Chapter 3

Through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, I saw Mark Davis sprawled boldly across the sofa in my living room.

Sitting right beside him was none other than my biological daughter, Chloe!

Before my brain could even process what was happening, Evelyn came skipping down the stairs, settling herself snugly between the two of them.

She wrapped her arms around Mark's shoulders and giggled.

"Dad, that bitch Lillian is out of town on business! You can finally come inside and spend time with me without hiding!"

Mark stroked her hair, beaming with immense pride.

"Just a few more years, sweetheart. Once you turn eighteen and secure the inheritance rights, your mother and I can move in here for good!"

Beside them, Chloe looked equally ecstatic.

"Once that old bitch Lillian drops dead, the four of us can live in this massive mansion together!"

My mind went completely blank. A deafening roar echoed in my ears.

Were Evelyn and Chloe aware of the swap all along?

Had they been secretly helping Mark and Martha orchestrate this trap behind my back the entire time?

Before I could dig deeper into my thoughts, Evelyn's face twisted with raw hatred.

"Lillian really thinks her little mind games can keep me under control? What a joke! It's all an act!"

"I only pretend to be timid and obedient so she lets her guard down. That way, I'm guaranteed to get half of her billions!"

Chloe scoffed in disgust.

"I still can't believe I share blood with that pathetic fool. It makes me sick to my stomach! I refuse to ever call her my mother!"

"The day she brings me back home when I turn eighteen, I'm going to destroy her piece by piece! I'll make sure she learns she was never worthy of being my mom!"

Mark chuckled warmly at both of them.

"That's my girls! That's the spirit!"

"Always remember, we're the real family here!"

One shocking revelation after another battered my senses, threatening to split my skull wide open.

It had all been calculated.

Even Evelyn's sudden change in demeanor, her submissive obedience—it was all a calculated performance to fool me.

They were just waiting for me to step right into their snare.

Yet they never dreamed that I had seen right through them long ago.

Every time I reprimanded Evelyn, she hadn't been doing homework in her room.

Her notebooks were completely covered in vile curses directed at my death.

She had even crept toward my bedroom late at night holding an X-Acto knife multiple times, only to be frightened off by the silent security alarms I had secretly installed.

I never confronted her about it. The more twisted and depraved her mind became, the faster my goal would be achieved.

I knew with absolute certainty that bad blood ran through Evelyn's veins.

She had murdered the woman who raised her for eighteen years in my past life. Under my suffocating psychological pressure in this life, she was bound to commit acts far beyond human decency.

And Chloe? In our past life, she had lived in abject misery for eighteen years, forced to drop out of school before even finishing elementary school to do manual labor.

From what I uncovered back then, Mark and Martha routinely abused her physically. When I finally brought her home, there wasn't a single inch of unblemished skin on her body.

I genuinely believed that reuniting with her would grant her a brand-new life.

Yet she personally pulled the plug on my life support and held the pillow over my face alongside Evelyn.

That family of four had built their luxurious new lives over my dead body.

Thank God the heavens had eyes and granted me a second chance.

In this life, I would never be the tragic mother who died in ignorance at the hands of her treacherous daughters.

I knew very well: Evelyn could not be spared.

And Chloe? She deserved an even worse fate.