Chapter 5

I brought up divorce to Gabriel.

Things escalated that night, and my parents rushed over to our place.

"What's going on?"

"How did it come to this?"

My parents walked in and saw my swollen face. I thought they would comfort me, but I was wrong.

They went straight to Gabriel's side, carefully examining his phone.

"Did something happen to Tessa? The phone won't turn on?"

"Oh no, my poor daughter! How terrible!"

My mom burst into tears, seemingly forgetting that her real daughter had just been slapped across the face.

"Mom, Dad... Zoe and I had an argument earlier... Zoe was probably too jealous and knocked Tessa's phone down. Now it won't turn on, and we don't know how Tessa is doing." Gabriel sighed.

"How could this happen?!"

"Zoe! How could you be so cruel! Tessa is our goddaughter!"

"What kind of sister are you?! Do you have any conscience left?!"

My mom rushed over and shook my shoulders violently.

My dad looked at me coldly: "If she had a heart, she wouldn't have left without a word back then."

"Didn't you disown me as your daughter long ago?" I asked, feeling utterly hopeless as I looked at my parents.

Years ago, when I was diagnosed with a terminal illness, I was devastated. My boyfriend had coincidentally failed in his business venture at the time. Not wanting to burden him with the truth of my condition, I chose to break up with him.

But my parents thought I was heartless to the extreme, willing to cut ties with them over a boyfriend.

Later, Gabriel made a comeback with his AI technology and became the company's CEO. The AI robot Tessa he developed was deeply loved by my parents, who accepted her as their goddaughter.

"You! We wasted all those years raising you! No matter how wrong parents may be, they're still your parents!"

My parents yelled, pointing at my nose.

I looked at them, wondering what their expressions would be if they knew I had a terminal illness.

Suddenly, my stomach started hurting again. The pain was so intense it made me dry heave.

I knelt on the floor, grabbed the trash can, and threw up what little was left in my empty stomach.

"She's faking it!"

"Trying to gain sympathy? You've always been like this, pretending to be sick when you do something wrong!"

"I regret ever giving birth to you! You're killing me!"

My mom complained with her hands on her hips.

I shook my head. "Mom, I'm not pretending. I'm dying."

My mom gave me a cold look. Perhaps seeing my sickly pallor made her feel a bit of pity, so she said quietly: "If you want to die, go die somewhere else! Make amends to Tessa first!"