2

Janelle Kane was my mom's college classmate.

After graduation, she didn't return to her hometown. Instead, she latched onto my mom, living with us for free.

My mother, who came from a wealthy family, didn't mind at all, and the two gradually became as close as sisters.

After my mom got married, Janelle used her status as the "best friend" to gain special privileges, coming and going from our house as she pleased.

But my mother never expected she was raising a tiger in her own home!

When my mom was pregnant with her second child, Janelle moved into our house under the pretext of taking care of her, and it wasn't long before she crawled into my dad's bed.

Even as a child, I still remember her kneeling, clutching my mom's clothes, her voice choked with tears.

"Tina, I truly couldn't control my feelings!"

"Don't worry, I won't try to steal Hugh from you."

"I know you're hurting, and I won't dare make any excuses. I just beg you not to kick me out. Just let me have a little corner in this house. As long as I can see Hugh every day, I'll be content!"

My kind and gentle mother had never witnessed such a scene and was so enraged she collapsed.

My little brother, who hadn't even had the chance to be born, was lost in a miscarriage.

But my dad wasn't too sad, because he soon welcomed another pair of children of his own.

Janelle Kane led a boy and a girl to my mother's bedside.

Two paternity test reports completely destroyed the last ounce of love my mom had for my dad.

It turned out the straying cat had given in to temptation many years ago.

"Tina, they're Hugh's children, after all. It's just not right for them to be out there with no name or status."

"They won't take up much space. Please, do a good deed..."

Janelle pushed the two children forward. "What are you waiting for? Beg your auntie to take you in!"

The two children were quite "cooperative" and immediately knelt before my mom.

"Please, Auntie, have pity on us." They spoke through a flood of tears, their foreheads thudding loudly against the floor as they kowtowed.

What a brilliant scheme!

: Moving In

3

My mom was so heartbroken she fell ill and became bedridden.

The two children then brazenly moved into our home.

They even had their names picked out. The boy was called Julian Rowan, the girl Lila Rowan, and my name is Sienna Rowan.

Ironically, they were three months older than me.

Only now did I understand why my father, who hated cooking, would disappear into the kitchen with Janelle Kane for ages whenever she visited.

And why Janelle Kane always managed to show up when my mother was out, and why I, just a child, would be shut in my room and not let out for a long time.

Unfortunately, my mom saw the truth too late. The shameless Janelle Kane, emboldened by my father's inaction, grew more and more audacious.

She even quit her job and just hung around the house all day, doing whatever she could to get under our skin.

"Tina, why don't you just divorce Hugh? There's no love left between you two. Dragging this on is really not good for your daughter!"

"You're still young. You should find someone else. When Sienna Rowan grows up, she'll thank you for it."

My mom told her to get out, but the recurring high fevers of the past few days had left her weak and drained.

Her words had no intimidating effect on Janelle Kane whatsoever.

The vixen mother was shameless, and her two children weren't about to be outdone.

Lila Rowan was always looking for chances to talk to me. One day, she took a liking to a small teddy bear of mine and asked for it. I refused.

When she saw my dad coming, she immediately dropped to her knees in front of me.

That trick of theirs worked every single time!

"Sister, please don't hit me! I just touched it, I didn't break it."

For someone so young, Lila Rowan's acting was superb. Tears streamed down her face as if they were worthless.

During that time, our home was constantly shrouded in the sounds of arguing, fighting, and crying. The toxic atmosphere was suffocating and made everyone on edge.

My father was completely wrapped around Janelle Kane's little finger, ensnared by her honey-sweet words.

In the days that followed, my mom and dad argued constantly.

My father started smashing things more and more often. The flood of unbearable curses surrounded me day and night, a living nightmare.

For several days in a row, I couldn't sleep at all once night fell.

I would go to the swing set under the old banyan tree in the yard. My dad had made it for me.

In my memories, no matter how tired he was after a long day of work, my father would always come home and greet my mother and me with a smile.

My father was very handy. He'd make me a little wooden horse, the swing set, and lots of other strange and wonderful little gadgets.

To be honest, in my heart, my father had once been like Superman to me.

