as Ezekiel came closer with Gwynne holding a bunch of gifts.

“Heather? What are you doing here?” Ezekiel frowned.

“Forget it. Since she’s here, son, give her a seat. That spot over there is fine.”

Ezekiel motioned toward a corner chair like he was offering me a leftover place.

Gwynne nodded as well, as though she thought this was some sort of big honor for me.

“The wedding is starting soon,” she said gently, “older sister, don’t create trouble at a time like this.”

When I looked at all of them, my heart went entirely cold.

“No need,” I replied evenly. “I’m not so sad that I must attend a wedding where no one welcomes me.”

After speaking, I pushed my numb legs forward and tried to leave.

But Gwynne held onto me without stopping. She pulled at my clothes with force while frowning.

“Heather, stop now. I’ll hand you my seat.”

I tried with all the strength I had, but my power wasn’t equal to hers.

In our struggle, the dress I wore made a loud tearing noise.

The next moment, the dress ripped open fully, leaving me exposed in front of everyone.

“Ah!” I screamed, covering myself.

But Gwynne acted guilty and said, “Heather, I didn’t mean to.”

Ezekiel and my son looked at me with disgust, and at that moment, my older brothers rushed over.

“Enough! Heather, are you trying to ruin your son’s wedding completely? Get out right now!”

Ezekiel seized my arm with clear dislike, as though seeing me would infect him, and he tossed me out.

People around started pointing at me.

Ezekiel and my son even slammed the wedding doors shut, just to make sure I could not enter again.

It felt like my feet were on knives as I walked back to the villa, dazed.

Sunk in pain and shame, I did not pull myself together until the sky turned dark.

Just as I was about to walk away, Gwynne once again stopped in front of me.

Wearing a lazy smile, she looked at me with cold amusement. “Heather, you’re still as useless as ever.”

“Thirty years ago, I left on purpose so I wouldn’t have to marry Ezekiel, and I didn’t expect the Beaumont family to rise again so fast, so I had to make up some excuses.”

“I never thought they would accept it so easily. Even your son believes he came into this world for me. They all support me. If I were you, I would have died already.”

Gripping the handle of my luggage, I stayed silent and tried to walk away.

But Gwynne refused to move and stepped right toward me. “Heather, I really do admire how much you’ve put into Ezekiel and his son all these years. Now I don’t even need to give birth, and I still have a child who will honor me. Your husband treats me with endless gentleness. Since you have cancer and are nearing the end, I can tell you something true.”

She gave me a pitying look and dragged out her voice. “At that time, when your oldest daughter had that car accident, I was the one who told Ezekiel not to save her. Since she couldn’t be raised to obey, no matter how well we treated her, she still only saw you as her mother, so I had Ezekiel switch her out.”

Hearing this, my eyes went wide in shock, and tears pushed out all at once.

Before I had my son, I had a little daughter who was three years old, and she loved me the most and clung to me every single day.

But once, when Ezekiel took her out to play, an accident happened, and my daughter died right away.

I had thought it was an accident, but it was all planned by Gwynne.

Since she couldn’t take my daughter for herself, she simply worked with Ezekiel to get rid of her.

“Ah!!!” I yelled loudly.

The next moment, I threw myself at Gwynne and knocked her straight to the ground.

I struck her face over and over, each one rough.

In just a short time, Gwynne’s face puffed up.

“Crazy woman, Heather, you insane woman!”

Finally understanding what happened, Gwynne held her swollen face and yelled.

She stared at me in wild anger and made a phone call.

Very soon, I was surrounded by a group of people, held down harshly on the ground.

Gwynne pushed herself up and kicked me hard.

I suddenly threw up a mouthful of blood, but she was still not done, kicking my stomach again and again, her look twisted.

She glared at me with hate. “Heather, you have cancer. I first wanted to let you go, but you dared to hit me! And you hit my face!”

“I will never let this go! I will make you truly hurt, I will take everything from you, and I will make sure you die with no place to be buried!”

The next moment, I was beaten until I passed out.

.....

As soon as I woke again, Gwynne and I were tied close together, hanging far above a cliff.

Two ropes separately held each one of us up.

Gwynne coldly smiled. “Heather, guess how many of them, Ezekiel, Jaxon, and your brothers, will choose to help you?”

Right after her words ended, they reached the place.

The people she had called earlier suddenly acted like kidnappers and broke into loud laughs.

“President Beaumont, the two hanging here, one is the mother of your son, and the other is your newly married wife. Who will you choose? Of course, your son should choose his own mother, right?”

“I hope you make a choice fast, or I’ll cut both ropes.”