Ever since I was born, Mom had loved making promises she never intended to keep.

When my elementary school teacher said I had potential for advanced math competitions, she beamed with pride. "Caroline Fisher, you're amazing! Whatever tutoring you need, just say the word. I work hard so you can spend however you like!"

However, she could not even cough up the 50-dollar class fee. Instead, she turned around and enrolled my two-year-old sister, Hailey Fisher, in premium preschool enrichment classes. I ended up eating plain meals every day, scraping together the class fee from my lunch money.

When I got accepted to Vanford College, the best school in the country, Mom grabbed my hands excitedly and promised, "I knew you'd make it big! Tomorrow, we're throwing a big party to celebrate!"

But the next day, she locked me in the house.

Meanwhile, she rented the city's most luxurious banquet hall for Hailey, who had dropped out of middle school.

She stole my acceptance letter and bragged to everyone at the party, "Hailey is so gifted, she got into Vanford College's gifted program at 13!"

After her endless bragging, everyone believed that I was slow and useless, while Hailey was a prodigy.

I gritted my teeth and pushed through until graduation, finally landing a job I actually wanted. Yet, after my pre-employment medical exam, Mom suddenly grabbed my hand tightly, her gaze determined.

"Caroline, don't be scared! Cervical cancer has a really high survival rate! Even if it costs every penny I have, I'll be right here fighting this cancer with you!"

Then, she turned the corner into the stairwell and burst out laughing with Hailey. "Finally, we can dump Caroline, that burden! She actually thinks I'd help her with treatment? I wish she'd hurry up and die!"

When the doctor approached to discuss surgery details, I waved him off with a cold smile. "Cancel the surgery. Hailey's the one who's sick, and I have no obligation to worry about her!"

When the test results came back, I frowned as I stared at the report in my hands. "Cervical cancer? Doctor, is this curable?"

The doctor, Oliver Blythe, looked serious as he replied gravely, "Generally speaking, this is one of the more treatable cancers. However, for someone as young as Hailey to develop cervical cancer is quite rare, so treatment might be more complicated than usual."

My sister, Hailey Fisher, was five years younger than me and had just turned 20 that year. Ever since she dropped out of middle school, she had not touched another textbook.

Mom did not seem to mind at all. Instead, she devoted herself entirely to taking care of Hailey's every need, giving her whatever she wanted.

It would not be a stretch to say Mom would love her unconditionally forever, so long as she lived.

"Hailey is so sweet and well-behaved. Of course I'm going to dote on her!"

I knew the truth, though. Hailey's 'good girl' act in front of Mom was fake.

Behind closed doors, she smoked and drank, constantly being around sketchy guys from the neighborhood. I had warned her countless times to be careful and protect herself, but all I ever got in return was mockery from her.

"Casual dating is totally normal now. What would a boring bookworm like you know about it? Mom said she supports everything I do, so mind your own business! I bet you're just jealous because you've never had a boyfriend!"

Hailey's scornful laughter still echoed in my mind as I looked down at the medical report in front of me.

The words [Stage 2 Cervical Cancer] glared up at me from the page. Without immediate intervention and treatment, the cancer cells would only spread and get worse. Once it reached the later stages, there would be very little hope of recovery.

Even though Hailey and I had never gotten along and she never listened to anything I said, this involved her life. With that, I set aside my personal feelings for the moment.

I was about to discuss surgery options with Oliver when Mom burst into the room. She grabbed my hand with tears streaming down her face, her voice firm and determined.

"Caroline, don't be scared! Cervical cancer has a really high survival rate! Even if it costs every penny I have, I'll be right here fighting this cancer with you!"

Both Oliver and I froze at her words.

I was about to tell her she had the wrong person, but she was not listening. She was lost in her own world.

She wiped away the tears from her eyes and said with a trembling voice, "You're still so young. As long as we can get through this, you'll have your whole bright future ahead of you! Caroline, don't you worry. I'm going home right now to pack my things so I can stay at the hospital with you!"

The moment she finished speaking, she turned, took Hailey's arm, and walked out of the office sobbing.

When I saw the look on Hailey's face, I quickly hurried after them. However, as I reached the stairwell corner, I heard Mom speaking proudly to her in a bright, satisfied voice.

"Finally, we can dump Caroline, that burden! She actually thinks I'd help her with treatment? I wish she'd drop dead!"

Mom affectionately patted Hailey's hand, and her eyes gleamed. "Hailey, haven't you always liked Ashton Lloyd? Now that Caroline is sick and probably doesn't have much time left, you'll finally get her boyfriend."

She continued, "And that job she just interviewed for will conveniently have an opening, too. I already asked someone to pull some strings and get you in."

Their wild laughter echoed through the stairwell, and I froze mid-step. My whole body went cold. I thought Mom had simply mixed up mine and Hailey's test results, but there was so much more scheming behind it all.

At this point, this went way beyond favoritism. To be precise, Mom not only did not see me as her daughter, but she did not even treat me like a human being either.

Oliver hurried up behind me, asking urgently, "This is an emergency. We need to admit the patient for surgery immediately. Will you be signing the consent forms, or will it be your mother?"

