After my biological daughter was kidnapped, my husband suggested we adopt a little girl to heal our family. But on the exact day we finally found and brought my biological daughter back home, bizarre floating text began appearing in my vision. [Oh god, it's one of those 'Fake vs. Real Daughter' stories! I know this trope. The parents and the older brother are going to blindly favor the adopted daughter and literally drive the real daughter to her death. And only after the real daughter dies will they suddenly 'realize their mistake' and suffer from endless, useless regret.] [I absolutely despise this toxic tragedy trope! It's so emotionally manipulative!] [The poor little real daughter. She probably thinks coming back to her biological parents means she'll finally be happy, but she's just walking into another hellhole...] I thought the floating text was some kind of absurd hallucination. But then, my eight-year-old son, Liam, pointed a finger directly at my newly returned daughter and screamed: "Chloe is my only sister! I hate you!" My husband, Mark, holding our adopted daughter, Chloe, gave Liam a half-hearted, toothless reprimand. "Liam, Lily is your sister too. You can't talk to her like that." Liam yelled back defiantly, "I don't care! I hate her!" Lily, my biological daughter, looked at Liam, then at me. Her large eyes slowly welled up with tears. I couldn't take it anymore. I snapped, shouting loudly, "Liam! Stop talking nonsense right now!" Liam stubbornly glared at me, refusing to back down. "I don't care! I will never accept her as my sister! Chloe is my only sister!" I was so furious I wanted to slap some sense into him. Mark awkwardly tried to smooth things over. "Honey, calm down. Liam is just throwing a childish tantrum. He's just saying things. We just need to guide him slowly." I was disgusted by Mark's dismissive attitude. But when I looked down and saw Lily's red, tear-filled eyes, I immediately crouched down and pulled her into my arms. "It's okay, baby. If you want to cry, just cry. Mommy will always love you." Lily pressed her lips together tightly. She looked at me, clearly wanting to cry but too terrified to actually let the tears fall. It broke my heart into a million pieces. Right then, our adopted daughter, Chloe, ran over and hugged my leg. "Chloe wants Mommy to hug her too." I looked down. Chloe was staring up at me with big, pitiful eyes. Just as I was feeling a brief pang of conflict, the floating text appeared again: [Look at this! The fake daughter plays the victim, and the mom's heart is already softening! So frustrating!] [The fake daughter is so gross. Before she transmigrated into this world, she was literally a woman in her twenties! Now she's acting like a toddler, fighting a five-year-old for attention.] [Don't worry, she won't just fight for attention. She's going to constantly frame the real daughter until everyone hates her. Eventually, the real daughter will either commit suicide in despair or die of a terminal illness.] I stared intently into Chloe's eyes. Sure enough, beneath the facade of childhood innocence, I caught a fleeting, calculated gleam of manipulation. My blood ran cold. "Chloe, Mommy is holding your sister right now, I don't have a free hand. Go ask Daddy to hold you." A dark, resentful look flashed across Chloe's eyes, but she masked it instantly. Playing the role of the rejected, heartbroken child, she whispered, "Okay, Mommy." Mark was furious with how I handled it. His face dark, he marched over and scooped Chloe up into his arms. Chloe seemed incredibly wronged. She wrapped her arms around Mark's neck and began to cry softly against his shoulder. Mark looked at her with intense pity, and the glare he shot me was filled with deep resentment. Liam marched over to me, angrily demanding, "Mom, why wouldn't you hug Chloe?!" Looking at his entitled, self-righteous expression, my heart turned to ice. "Can't you see my hands are full?" "Then you shouldn't be hugging her!" Liam screamed, violently grabbing Lily and trying to physically drag her out of my arms. "You annoying freak! Get down! You're not allowed to let my mom hug you!" Lily was terrified. She instinctively threw her arms around my neck, clinging to me for dear life. I exploded. I slapped Liam's hands away and roared, "LIAM!" Liam was stunned by my scream. A second later, he burst into loud, wailing sobs. Chloe wriggled out of Mark's arms, ran over, and spread her arms wide, positioning herself protectively in front of Liam. "Mommy, if you don't like me, that's fine, but please don't hit my brother!" Empowered by Chloe's defense, Liam cried even louder, screaming at me, "I don't want you! You're a bad mom! You're a bad mom!" Chloe