But I never imagined that all these years, in the corners of his life we couldn't see, he had been doing so many things to break our hearts.

The constant arguments of the past few days had left my father mentally and physically exhausted.

In the quiet of the night, from a corner of the dimly lit living room, I caught a glimpse of my father smoking alone on the balcony.

"Hugh, still awake?"

A woman's voice, as gentle as flowing water, drifted over.

Janelle Kane walked over softly, carrying a jacket.

The light purple silk nightgown she wore revealed every curve of her figure.

Standing at the edge of the balcony, the pale, bright moonlight made her look even more graceful and enchanting, full of flirtatious charm.

She draped the jacket over my father's shoulders, her movements gentle.

"Want to talk about it?"

She offered a perfectly measured smile, her gaze swirling in the hazy play of light and shadow.

You should never try to test human nature. Just as Keigo Higashino said: "There are two things in this world you cannot look at directly: one is the sun, and the other is the human heart."

The amount of time my father had spent with Janelle Kane was no less than the time he'd spent with my mother.

A relationship so close, yet unattainable, was all the more likely to make one's heart itch with desire.

: Departure

4

Janelle Kane lay limply in my father's arms.

My father nuzzled her dotingly. "Don't take things too far. When we argued the other day, she mentioned the contract to me."

"If I hadn't been found out by accident, you and the children never should have been exposed."

"Hugh, don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

'A contract?' The sight of my father holding Janelle Kane disgusted me so much that, as a child, I didn't realize I'd just overheard a crucial secret.

Later, I often wondered if I could have kept my mother forever if I had just told her what I'd heard.

In the days that followed, Janelle Kane seized complete control of our home with lightning speed.

All the servants, inside and out, were replaced with ones she preferred.

My mom could finally get out of bed, but she had no energy to argue with her.

My dad, trying to escape it all, just started sleeping at the office and not coming home.

Janelle Kane had become the new mistress of the house. Along with her two children, she used and controlled everything in our home without restraint.

My mom was tormented by her to the point of a near mental collapse.

Janelle Kane would say, "Tina, you and your daughter have had it good for so many years. It's time my children get to experience everything their father can give them. I'm right, aren't I? What do you think?"

She would say this with a beaming smile, leaving my mom shaken and helpless.

Julian Rowan tore down the swing set and put up a simple basketball hoop.

The basketball bounced around the house all day—BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—and the sound was incredibly annoying.

Lila Rowan said she liked my room and moved right in.

She brazenly took up two-thirds of the bed and rushed me every night.

"Little sister, hurry and lie down. Daddy says kids shouldn't stay up late."

But just as I was about to fall asleep, she would suddenly start talking to me.

"Little sister, I actually saw you once from a distance, when I was very little. The clothes you were wearing back then were so beautiful. I just kept thinking how wonderful it would be if I had a father like yours, too."

"I never thought that if I just kept wishing for it, it would actually come true. Isn't that magical?"

Lila Rowan's laughter sounded especially piercing to my ears.

"Daddy says that from now on, everything you have, I'll have too. And I'll even have things you don't."

This went on for days, and my nerves were completely shot.

For my sake, my mother went to confront Janelle Kane and asked what it would take for her to leave.

I knew my mother still wanted me to have a proper family.

Unexpectedly, Janelle Kane didn't cause any more trouble. Instead, she asked for a sum of money, packed her things, and left with her children that afternoon.

It wasn't just my mother; even I was stunned.

If this was her only goal, why go through all this trouble for so long?

"I never understood him," my mother murmured.

I didn't know if she was talking about my father or Janelle Kane.

One was her husband, the other her best friend. Betrayed by two people she trusted and held close, my mother had been through hell these past few months.

But she still put on a brave face and comforted me, "Sheng Sheng, it's all over now. Mommy's here. Everything will be okay."

Looking back on the past few months, it all felt like a dream.

The wind leaves no trace, but Janelle Kane had left behind many things that "couldn't fit in a suitcase."

The temperature dropped sharply after an autumn rain, and a chill seeped in through the half-open window.

I felt a piercing chill and couldn't help but shiver.

'Is it... really over?'