I looked at the surgery consent form and waved it away with a cold laugh. "Cancel the surgery. Hailey is the sick girl, and I have no obligation to worry about her!"

When I got home, I quickly packed up all my belongings and moved them to my rental apartment.

After finishing grad school, I had landed a great job and rented a cozy little place near the office. Compared to the two-story apartment in the city center where my family lived, my studio was not even as big as Hailey's bedroom. Nonetheless, it was the most comfortable space I could afford with the money I had saved from working part-time jobs throughout college.

After all, through four years of undergrad and three years of grad school, which was a total of seven years, Mom had not given me a single dime.

Every time tuition was due, she would pretend to be concerned and promise me, "Caroline, I'll definitely transfer your tuition to your account tomorrow! And don't worry about living expenses either–I'd never let you suffer!"

Forget living expenses; I never even saw the tuition money. I had to apply for financial aid and work part-time jobs just to barely scrape by with my studies and living costs.

The next month, Mom would video call me, looking all apologetic.

She would say she had been too busy last month and forgot to send the money, wiping away tears as she swore this month would be different. She would look at my increasingly gaunt face, crying about how she wanted to send me extra money so I could eat well and dress nicely while I was away in Airedale.

After being let down so many times, I had stopped foolishly waiting for any of her empty promises.

Action always spoke louder than words.

Still, Mom spun beautiful tales about how much she loved me with nothing but words. Her concern was always empty talk, and not a single dollar ever appeared. Fortunately, I had developed the determination and skills to support myself early on, so I did not need to keep living under her thumb.

I had just finished unpacking at my apartment when Mom called.

"Caroline, why aren't you home? You can't delay your treatment. We really need to get you checked into the hospital!"

Hearing her fake concern, I rolled my eyes, my expression blank. "I moved out. I'm living near work now, so it's more convenient for commuting."

When she heard that, her voice shot up a notch. "Work? Why are you still thinking about work? Caroline, when you're sick, you need to focus on treatment and stay in the hospital. I already called your office and told them you won't be coming in starting today."

I immediately sensed something was wrong and opened my messages.

Sure enough, there was a message from my supervisor.

[Caroline, just focus on your treatment and rest. Don't worry about work for now–we have someone covering for you.]

My heart sank.

Anyone could read between the lines of what she was saying. Mom had basically sabotaged my work, and the position I had worked so hard to get was being handed over to Hailey just like that.

"Hello? Caroline? Why aren't you saying anything? Just send me your address, and I'll come pick you up right now–"

"That won't be necessary," I cut her off coldly.

Asking for my address was not about picking me up. It was about pinpointing my location so she could keep controlling me.

"If you really care about me and want to help with my treatment, just transfer the medical costs to my account. You don't need to trouble yourself with taking me to the hospital."

I played along with her charade, hoping to shut her down and end the conversation. After all, I needed to call my supervisor immediately to clear up this misunderstanding about work, and I did not have time for Mom's games.

However, Mom's tone stayed perfectly casual. "The medical expenses are something we need to discuss in person to sort out properly, don't you think? But you're not feeling well right now, so it's not convenient for you to come out."

She pretended to hesitate, though her voice could not hide its rising excitement. "How about this? Have Ashton come over to the house, and he can discuss the surgery details with us on your behalf!"

I nearly spit out the water I was drinking. It was obvious that she wanted my boyfriend to come over and go on a blind date with Hailey.

I brushed her off with a few vague responses, ended the call quickly, and dialed Ashton's number.

"So Mrs. Fisher mixed up your test results with Hailey's?"

I replied, "Yeah, and now she's gleefully scheming to steal my job and my boyfriend."

Ashton's tone had been light at first, but the moment he heard that, he turned serious.

"That's ridiculous! You worked so hard to land that job. How can she just give it away like that?" he ranted. "Don't worry, I'll explain and sort out the work situation for you. My family has had business dealings with that company before, and I know the CEO fairly well, so it shouldn't be a big issue."

He finally said, gently and helplessly, "Besides, I only like you. I don't even know Hailey, and we have nothing to do with each other. Whatever you want to do, I'll support you. Just don't push me off on anyone else, because you're it for me."

Hearing him say that, my furrowed brow finally relaxed.

Ashton and I had met at a college competition. Back then, he was the school's star student, tall and handsome, with outstanding grades and an incredibly wealthy family.

Even so, all those external qualities were actually the least impressive things about him.

We had connected through the competition, and as we got to know each other better, I discovered he was emotionally intelligent, gentle, and thoughtful.

When he felt bad about how hard I was working at my part-time job, he wanted to transfer money to me, but I refused. Instead, he quietly talked to my boss, asked him to stop giving me a hard time, and got my hourly wage raised significantly.

He knew I was stressed about tuition and could never bring myself to order meat dishes at the cafeteria, so he submitted a proposal to the campus that brought down the cafeteria menu prices and added a lot more nutritious options.

With his wealth, he could have easily just thrown money at me. But he knew I hated handouts, so he understood how to make my life a little better without making me feel indebted.

He was the first person who ever made me feel respected and safe.

All that, and Mom wanted to steal the person I treasured most and 'hand' him to Hailey.