Chapter 1

After my mother gave birth to my baby brother, she developed temporary amnesia.

She remembered everyone in her life, except for me.

She even hallucinated that I was a child-snatcher trying to steal her baby. Because of this, she slapped my face and kicked my stomach almost every single day.

But sometimes, she would snap out of it. She would cup my bruised face with her trembling hands, weeping and begging for my forgiveness.

I truly believed that one day, my sweet mom would get better and come back to me.

Until one rainy night, I overheard a hushed conversation between my parents in their master bedroom.

"How much longer are you going to keep up this act, Eleanor?" my dad’s voice whispered, sounding exhausted. "Chloe is covered in bruises. There isn't a single patch of clear skin left on her back."

"Hmph. What else was I supposed to do? She’s just a daughter," my mom replied, her voice cold, sharp, and completely sane. "If we don’t break her spirit now and train her to be Mason’s obedient servant, she’ll run wild when she grows up. We won't be able to control her."

I clutched the DNA test results tightly against my chest.

In that single, devastating moment, I realized all of my mother’s tearful apologies were nothing but a lie.

But Mom... there is something you don't know.

Mason isn't even your biological son.

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