On the day my fiancé was supposed to get engaged to the real heiress, I had a fleeting, manic thought of driving my car straight into the venue and perishing together with them. But right at that moment of madness, my phone started ringing off the hook. I answered. It was the hospital. "Ms. Hayes, you're pregnant..." I turned off the engine and sat there, frozen. Half an hour later, joyful music drifted from the banquet hall. I started the car, turned around, and headed to the airport. From then on, the "fake heiress" of the Hayes family vanished from New York, just as everyone wished. I went to Miami, thousands of miles away, narrowly escaping death to give birth to my daughter—my only true blood relative. I never contacted those people again. Until four years later, when they, one by one, reappeared in front of me. 1 Seeing Arthur again after four years was at the kindergarten entrance. I had just picked up Lily when a mother next to me suddenly leaned in: "Lily's mom, look at the guy across the street. He looks just like that famous singer... what's his name again..." I followed her gaze and saw him. "Arthur Vance!" the mother tapped her head. "Yes, Arthur Vance!" I looked away. "I don't know him." She looked surprised. "Do you not listen to music? Arthur Vance! The hottest original singer-songwriter these past few years! He's won so many awards! "Oh wow, honestly, his face looks a bit like yours... you're both so good-looking..." I smiled, shook my head, took Lily's hand, and kept walking. "Chloe Hayes." Unexpectedly, his voice came from behind. I ignored him and kept walking. "Chloe!" Lily looked up. "Mom, is that uncle behind us calling you? Why did he call you Chloe Hayes?" I smiled and shook my head. "He got the wrong person." Who would have thought, as we reached the parking lot and I was about to open the car door, someone grabbed my arm. I turned around. It was a panting Arthur. "Chloe, you... you're actually still alive?!" His words were as sharp and mean as always. But perhaps because he ran too fast, his eyes were faintly red. 2 I left Lily at a neighbor's house. Walking downstairs, Arthur stood with his hands in his pockets: "Why do you live in such a dump? Where's your apartment? I'll go up and take a look." I shook my head. "There's no need for that." Four years ago, he was the one who said his only sister was Mia. He was also the one who said calling someone like me his sister made him sick. When I was kicked out of the Hayes family by Liam, dumped by Ethan, and completely out of options, I had thought of turning to him, my biological brother. On a heavily snowing day, I stood outside his office building all night, nearly freezing to death. But all I got in return was him saying his biggest wish was that he never had me as a sister. "If you hadn't been born, Mia wouldn't have been switched at birth and wouldn't have suffered so much. "Sister? What a joke. The Hayes family threw you out, and now you're trying to leech off me using blood ties? "I will never recognize someone like you as my sister." That was when I realized, no matter how well I treated him, he hated me because of Mia. Right now, he still looked at me with that scrutinizing, frowning gaze. "That kid... is Ethan's? You ran away just to have his baby?" I was silent for a moment. "She's my child alone." He scoffed. "Chloe, that kid is a spitting image of him. Do you think I'm blind? "Don't tell me you thought secretly having his kid would win his heart back? Are you that desperate for love? "How ridiculous. How stupid..." "I said, she is my child alone," I interrupted him. "I never thought of returning to New York, nor did I ever think of using a child to steal Ethan from your sister. You can rest easy. There's no need to be so aggressive. "Just like you said back then, apart from blood, we are essentially strangers. I have no interest in your life now, so please don't dictate mine." He froze. "If you have nothing else to say, then leave." I turned around. "Wait." He suddenly grabbed me. He opened his mouth, then closed it. "You, you..." I frowned. "What?" "Why... why did you leave back then..." I looked at him quietly. "You were a spoiled rich girl who couldn't do anything. Just because people said a few bad things, you played the 'run away pregnant' trope? "If I hadn't run into you, how much longer were you planning to live this miserable life? And these past four years..." He paused. "How... how did you survive?" 3 I looked at the reddening corners of his eyes. Probably from anger. He was probably shocked I was still alive, and my being alive was a threat to Mia's happy life. How did I survive? Someone traded their life so I could live. But I had no obligation to tell him that. The old Chloe Hayes, who never had to lift a finger, was like a beautiful, dependent dodder plant. But the current Chloe Vance had long stopped crying and begging others for support. Seeing me stay silent, he grew anxious. "No, why are you being so evasive now? Did that massive earthquake in Miami a few years ago break your brain? "Running off to this middle of nowhere, encountering an earthquake is what you get." Just then, a neighbor walked by and greeted me, "Hey Chloe, haven't started cooking yet?" I smiled. "Just about to." Arthur was stunned. "You should go," I said. But he grabbed onto me tightly. "Why did you change your last name?! Vance?! Did you get married? No, whose last name is this?" "Whose last name it is is none of your business." I brushed his hand away, speaking clearly. "What my last name is, how I'm doing... Arthur, it