Chapter 3

The Fletcher family was all busy running around, looking after Sheldon, so I took Eileen back home to get some rest.

She was completely wiped out. After dinner, she drifted off to sleep.

After tucking Eileen in, I glanced around the house, went to the window, and lit up a cigarette with trembling hands.

Relief washed over me, mixed with the lingering panic of narrowly escaping death.

I'd already been through this car accident in my previous life.

But last time, I managed to save Sheldon.

Sheldon and Eileen were born on the same day. Labor was hellish, and I was in so much agony that I blacked out as soon as it was over. When I finally opened my eyes, they told me I'd had a son, and Zella had given birth to a daughter.

Whether I'd had a boy or a girl never mattered to me. My family never played favorites, and my parents had always showered me with love.

But the Fletcher family was different.

Zella had been the other woman, trying to get the guy to leave his wife for her. When that didn't work out, he ghosted her and moved away.

But Zella couldn't get an abortion. Her health wouldn't allow it, so she decided to keep the baby and raise it on her own, even giving the baby her last name.

With all that entanglement, I'd always tried to cut her some slack for not being the most involved mom with Eileen.

But it was only later that I learned there was another layer to Zella's decision to keep the baby. Portia had secretly taken her for an ultrasound during pregnancy. When Portia found out Zella was having a boy, she gave her full support to keep him.

The original plan was for Rodney to chip in and help raise the child. But the truth was that Rodney was barely scraping by with just one kid. Adding another to the mix was out of the question financially.

So naturally, they schemed against me. My side of the family was much better off, and my parents had been supporting me financially.

No one expected Zella and me to end up in labor on the same day, and I gave birth to a girl. Rodney was seriously let down. Raised in the Fletcher family's atmosphere, that old-school preference for sons had seeped deep into him, even though he'd always tried to hide it around me.

While I was still out cold, they made a plan quickly, swapped the babies, and told everyone Zella's son was mine. They were sure that I'd go above and beyond for him if I thought he was my own flesh and blood.

As for my daughter, she was handed over to Zella. That move gave Zella endless reasons to mistreat her.

In my previous life, after that car accident, I'd managed to save Sheldon, but the guilt I felt for Eileen, who ended up in the ICU, never left me.

Even back then, the Fletcher family's indifference was clear as day. They only cared that Sheldon was safe. Eileen barely even crossed their minds.

Eileen's medical bills were astronomical, and I knew Zella could never pay that kind of money. So I resolved to take on everything myself.

But despite all that, Eileen still didn't survive.

It was only much later that I realized the money I'd given them never went toward Eileen's medical treatment. They just kept it for themselves, causing her to miss the best time to get treated.

When I confronted them, they shamelessly told me that Eileen was already crippled. Even if she woke up, she'd never be normal. They acted like letting her die was somehow more merciful.

*****

After Eileen was gone, I drowned in guilt. Sheldon started staying at Portia's more often. One day, when I went to pick him up, I heard him say, "That idiot woman treats me way too well. Grandma, Mom, don't worry. I'll keep pretending to be her son, and once I'm grown up, I'll take all her money and hand it over to you."

How did I even put that kind of feeling into words? The shock hit me like ice water. I shivered all over, my mind completely blank.

Sheldon wasn't my child. Eileen was my real daughter. I'd spent years raising someone else's kid, even giving up my own daughter for him.

They took the money that was supposed to save Eileen and let her die, and this heartless, ungrateful son never once appreciated anything I'd done for him. He even saw me as a gullible fool.

I just couldn't wrap my head around the way everything got twisted up. I never expected that people would be so vicious.

Honestly, I was a complete idiot, so blind that I couldn't even recognize my own daughter and so dumb that I basically signed her death warrant myself. With my world in ruins, I no longer wanted to live.

Surprisingly, after trying to kill myself, I found myself back on the day of the car accident.

It felt like God had shown me mercy, giving me one more chance to set things right.

This time, I wasn't just going to bring Eileen back to my side. I was going to make sure the Fletcher family paid for everything they'd done.