turned around, hugged Liam, and started "sobbing" hysterically with him. "Don't cry, brother! I love you the most!" Mark shot me a furious, disgusted glare. He walked over, kneeling down to wrap one arm around Liam and the other around Chloe. His eyes were overflowing with heartbreak for them. Both kids buried their faces in his chest, weeping as if they had been brutally abused. I looked at my biological daughter, Lily, who was biting her lip, desperately trying to suppress her own tears. My heart physically ached for her. [Honestly, the transmigrator's acting is a bit over the top...] [I get that the brother is only eight and can't tell he's being manipulated, but how is the dad this stupid?] [The most surprising thing here is that the mom hasn't lost her mind yet. I'm actually a little shocked...] [It's just temporary. Following the standard trope, the mom will inevitably take the fake daughter's side eventually.] [Giving the real daughter hope and then ripping it away... that's even more cruel...] I had already made my choice, but now was not the time to put all my cards on the table. "Finding your biological daughter and immediately abandoning your adopted daughter" was a narrative that would get me crucified by the internet mob. Furthermore, I was currently under review for a massive promotion at work. I couldn't afford to be impulsive. I had to wait until I could execute a flawless exit strategy before making a move. After all the kids were asleep, Mark and I returned to our master bedroom. Mark immediately adopted a patronizing, lecturing tone. "I know your heart aches for Lily, but Chloe is our daughter too. You can't just ignore Chloe's feelings just because you feel guilty about Lily." I looked up at him, my voice completely flat. "So, in order to protect Chloe's feelings, I should just neglect the daughter we literally just found and brought home?" Mark was momentarily speechless. I continued, "Do you have any idea how much Lily suffered with her adoptive family?" Mark stammered, unable to form a sentence. I pressed on. "She's five years old. She was forced to take care of their younger kids. They starved her, dressed her in rags, and beat her constantly." My voice began to shake with barely contained rage. "Are you blind?! Did you not see how malnourished she is?! Did you not see the bruises and scars covering her entire body?!" Mark opened his mouth, closed it, and finally muttered, "I'm sorry. I didn't think it through. You're right, we should be more mindful of Lily's feelings and emotional state." I took a deep breath, forcing down my surging emotions and tears. "You didn't just 'not think it through.' You are blatantly biased!" When he was glaring at me while hugging Liam and Chloe, he was resenting Lily just as much as he was resenting me. Thinking of this, my resolve solidified. If I wanted to give Lily a happy, stable life, I had to get her far away from these three toxic people! A flash of guilt crossed Mark's face. He forced a placating smile, walked over, and tried to hug me. "Don't be mad, honey. I know I was wrong. I promise I'll be completely fair from now on. I'll treat all three kids exactly the same." I didn't believe a single word coming out of his mouth. But right now wasn't the time to tear the family apart. "I hope you mean what you say." Mark swore up and down, "Absolutely! I promise!" I didn't respond. Mark leaned down to kiss me. I turned my head, avoiding his lips. "Lily just got back, she has severe attachment issues. I'm going to sleep in her room with her for a while. You go to sleep." Mark's face instantly went cold, but he suppressed his anger. "Fine." [The dad is a lost cause, but it seems like the mom might actually be salvageable.] [Agreed. I just hope the mom stays firmly on the real daughter's side. Please don't let the real daughter experience maternal love just to stab her in the back later. That would be devastating.] [I wouldn't get my hopes up. This is a tragic family drama trope. There's no way the real daughter gets a happy ending.] [Noooo! Can't we break the trope?! A powerhouse mother-daughter duo would be so good!] Don't worry. I'll give you the powerhouse mother-daughter duo you want to see. My job is incredibly demanding. I didn't have the time to watch the three kids 24/7. To ensure Lily wasn't bullied when I wasn't around, I hired an elite, professional nanny specifically dedicated to caring for and tutoring Lily. Mark complained that it was "unfair" to the other kids. Liam complained that I was playing favorites. Chloe, on the other hand, didn't say a word. She just constantly looked at me with those big, wounded, pitiful eyes, manipulating Mark and Liam into aggressively