Chapter 1
The day I was diagnosed with late-stage brain cancer, I walked back to the Labrousse residence in the pouring rain.
The front hall was brightly lit. My parents were hosting an engagement party for Josette, the phony daughter.
My mother rushed up to grab me, and her nails dug painfully into my arm. "Get back to the storage room! Don't ruin Josette's momentous day!"
Josette, dressed in a million-dollar haute couture gown, looked at me with utter contempt.
"Naevia, you don't even have the right to sit at the table."
Ivandro Galliott also glanced at me with a disgusted expression. "Get lost. You're such an eyesore."
At the same time, the guests' stares pierced me like needles.
I looked at the medical record in my hand: "Estimated Survival Time Left: 30 days."
Suddenly, I burst out laughing. To hell with swallowing my pride.
I grabbed an ice pick and turned around to smash the champagne tower.
Crash! Glass shards littered the floor, and the champagne splashed all over me.
The brain tumor was pressing on my nerves, causing my nose to bleed profusely. I wiped it away and let out a bitter laugh.
"Happy engagement, Josette. I'm going to die soon. So for the next 30 days, I'm going to be a pain in your asses."
"Naevia! You lunatic, what are you doing?" A shrill, furious shout shattered the heavy silence.
It was from my lofty and elegant biological mother, Laura. Her chest was heaving, and her face was twisted with rage.
She raised her hand, aimed it at my face, and slapped me hard.
Smack! The sound was crisp and loud.
The slap echoed sharply through the hall.
My head was sent askew by the impact.
Soon, an acrid taste of blood filled my mouth.
She had struck me with all her might, and the blow pulled at the tumor in my brain.
The pain was so bad that it made my vision go dark, and my ears were filled with a buzzing sound.
Even though I had long since lost hope in my so-called family, at that moment I felt as if a rusty, blunt knife were being twisted viciously in my heart.
After returning to the Labrousse household three years ago, I had learned the rules, mastered etiquette, and tried to win my mother's favor.
Even when she trampled all over my dignity, I still longed for a shred of maternal love.
If she casually mentioned that she liked the pudding from the south of the city, I would gladly stand in line for two hours in the dead of winter just to buy it for her.
I slowly turned my head back. I then stared at Laura and gave her a bloody-toothed grin.
"Mom, did you enjoy hitting me? Does your hand hurt?"
Laura was startled by my demeanor.
Her hand, raised in the air, shuddered uncontrollably, and she instinctively took a half-step back.
"You… you're nuts! Why are you acting like this on Josette's big day?" she said in a fierce yet trembling voice while pointing at me.
"That's right. I'm nuts." I spat out a mouthful of blood-stained spittle.
It splattered onto the exotic rug that was worth a fortune.
I approached her step by step and ticked her off in a voice as cold as ice.
"I'm going nuts because I find you pathetic.
"You carried me for nine months and gave birth to me, yet you spent twenty years raising an illegitimate child as if she were your own flesh and blood. And she was a child who had been swapped at birth by a nanny.
"For three years after I was found, you've complained about my lack of manners and found that I was unpresentable. You banished me to a dark, cramped storage room while letting this phony run rampant in the house, taking over my room and wearing my clothes."
I pointed at Josette, trembling on the floor, and continued in a loud, jarring voice.
"Now, my childhood sweetheart and fiancé has slept with her, and they're having their engagement party today. Not only are you not helping your own daughter, but you're warning me not to cause trouble?
"Laura, since you are not using your eyes, you might as well donate them to someone who will use them. To think that you are treating a cheat as your own daughter. Sooner or later, she'll devour you until there's not a single bone left!"
"Shut up!" My biological father, Jackson, finally recovered from his shock.
He was trembling with rage, and his face was livid as he roared at the bodyguards outside.
"Guards! Tie this disgraceful beast up and throw her in the basement!"
Several burly bodyguards in black immediately pushed through the crowd and charged at me.
They all held rubber batons and looked very ferocious.
And they were clearly prepared to drag me away by force.
"Let's see who dares to touch me!" Suddenly, I bent down and grabbed the sharpest, longest shard of glass from the floor.
I spun it around and pressed it firmly against the carotid artery in my own neck.
The sharp edge instantly sliced through my skin, and bright red blood began dripping down.
The discharge from my nosebleed mingled with the blood from my neck to stain my cheap white T-shirt a deep crimson.
I stared the bodyguards down and grinned.
"Go ahead. Take a step forward. If anyone dares to touch me today, I'll slit this artery right here."
The bodyguards came to an abrupt halt, their faces pale with fear.
These guys drew a fixed salary. None of them dared to take the blame for causing a death.