has absolutely nothing to do with you." 4 Arthur is a celebrity. He couldn't afford to be seen tussling with me in public. I went upstairs, brought Lily back, and through the hallway window, saw him still standing blankly downstairs. He had never cared about me before. His melancholy now was probably just him not being used to my cold attitude. After all, four years ago, when I learned about this poor prodigy's musical dreams, I exhausted almost all my connections in New York's high society just to get him a chance to perform on stage. Even his current management agency—I found the best one for him. He was my biological brother. He had suffered a lot, and I wanted the best for him. But all my efforts were ultimately twisted by him. He thought I was calculating, trying to use him to isolate Mia and make her miserable. "Mom, was that uncle today your family?" I was slightly taken aback, then smiled and patted Lily's head. "No, why would you think that?" "I just guessed. You guys look alike." Family. Liam's face suddenly flashed in my mind. I used to think that regardless of blood, Liam would always be my older brother. But four years ago, holding Mia who had fallen down the stairs, he looked at me with a gaze full of pure fury. "Chloe, you are such a disappointment. "From today on, the Hayes family doesn't know you, and I don't have you as a sister. "My only sister is Mia." I cried and clung to his pant leg, swearing I didn't push Mia, begging him not to abandon me, but he kicked me away and walked off holding Mia without a single look back. I shook my head. "That person is not Mom's family." She looked a bit disappointed. "I thought besides Uncle, Mom had other family." I smiled and tapped her nose. "For Mom, having you and Uncle is enough." "But Uncle isn't here anymore..." She pouted. "I miss him so much." I understood how she felt. But mere disappointment is better than the agonizing pain of gaining and losing, of relying on someone only to be ripped away from them. I had been through it, so I wouldn't let my daughter go through it again. But I didn't expect... The very next day, I saw Liam. 5 Lily got a fever in the middle of the night. I took her to the hospital. The viral infection was quite aggressive, requiring hospitalization and an IV drip. I stayed up all night. The next morning, her fever finally broke, but she was listless and weak. I carried her on my back to head home, stopping by street vendors to buy some meat and vegetables. After I paid, the bags were taken from my hands by a pair of long, well-defined fingers. I froze, looked up, and in the misty morning fog, I saw Liam's face. Sleep deprivation made my mind go blank. I blankly called out "Brother," before realizing he had forbidden me from calling him that a long time ago. I couldn't afford to offend the Hayes family. After all, to punish me for "bullying" Mia, Liam just needed to say one word to have me blacklisted by all of New York high society. "Mr. Hayes," I immediately corrected myself. I was trying to figure out why he suddenly appeared in Miami, naturally missing his momentarily ugly expression. "I'll carry this for you," he said softly. "No need." I hurriedly reached for the bags in his hand, losing my balance. Lily whimpered on my back. "Don't push yourself, Chloe." He grabbed my arm, stopping me from taking the bags back. "I'll take you and the child home." 6 Chloe. Liam hadn't called me that in a very long time. The Hayes parents were abroad year-round. In the past, I was practically raised single-handedly by Liam. When he treated me as his biological sister, Liam truly spoiled me. Someone once asked him, wasn't he afraid I'd cause trouble if he spoiled me this much? He just half-squinted. "So what if she causes trouble? If she wants to cause trouble, let her. Even if the sky falls, I'll cover for her." But later, Mia returned to the Hayes family. At first, he still told me I would always be his sister. But faced with Mia's repeated provocations, he always told me to endure it. "She's suffered a lot, Chloe. Let her have her way." He said we had to compensate her. I didn't want to make things difficult for him. He had been my brother for over twenty years; I wanted him to be happy. So I yielded, I endured, time and time again. It wasn't until he ultimately believed Mia's framing of me unconditionally that I understood: I saw him as a brother, but he had long stopped seeing me as a sister. And when he withdrew all his kindness toward me, when I fell into the mud and was condemned by everyone, I finally realized how foolish I was to have always relied on him. The drive was silent. I hadn't sat in a luxury car like a Maybach in a long time and wasn't used to it. I just held Lily and shrank into the corner, thinking about why Liam was here. Did Arthur tell him? Was he afraid I'd hurt Mia, so he rushed over overnight to make sure? What would he do to me? Would he punish me for secretly having Ethan's child? I didn't know, and I couldn't figure it out. My head just hurt so much. I held Lily tighter, completely missing the deep longing in his eyes as he looked at me. "Chloe..." I looked up. He had many more wrinkles around his eyes. "Four years ago, we all thought... you..." "Thought I died, I know," I finished his sentence. "Actually, you can just pretend I died. I lost the desire to compete with Mia a long time ago. Everything belonged to her anyway. Returning things to their rightful owner is fine. You don't need to be nervous, you don't need to be on guard, and you certainly don't need to come confirm