defending her against my "injustice." I ignored all of them. Chloe, predictably, couldn't sit still. Within a few days, the nanny secretly reported to me that Chloe was constantly trying to subtly sabotage and trip up Lily. Her level of manipulation and scheming was entirely inconsistent with a five-year-old. Because her body contained the soul of an adult woman in her twenties. Of course she wasn't a normal five-year-old. To avoid tipping my hand, I didn't expose her. I continued to play the role of the impartial, perfectly fair mother. On the surface, Mark also maintained the illusion of treating them equally. Before I knew it, a month had passed. One Monday morning, I went into my home office to grab some documents for work, only to find a highly classified contract covered in messy crayon scribbles. It was obviously done by a child. Chloe glanced at Lily, then spoke up, sounding incredibly "conflicted." "Mommy, yesterday afternoon... I saw Lily go into your office." Liam froze for a second, then immediately jumped in to back her up. "Mom! I saw her too! She definitely drew all over your papers!" Lily panicked, tears springing to her eyes. "Mommy, I didn't draw on your papers! I promise!" I picked Lily up and kissed her forehead. "Don't cry. Mommy believes you. Besides, Mommy has digital backups. It doesn't matter if the paper got drawn on." Lily looked at me through her tears, her eyes wide with disbelief. She seemed stunned that I actually trusted her. I kissed her soft cheek again. "Mommy will always believe her baby." After spending the last month together, Lily had begun to trust me. Overwhelmed, she buried her face in my shoulder and began to quietly sob. I comforted her patiently until she calmed down, then set her back on the floor. "Baby, Mommy has to go to work now. I'll see you tonight." Lily took a deep breath, nodding bravely. "Okay! See you tonight, Mommy." Liam stomped his foot in fury. "Mom, you're so biased! She ruined your stuff and you didn't even punish her!" Chloe stayed quiet, but her facial expression clearly showed she agreed with Liam. My gaze swept over Chloe, then landed on Liam's indignant, self-righteous face. "You're right. Mistakes absolutely must be punished. And lying is no exception." Liam instantly went dead silent, his face flushing a bright, guilty red. Because Chloe possessed the mind of an adult, she only allowed a micro-expression of guilt to flash across her face before perfectly masking it, looking at Liam with manufactured, innocent confusion. I had to get to the office, so I didn't say anything else. I worked late that night, not getting home until past 9:00 PM. The moment I walked through the door, I saw Lily being forced to stand in the corner for a "time-out." The nanny was standing nearby, looking incredibly anxious and helpless. Meanwhile, Mark was holding Chloe, comforting her, while Liam was making silly faces to make Chloe laugh. I froze for a second before an intense, blind rage flared in my chest. The nanny looked at me, her expression fraught with difficulty. I suppressed my fury and spoke calmly. "Ms. Lee, please take Lily up to her room." The nanny nodded in relief. "Right away, ma'am." Mark set Chloe down. His face dark with anger, he stood up and marched toward me. "We need to talk in my office." I nodded. "Fine." The moment the office door clicked shut, Mark launched his attack. "Sarah, I know you feel bad for Lily, but there is a limit to how much you can spoil a child! Do you have any idea what Lily did today?!" I replied coldly, "The crayon drawings? Lily didn't do that." Mark was furious. "Of course I'm not talking about that! Lily pushed Chloe today! She pushed her so hard Chloe hit her head on the coffee table and got a massive bruise!" I frowned. Not because I thought Lily pushing someone was acceptable, but because I knew with absolute certainty that Chloe had orchestrated the entire thing. [The transmigrator is so evil! She literally used the mom's patience to provoke the real daughter into lashing out!] [And the real daughter barely even touched her! The transmigrator threw herself onto the coffee table on purpose!] [I'm so scared the mom is going to believe Chloe!] Believe Chloe? Not in a million years! Even without the floating text giving me the script, I would never believe Lily was at fault! I looked Mark dead in the eye. "Did you even bother to ask Lily why she pushed her?" Mark choked on his words for a second. "It doesn't matter why! She shouldn't be pushing people! And you had no right to end her punishment early!" He paused, his tone hardening. "And I don't believe a word she says anyway!" Faced with his blatant, unapologetic bias, I felt surprisingly little