He Thought I Was Dying, Now He’s Insane

Chapter 4

My sobbing stopped.

Looking at the guilt written all over her face, I felt a bitter sense of amusement.

She led me into the living room and sat me down on the sofa before pouring me a cup of tea herself.

She took a small sip and sighed. "Bella and Ralph truly love each other. Can't you step aside and let her have him?"

"Step aside?" I laughed bitterly. "Why the hell would I do that?"

"Ralph's company has a very promising future. He's responsible, dependable, and hardworking. He and Bella are a perfect match." My mother set down her teacup and looked at me. "Besides, you don't have much time left. Someone has to inherit this family's business someday, doesn't she?"

I stared at her in disbelief. "What do you mean, I don't have much time left?"

"Ralph has already told us everything.” My father had appeared from the study without me noticing.

He looked at me sternly. "Bella and Ralph's engagement party is tomorrow. You will attend and make it clear that you voluntarily gave Ralph up. We won't allow anyone to accuse Bella of being the other woman.”

So they had known all along.

They had colluded with each other and treated me like a fool.

I stared at the two people who were supposed to be my parents and laughed.

"So I'm the one being abandoned? Bella has already stolen fifteen years of my life. Now she wants to take what's left of it, too?"

"Don't talk like that!" My mother's expression hardened. "It's your own body that's failing you. We don't owe you anything."

She looked away, her voice growing colder. "Your sister already feels guilty enough about what happened. You're dying anyway. Can't you at least give her this one bit of happiness and make things easier for her?"

'We don't owe you anything.'

I felt utterly devastated.

Compared with the alcoholic who had raised me in the slums and taken his anger out on his children, my mother had always seemed gentle and loving.

She had welcomed me into her home and given me everything I could have wanted, insisting that she wanted to make up for the fifteen years I'd spent living in poverty.

She had been everything I'd imagined a mother would be when I was fifteen.

And I had truly believed she loved me.

But now I realized she had never really seen me as her daughter.

"Be sensible." My father frowned. "After all, you are our daughter. As long as you cooperate at the engagement party, we'll make sure you receive the best possible medical care."

He stood over me, looking down as though everything I had received from this family had been a favor I should be grateful for.

I sneered. "So if I refuse to cooperate, I'm on my own? I deserve to die because I'm no longer useful to you?"

My father's expression didn't change. "The Harris family has no place for people who bring nothing to the table."

His voice was cold and devoid of affection. "If you're unwilling to prove your worth, then this family has no obligation to keep you as one of its own."

Bella and Ralph's engagement party was an extravagant affair, attended by nearly every prominent figure in the city's social circles.

As promised, I walked into the ballroom of the five-star hotel.

Millions of dollars' worth of flowers decorated the venue, filling the room with an almost suffocating display of luxury.

Looking around, I felt a strange mixture of emotions.

The engagement party Ralph and I had once shared had been nowhere near this lavish.

I suppose you could tell whether someone truly loved you by the effort they were willing to make.

Mom and Dad looked pleased when they saw me arrive. Mom even started walking toward me, presumably to make conversation.

I didn't give them the time of day.

Instead, I found a seat and settled in as a spectator.

Before long, Ralph led Bella onto the stage.

The spotlight fell on Bella, who was dressed in a stunning couture gown, a radiant smile on her face.

Ralph accepted the microphone from the emcee and spoke in a soft, affectionate voice. "I want to thank Bella Harris. She was the one who stood by me during the darkest period of my life. She was the one who showed me what true love really means..."

As Ralph recited his carefully polished version of their love story, whispers began spreading through the crowd.

"Wait, wasn't Ralph originally engaged to Bella's younger sister, Alice?"

"I heard Alice has ALS."

"Since when does someone get engaged to her sister's ex-fiancé? Bella must have been seeing Ralph behind Alice's back."

"Dumping your fiancée because she got sick? Ralph is probably only after the Harris family's money."

The more people speculated, the closer they came to the truth.

Bella's smile gradually faded, while my parents' expressions grew increasingly strained.

Seeing the situation getting out of hand, the emcee quickly cleared his throat and moved on to the next part of the ceremony.

"Next, we'd like to invite Bella Harris' younger sister, Alice Harris, to the stage to offer her blessings to the happy couple."

As the biological Harris daughter, the child who had been switched at birth and who was supposedly dying of ALS, I walked onto the stage beneath the complicated stares of the crowd.

I took the microphone. "I'm here today to make one thing absolutely clear.