Chapter 1

Tonight was my forty-second birthday, and it was also the day my daughter, Chloe, graduated from Columbia University and was officially hired by the family company.

On the long dining table sat the result of my ten hours of solitary labor in the kitchen.

Yet, at the other end of the grand hall, the scent of expensive perfume and red wine had already blended into one.

My husband, David, dressed in a newly tailored Savile Row suit, was handing our daughter a Porsche key dangling with a ribbon.

"Happy graduation, my little princess." David kissed Chloe on the forehead.

"Oh my god, Dad! I love you so much!" Chloe shrieked with excitement, turning to grab the young girl standing beside her. "Elena, tomorrow you're riding shotgun!"

The girl named Elena was David’s executive assistant.

Tonight, she wore a perfectly fitted Dior little black dress, elegantly helping Chloe with her coat. She offered David a tender smile. "Congratulations, Chloe. David personally ran to the dealership three times just to pick out this graduation surprise for you."

The three of them stood together under the intricately cut crystal chandelier, looking as flawless as a picture-perfect, upper-class family portrait.

I wiped my grease-stained hands, stood at the far end of the long table, and offered a somewhat awkward smile. "Chloe, let's sit down and eat first, or the soup will get cold."

"Oh, Mom." Chloe acted as if she had only just noticed me.

Stepping over in her high heels, she stuffed a black plastic bag into my arms, her tone breezy. "Here, this is the birthday gift I specially picked out for you. Elena and I spent a long time choosing it at the mall. She said this suits you best."

The bag was somewhat heavy, its plastic material crinkling with a cheap rustle.

But it brought a sliver of belated warmth to my hands, which had grown rough and cracked from over a decade of constant housework.

"Thank you, sweetie. Mom will go get some scissors to open it," I said, heartened.

"No need to go through all that trouble. Just open it here, everyone's watching," David said as he sat down, adjusting the Vacheron Constantin on his wrist while raising his glass. "It's a gesture from the kid, let's all have a look."

Complying, I opened the bag and pulled the items out one by one.

A plain gray, polyester professional maid uniform. A pair of thickened, anti-corrosive rubber gloves. A crudely printed booklet titled Efficient Household Management Time-Tracking Log.

The laughter in the hall did not stop.

Chloe then affectionately pulled a delicate red Cartier box from her bag, gently sliding it into the hands of the executive assistant, Elena.

"Elena, Dad asked me to hand this to you. He said you've been working late with him every night and personally helped me get familiar with the company's operations. You've really worked hard. This is a special executive bonus from the company."

The lid opened, and a classic Cartier diamond necklace reflected a piercing glare under the crystal chandelier.

Elena covered her mouth, her eyes welling up with tears as she looked at David. "Oh my god, David, this is way too precious... I was just doing my job."

"You deserve it, Elena." David leaned back against his chair, looking at our daughter with approval. "Chloe has grown up. She knows how to appreciate the hard work of those around her."

I clutched the ice-cold house tracking log, looked at the grease stains on my faded apron, and felt my fingertips turn cold.

A Cartier necklace was gifted to the assistant.

Meanwhile, I—the wife and mother who had sold her pre-marital condo to support her husband's startup, cared for bedridden in-laws for three years, and woken up at five every morning to make breakfast—received a janitor's uniform on my birthday.

"Chloe," I looked at the gray garment in my hands, which gleamed with a cheap synthetic sheen, and spoke softly. "Is this for Mom?"

Chloe was eating her steak with a silver fork.

Hearing me, she raised her head, her eyes carrying a sort of matter-of-fact innocence.

"Yeah, Mom. Elena has to represent the company's image to negotiate with people from Wall Street every day, so of course she needs jewelry to keep up appearances. You just spend all day scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets. If we bought you a necklace, would you wear it to the farmer's market just to haggle with vendors over a dollar? How impractical."

She let out a small sigh before looking at me.

"Mom... can you please stop making everything awkward?"

She glanced apologetically toward Elena.

"You're embarrassing Dad."

David smiled with obvious satisfaction.

"Exactly, Kate," David frowned, his tone carrying a hint of impatience.

"The kid bought a gift for the holiday, and she was being practical. That old outfit of yours should have been replaced long ago. Chloe specially picked out that professional stain-resistant fabric. It’s the holidays, don't always pull a long face and act so narrow-minded."

Elena pulled slightly at Chloe’s sleeve from the side, speaking in a soft, gentle voice, "David, don't say that. Kate might just... feel a bit of a gap between her gift and mine. How about I return the necklace to David? Even though I really love it..."

"There's no need to return it, Elena, you earned this!" Chloe firmly held Elena back, looking at me with disappointment.

"Mom, can you put away that vanity of yours? It wasn't easy for Dad to build a company to put me through school. Managing the housework in the background is your responsibility in the first place. If you truly loved this family, you should think more about Dad's image and the company's growth, instead of bickering over a necklace you have absolutely no use for."

Responsibility.

Vanity.

No use for.

Not a single one of them shouted, yet every word was like a silenced pistol, precisely shooting countless bleeding holes through my dignity.

In their eyes, I wasn't a living human being; I was merely an invisible, submissive backdrop to this lavish family feast.

I looked down at the gray maid uniform and suddenly let out a soft chuckle.

I slowly set the tracking log back onto the table.

Then, I reached out and firmly grabbed the diamond necklace around Elena's neck before she even had a chance to clasp it.