Chapter 1

When I was eight, I caught my dad cheating.

He told me that if I dared tell Mom, I wouldn't have a family anymore.

So, I kept his secret.

When Mom finally found out, she divorced him without making a scene.

Instead, she turned all her fury on me, hysterically calling me an ungrateful little monster.

She said I was just like my dad—a born liar.

From that day on, she never believed a single word I said.

When I ran a fever of a hundred and four, she sneered and said I was faking it to slack off.

When I was away at boarding school and called to say I missed her, she mocked me, claiming I was just buttering her up for money.

Later, she remarried a wealthy man who had a daughter of his own, and they built a happy life together.

She often said she was going to raise my stepsister right, making sure the girl would never turn into a habitual liar like me.

Then, one evening, eight-year-old Mia blurted something out at the dinner table.

"Mom, I saw Claire's medical report yesterday."

Mom didn't even glance my way.

"What is it this time?"

Mia spoke up loudly, "There's something growing inside her belly!"

Mom froze for two seconds.

The next second, her hand cracked violently across my face.

"Instead of doing something with your life, you went and got knocked up out of wedlock! Do you have any shame at all?!"

The force of the slap knocked me sideways, sending me crashing to the floor.

"I didn't..."

"Mia never lies! She's not like you!"

My ears rang violently.

Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion washed over me, and I lost all desire to defend myself.

Mia really hadn't lied.

There truly was something inside my belly. But it wasn't a baby.

It was a malignant tumor.

Mom looked down at me from above.

"You haven't even graduated from college, and you pull a disgusting stunt like this? Are you deliberately trying to ruin my life in the Vance family?!"

I shook my head weakly.

Even though I was her flesh and blood, I was the person in this world most terrified of getting in her way.

As a divorced single mother, it hadn't been easy for her to remarry someone as wealthy as Richard.

I never wanted to be her burden.

The year of my high school graduation, I intentionally applied to a college on the far coast.

I had even prepared to take out student loans, thinking that getting out of her sight would allow their family of three to live in peace.

But when she found out, she forced me to change my enrollment to a local university.

She wired all my tuition and living expenses to my account in one lump sum.

Then she screamed at me, "Running off so far—what dirty little secrets are you trying to hide from me?!"

In that fleeting moment, a tiny flicker of secret joy had bloomed in my chest.

Maybe she just couldn't bear to let me go.

So, I stayed in the city where she lived.

Yet I only dared to visit her house when Richard specifically invited me over.

Just like tonight.

I struggled to push myself up from the floor, my stomach twisting with sharp, agonizing cramps.

"I'm not pregnant."

"Then what is wrong with you?"

"I..."

The words caught in my throat. I couldn't get a single sound out.

I had never planned on telling her about the stomach cancer in the first place.

Whether she believed me or not, it would only drag her current family down with me.

Seeing my silence, Mom grew even more convinced that Mia was right.

"Cat got your tongue? Feeling guilty now, are you?"

"I knew it. An eight-year-old wouldn't lie. Unlike you."

I smiled bitterly on the inside.

Yesterday, Mia had dug my hospital diagnostic report out of my bag. She could read, but she couldn't fully comprehend medical jargon.

To her simple mind, it just meant there was a thing growing inside my belly.

Sometimes, a half-truth is far more terrifying than a lie.

I grabbed my backpack, ready to head back to campus.

"Anyway, I'm not pregnant. Not that you'd believe me even if I swore on it."

Mom grabbed my arm roughly and snatched the phone straight out of my hand.

"Let's see what you're hiding from me this time."

My heart clenched as I watched her swipe open my screen.

I had a habit of clearing my message history regularly, so she probably wouldn't find anything.

Ding.

A notification suddenly popped up.

I leaned in anxiously to look. It was a Venmo alert.

A senior from my department had sent me seven hundred dollars.

My mind went blank. I finally remembered: to cover my treatment, I had borrowed that money from him just this morning.

Mom's face turned completely cold. She shoved the screen practically into my face.

"Who is this? Why is he sending you money?!"

My mouth opened, but no words came out.

She let out a harsh sneer. "Abortion money, isn't it?"

"No! It's because—"

The truth surged to the back of my throat. I was right on the verge of coming clean to her.

Suddenly, Mia tugged on Mom's sleeve.

Rubbing her eyes, she whined, "Mommy, Mia is sleepy. Stop fighting, please. Can you tuck me in?"

The tense, furious line of Mom's face melted instantly.

She crouched down and picked Mia up in her arms.

"Okay, sweetheart. Mommy will take you to brush your teeth."

"We're not going to waste our time on someone who doesn't deserve it."

Watching their warm, intimate figures walk away, I dazed out for a second.

My body swayed. Before I could take a single step toward the door, her sharp reprimand cut through the air.

"You're sleeping here tonight. Tomorrow morning, I'm dragging you to the clinic myself!"

She put me in the guest room, which had been converted from an old storage closet.

Late into the night, I had to swallow several painkillers just to stop my body from trembling with agony.

Sometime later, Richard returned home from his business dinner.

Through the haze of pain and drowsiness, I overheard Mom venting to him in the hallway.

"I really regret having her. Tell me, are some kids just born to be a curse on their parents?"

Richard gently consoled her, "Don't let it get to you like this. Take her to the doctor tomorrow for a proper checkup. Maybe it's nothing serious."

Mom scoffed. "I know her all too well."

"With the way she acted today, she's definitely guilty of something."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

She really did know me so well. Yet, she had never once believed me.