emotion. "From now on, you are not allowed to interfere in anything involving Lily. I will handle her discipline entirely on my own." Mark stared at me in disbelief. "What does that mean? You're forbidding me from parenting Lily?!" I nodded. "Yes." Mark looked at me like I had lost my mind. "Sarah, you are becoming completely unreasonable!" I scoffed. "Glad you noticed. So keep your unsolicited parenting advice to yourself!" Chloe was standing right outside the office door. When I walked out, she immediately looked up at me with huge, tear-filled eyes. "Mommy, it's my fault for making Lily mad. Please don't be angry with her." Looking at her sickeningly fake, hypocritical face, I wanted nothing more than to rip her mask off right then and there. But I forced myself to hold back. The timing still wasn't right. I crouched down and gave her a look of deep "affection," pulling her into a hug. "Thank you for being so understanding, Chloe. Mommy is very happy." Chloe looked at me with carefully orchestrated hesitation. "Mommy... do you not like me anymore?" If I didn't know she had a rotten, manipulative core, I probably would have been fooled by her Oscar-worthy performance. I gently rubbed her head, my voice dripping with "sympathy." "How could you say that? You and Liam are Mommy's babies too. It's just that your sister just got home, so Mommy needs to give her a little extra attention to help her adjust." Chloe nodded "obediently." "I understand, Mommy." I looked incredibly "relieved." "Mommy is so glad you understand." After perfectly executing my performance with Chloe, I went straight to Lily's room. Lily had already fallen asleep, comforted by the nanny. I walked over, kissed her soft cheek, and whispered a quiet promise. "I'm sorry, baby. Just endure this for a little while longer. It will all be over soon." [Holy crap, that scared me! I thought the mom actually flipped sides for a second. Thank god she's just acting!] [I'm so curious why the mom suddenly got so smart. Not only is she fiercely protecting her real daughter, but she saw right through the fake daughter's act.] [Did the mom regress to her past life?] [Maybe. But it doesn't really fit the regression trope.] [The reason doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that she is protecting our little main character!] Of course I'm going to protect my daughter. I knew Chloe wasn't going to stop her sabotage, so I instructed the nanny to just focus entirely on keeping Lily physically safe. Nothing else mattered. After that incident, the house was relatively peaceful for a few days. Then, Saturday arrived. I had a major project deadline, so I went into the office early. Around noon, just as I was getting ready to eat lunch, the nanny called. She said Chloe had "fallen" down the stairs from the second floor. Chloe was screaming that Lily had pushed her. The nanny had been in the bathroom at the time, so she didn't actually see what happened. I told the nanny to keep Lily safe and absolutely forbid anyone from punishing her. I hung up the phone and casually finished my entire workday before taking a leisurely drive home. The second I walked through the front door, Mark hurled the TV remote directly at my head. I dodged it. Mark pointed his finger at my nose, screaming in pure rage. "Sarah, are you even human?!" "Your child gets severely injured, and you don't even bother to call and check on her?! What kind of mother are you?!" "Do you have any idea that Lily almost killed Chloe today?!" "You refuse to discipline her, and you forbid me from doing it. Are you trying to raise a literal murderer?!" I took a deep breath. "Mark. Chloe claimed Lily pushed her, and you just blindly believed it?" Mark yelled back, utterly convinced he was right. "If she didn't push her, did Chloe just throw herself down a flight of stairs?!" "Let me make this perfectly clear, Sarah. If you continue to blindly protect that psychopath, we are getting a divorce!" Liam immediately chimed in. "Dad! I don't want Mom! I want to stay with you and Chloe!" Mark looked at Liam with deep pride. "I only want Liam and Chloe anyway!" I let out a cold laugh. "Fine by me." I turned around and started walking up the stairs. Mark ground his teeth, shouting at my back. "You're going to regret this, Sarah!" I didn't pause for a single second. Regret what? The only thing he could do was try to ruin my reputation by claiming I protected my "abusive" biological daughter while neglecting my adopted one. Try to sabotage my career. [The mom is being so careless! She knows the fake daughter is evil, why didn't she just install hidden cameras in the house?!] Who said I didn't?
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