Chapter 4

"What kind of talk is that!" Ever since returning from the reunion dinner, my father had been singing Mandy's praises to me, saying how hard she worked to help search for me.

Now that the lies were exposed, my father glanced at me awkwardly before hurriedly pulling Mandy into another room.

I don't know what they said, but when they came out, Mandy was like a different person. She enthusiastically hugged me, "Emily, welcome home."

Much later I finally learned that my father had promised her then, "All the assets will go to Tyler. We'll just use Emily to make money."

But it didn't matter anymore.

I had finally moved into my father's mansion and met my 5-year-old half-brother Tyler, who was cared for by two nannies.

The household registration transfer smoothed over some of the online criticism. My father was pleased and bought Mandy a Hermès bag.

Placated by the bag, Mandy became two-faced.

She no longer gave me trouble in front of my father, but secretly schemed against me.

She arranged for different thugs to wait outside my school and whistle at me.

"Emily, be my girlfriend."

Memories of my horrific death in my past life surfaced. I covered my mouth and retched.

I called my father: "I'm being harassed."

He just coldly replied: "A fly won't bite a seamless egg."

That response was too ridiculous.

I carefully selected a male model online and sent him photos of Mandy with her wall of luxury goods.

"Want to make big money?"

He instantly replied: "Thanks sis."

That weekend, Mandy dressed up beautifully to go out. The nanny happened to have a family emergency and needed time off.

I thought Mandy would cancel her date, but she just dumped the kid on me.

"Don't just focus on studying. Take good care of your brother. If he gets even a tiny scratch, your father won't let you off!"

My brother was the apple of my father's eye. I nodded obediently.

In a rush to her date, Mandy warned me sternly before leaving satisfied.

Although Tyler was only 5, his destructive power was shocking.

He was hostile towards me, muttering "bad sister" while constantly throwing toys at me.

I didn't bother with him. I took out some homework and did my assignments while keeping an eye on him.

Seeing me ignore him, he started crying and throwing blocks around with loud crashes.

The noise finally woke my napping father.

He came downstairs yelling:

"Are you all deaf? Can't you hear Tyler crying?"

He was still as hot-tempered as ever. Remembering the slap I got at age 3, I carefully explained: "The nanny had to leave and Mandy went out."

Luckily my father saw I was studying and didn't take his anger out on me.

He tried to pick up Tyler but tripped over some toys after just three steps.

This made my father even angrier. He blamed Mandy for going out.

His angry appearance was too scary. Tyler cried even louder.

"There, there, don't cry..."

My father clumsily comforted Tyler. Sprawled on the couch catching his breath, he finally asked me: "Emily, how... how has your mom been lately?"