it. I just want to live a quiet life with my daughter now." "Oh, and my daughter will only stay with me. She will absolutely not look for Ethan. I swear on my life, I will definitely not proactively use my daughter to ruin Mia and Ethan's relationship. You can rest easy." I looked at him and repeated: "You really can rest easy." He froze. "I'm not..." "Are you afraid I'll use the Hayes identity to do something bad? Don't worry, I absolutely won't. I changed my last name ages ago..." "Chloe!" he suddenly interrupted me. His eyes were red. "Brother wants... wants to take you back..." 7 I didn't understand what Liam was thinking. I haven't been a Hayes for a long time. He was the one who announced it to the world four years ago. And what would I go back for? To continue being Mia's punching bag? I also didn't understand why a man of his status insisted on following me back to a 500-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment. I put Lily on the bed in the bedroom, walked to the cabinet, and took out a box of tea leaves. But then I realized he probably wouldn't drink this cheap stuff. After thinking about it, I handed him a bottle of mineral water. His gaze fell on my right hand, a look of incomprehensible bitterness crossing his face. "Your fingers... are they better?" I looked down. The pinky and ring fingers on my right hand couldn't move. This stemmed from after Mia returned to the Hayes family. Once, I accompanied her to visit a Hayes factory. She was curious and discussing a mechanical design with an engineer. To test her theory, she pressed the start button on a test machine. And at that moment, my hand was resting right there. Before the accident, I was a rising star in piano performance. It was the only area where I outshone Mia. I wasn't as smart or as capable as her; playing the piano was my only talent. When Mia first returned to the Hayes family, whenever I practiced, she would look at me with deep regret: "I've loved music since I was little. If I hadn't been switched at birth, I would be playing the piano right now too." But I could never play the piano on stage again. I found it hard to accept for a while, causing scenes and throwing fits for a long time. I always felt she did it on purpose, so I couldn't help but hate her for stealing my only source of light. Until she suddenly attempted suicide. After she was saved, I instantly went from victim to perpetrator. I still remember that day. Liam came back from visiting Mia, pinching the bridge of his nose, and said to me: "It's just that you can't play the piano. It's just two fingers. Do you really have to have her life? Even if you're a useless piece of trash, even if you aren't my biological sister, didn't I tell you the Hayes family would provide for you for the rest of your life? Do you really have to act like this?" Arthur coldly added: "If it weren't for the mix-up, Mia would be the one playing the piano anyway. You're just giving back what you stole. What right do you have to throw a tantrum?" They both told me my fingers would never fully heal and that throwing a fit wouldn't change anything. But later, at the celebration party where Mia secured a patent using the mechanical design that crushed my fingers, I overheard a doctor telling Liam: "I told you back then, if Ms. Hayes went abroad for rehabilitation immediately, she could definitely recover over 90% of her function. But you never took her? Now it's going to be very hard to recover." Liam replied indifferently: "It's fine if Chloe doesn't play the piano anymore. Mia has wanted to learn the piano since she was little. Seeing Chloe unable to play might help balance her out mentally." "Besides, no matter how useless Chloe is, I'll take care of her. Whether she can play the piano or not doesn't matter." So my dreams, my future—in his heart, they were merely weights used to balance Mia's mind. When did I start being afraid of him? Probably starting from that moment. "I heard you're teaching music at an institute," he suddenly said now. I froze, eyes wide as I looked at him. "I'm just teaching introductory music to toddlers. It's simple music, so I don't need my ring or pinky finger to play it. "I have no intention of returning to the stage to play the piano. I absolutely will not affect Mia's mood because of me. I just need this job to raise my child. And the doctor said my fingers have permanent nerve damage. I'll never be able to play the piano well in this lifetime. Even so, are you still not going to allow this?" He froze: "Chloe, I didn't..." But whatever he said, I couldn't hear it anymore. The fear of my life being ruined struck me again. I couldn't lose this hard-won job just because it might upset Mia. So I desperately showed him my immobile fingers. "Really! I can't play, I really can't play. I gave back everything the Hayes family gave me!" "If you don't believe me, you can try bending them. They don't move!" "I was your sister for many years, can't you at least leave me a way out?" He stood up in a panic, taking quick strides forward to hold my constantly trembling shoulders. "Chloe, don't be afraid! Don't be afraid! "This time I will protect you! Believe your brother!" How could I not be afraid? This life I finally managed to restart. The life Noah traded his own to give Lily and me. "No!" I shoved him hard. But the more I struggled, the tighter he held me. Having not slept all night, I ultimately couldn't match his strength. And in the struggle, my vision suddenly went black... And I fainted.
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