After Cutting Ties, My Parents Still Forced Me to Donate Bone Marrow to the Fake Heiress

Quinn Mann and I had been together three years, and Mom said that if we both got into an Ivy League school at the same time, she would throw us an engagement dinner.

Because of that one promise I buried myself in books for two years and finally made it in.

Then I was told I would be Nadia Winfield's bridesmaid.

I broke down and demanded an answer, but Quinn only stepped in front of Nadia to shield her.

"The only person I love is Nadia."

My parents told me to step aside and let Quinn and Nadia be together, and as compensation they threw me a college celebration dinner.

But on the day of that dinner, Quinn picked up the microphone, his face full of righteous conviction.

"Today I have to tell the truth. Hannah Winfield only got into an Ivy League school because she copied off my exam."

"That day she came crying and begged me. I went soft for a moment, and that's what caused this whole disaster."

"But my conscience won't let me rest anymore, so I've already reported it to the authorities."

In an instant the whole room erupted, and my mother slapped me hard in front of everyone.

"The Winfield family has no daughter with such rotten character!"

Before they took me away to be investigated, I was forced to sign the disownment papers.

Ten years later, I became a top attorney.

And then I saw my parents and Quinn on a family-reunion TV show.

1

Even after ten years, seeing these people still left a bitter ache in my chest.

Both my father's and my mother's faces carried the marks of the years, their temples gone gray.

Quinn had lost his boyish edge and looked like a steady, grown man now.

"Ten years ago, after our daughter Hannah got into an Ivy League school, she cut ties with us. All these years we've searched everywhere for her, but there's been no word at all. We were out of options, and that's why we came to the show."

My mother's eyes were brimming, her voice choked almost past recognition.

"This child has a strong temper. We've long stopped holding her mistakes against her. What parent truly stays angry with their own child?"

My father's eyes had gone red too.

"May I ask what reason Hannah had for cutting ties with you?"

The host was a girl in her early twenties, holding out the microphone as she asked.

My parents' expressions shifted, as though it was hard to say, and the audience below broke into murmurs.

"Kids these days are so spoiled. She actually dared to cut ties with her own parents?"

"If she were my kid, I'd have whipped her half to death by now!"

With my parents sitting there in silence, Quinn took the microphone.

"Let me be the one to explain. After all, I'm the cause of everything."

He paused, then went on.

"Hannah liked me from the time we were young, but my heart only ever belonged to her sister. I turned down her confession, and in a fit of anger she cut ties with the family. But I don't regret it!"

The whole room erupted.

"My God, this Hannah is too much. She actually tried to steal her own sister's man!"

"Good thing he's a decent man, or her poor sister would have suffered terribly!"

Watching those people milk their misery in front of the camera, I couldn't help thinking back to the day of my college celebration dinner.

Back then I was still sunk in grief over Nadia and Quinn's engagement.

The dinner was meant to make it up to me, and it gave me no joy at all. Then Quinn took up the microphone and reported me for plagiarism by name.

In that instant the guests were in an uproar, and my mother slapped me hard across the face.

I was forced to sign the disownment papers, driven out of the Winfield house, and taken away for investigation.

They cleared my name in the end, but my reputation was already destroyed.

I went looking for work to earn my tuition, but no one would hire me.

There was no choice. I took the hardest, most grueling jobs I could get.

While hauling cargo one day, long-term malnutrition made everything go black in front of me, and a hundred-plus pounds of sand came down straight onto my body.

That was when the ring finger on my hand was crushed out of shape for good.

With no money for treatment, I could only let it heal crooked, and it aches to the bone on every rainy day.

A shrill phone ring cut through my thoughts.

"Hello, we're with a family-reunion program. Your family is all looking for you. Would you be willing to come on the show?"

"My parents died ten years ago."

I said just that and hung up without a second's hesitation.

In front of the camera, the moment my parents heard I refused to claim them, they crumpled to the floor sobbing.

And just then, Quinn came out from backstage, supporting someone by the arm.

It was Nadia, except now she was so thin she was barely recognizable, her face white as paper.

The moment she appeared she dropped straight to her knees, and no matter how Quinn tried to pull her up, she wouldn't rise.

"Sister, I know I don't have long to live. All I want before I die is to see our family together again. If you don't like me, I'm willing to leave. I'll give Mom and Dad and Quinn all back to you."

As Nadia spoke, tears struck the floor one after another, and the audience below couldn't help weeping too.

I let out a cold laugh. After all these years, Nadia was still such a good actress.

I switched off my phone, put it all out of my mind, and focused on my work.

I was a lawyer now, no longer the little girl who let them do whatever they pleased with her.

But the next day, I found them standing downstairs outside my office.