Chapter 2

Seeing that I didn't say anything, Henry's tone grew more reproachful as he said, "Penny, your dad is gone. I'll make the decisions for you all now. You take care of your mom, and Mia and William will keep going to school."

"No, I just got a job," I said.

Maybe they hadn't expected me to refuse, because Mia, William, and Henry all stared at me in disbelief.

"Your mom is like this, and you're still thinking about work? She raised you all these years, Penny. Do you even have a heart?" Henry hissed at me, his voice low.

If it had been me in my previous life, I would've kept apologizing and agreed to anything.

But now, I just said, "We can just hire a nurse. She was in a car accident, and the person responsible will have to pay for everything. If they don't step up, I'm not going to either."

In my previous life, my mom was ruled permanently disabled. After stacking medical bills, nursing costs, and lost wages, the other driver's insurance cut a check for almost 400 grand.

But Velva kept giving money to Mia and William whenever she could, and by the time she passed away, there was only about 150 thousand left.

"You heartless brat. A hired nurse is just a stranger. How could she ever care for your mom like family?" Henry snapped.

Just then, a nurse interrupted Henry's tirade. She called out, "Velva's family, the patient can be moved to a regular room now."

Soon, the nurse wheeled Velva out.

Velva was lying on the hospital bed, covered in tubes, her face puffy, with a drainage bag hanging from her head.

When Mia and William saw her like that, their eyes were rimmed with tears as they quietly sobbed.

My whole body trembled uncontrollably, and I pinched my thigh hard.

The real pain convinced me this wasn't a dream.

In my previous life, after Velva slit my wrist, the sharp pain snapped me back to consciousness. Overwhelmed by fear and the instinct to survive, I struggled to drag myself toward her, but she just watched me quietly, doing nothing.

After taking a moment to pull myself together outside the room, I finally went in.

Velva was already awake, looking at me, weak and tired.

I looked at Mia and William, both still sniffling. I said, "You two stay here tonight. Make sure to ask the nurse if there's anything you need to watch out for. I'll come by in the morning and switch with you guys."

As I grabbed my bag and turned to leave, Henry just glared at me, his face stormy.

The sunset warmed my face as I closed my eyes, just enjoying the peace for once.

I grabbed a cab and headed back to Velva's place.

I started looking for those adoption papers.

In my previous life, I had seen the words "adopted daughter" shining right there in my own records.

Velva always claimed it was just because things were strict back then, and my grandma, obsessed with having a grandson, used her connections to get me registered as adopted.

Seeing how differently I was treated from Mia and William always made me doubt her story, but I did not want to face it, and honestly, I was too scared to try.

I hardly ever went into Velva's room. She always said it was her own space and didn't want me in there, but she always let Mia and William in.

The adoption papers were folded inside a manila envelope at the back of Velva's dresser drawer, right next to our Social Security cards.

It was a breeze to find them.

Right next to it was an old, dog-eared ledger, yellowed with age, where every expense for me was recorded from when I was a kid all the way up to now.

From a cheap eraser to my high school tuition, Velva had logged every penny she ever spent on me.

Just then, my phone rang.

Mia sounded frantic on the phone. She said, "Penny, Mom's got a fever all of a sudden. I have no idea what to do."

I kept my voice calm as I replied, "Just call the doctor. I don't know how to treat fevers either."

I understood how lost Mia felt right now, but there was no way I was letting myself get pulled back into all this again.

William grabbed the phone from Mia and said, "Penny, how can you be so cold? Mia and I have no clue how to take care of a sick person. We really need you here."

By the end, he was almost crying.

In my previous life, I pitied William and Mia, so I ended up taking care of Velva on my own. Yet after Velva signed her will, they only put on a sad face, then whispered that I was the schemer who'd steal their share.

"If anything comes up, call the doctor. I'll be there in the morning," I said flatly, and hung up right after.

Afterwards, I packed up a few of my things.

I turned down AuroraNova Global's offer. With all this mess, there's no way I could get my head in the game at work until I sort it all out.