Sophie had slapped Emma so hard that her entire head snapped to one side, but Emma's expression was unfazed. It was as if she was already used to such mistreatment.

Julie watched in silence for a few moments before clapping in delight. "You're strong, Aunt Sophie!"

Julie's approval seemed to please Sophie very much, because she cocked her arm back and slapped Emma a second time. Julie clapped even harder, but all of a sudden, she clutched her chest and said in short gasps, "Aunt Sophie, help me! My heart hurts… Help me!"

Sophie quickly called out to me, "Claire, where's the medicine? What are you standing there for? Get the medicine!"

Before I could even reply, Sophie sprinted across the room, located the first-aid kit and found Julie's heart medicine. She poured a glass of water and slipped the pill down Julie's throat so swiftly as if she had done this a thousand times.

Julie's breathing began to ease, and I let out a sigh of relief.

Emma seemed momentarily stunned by the entire experience. When she approached Julie to comfort her, however, Sophie shoved her out of the way.

"This is all your fault! You bring bad luck everywhere you go! It's your fault Julie had a heart attack, you useless scum! You're a curse to this household, and you're a curse to my precious Julie! You deserve to die!"

Emma lowered her head and replied, sniffling, "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to do it. I didn't mean to hurt Julie on purpose. I…"

Julie was born with a congenital heart condition. Every once in a while, it would flare up when she got over excited or stressed out, and so we kept her medicine within reach of every room of the house.

With that being said, Emma was not at all to blame for Julie's heart attack. She did nothing wrong.

I strode over to Emma and stroked her swollen cheeks. "It hurts, doesn't it?"

Sophie had hit her so hard that both of Emma's cheeks were swollen to twice their usual size. I took out a tube of ointment from the first-aid kit and gently dabbed it onto Emma's face.

Sophie pursed her lips. "There's no need to waste your time on her, Claire! She'll get better on her own anyway. Why waste that expensive ointment on her ugly face? If anything, she needs to toughen up. She's not a princess!"

I vividly recalled a time when Julie had scraped her knee and Sophie had rushed her to the emergency room in a panic.

The doctor had to squint to see the wound, that was how small it was.

Then, he made a sarcastic comment to Sophie that if she had come even a minute later, the wound would have healed altogether.

Sophie had shouted at him, "Don't get smart with me! Children nowadays are very frail! What if I take your advice and she ends up with a serious wound infection? You never know with these injuries!"

Then, she forced the doctors to perform a serial full-body scan for Julie just to be sure. The medical bill amounted to tens of thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, Emma had been admitted to the hospital for a high fever. When Sophie reluctantly visited her, she retorted, "Don't you know that fevers are your body's way of regulating its temperature? If you ask me, you didn't even need to be admitted! You'll be fine! You should've pulled yourself together!"

I ignored Sophie's comment and turned to Emma. "It's your birthday in two days. What do you want as a present? I'll buy it for you."

Sophie scowled. "A present? For her? Claire, don't spoil her! I don't want her to think she's entitled to such luxuries!"

She pulled Emma back to her side and hissed, "Cut the crap! Stop going around acting like I'm abusing you! Did I ever starve you? Don't you know why I work so hard? Be more appreciative, you ungrateful scum!"

Then, Sophie turned around and glanced at Julie, as if to make sure she was alright, before dragging Emma back to their house.

Before they left, she paused to croon to Julie, "Don't worry, Julie, this is none of your fault. Emma deserves to be punished. I'll come by and visit you again tomorrow, alright? Be prepared for the biggest gift you'll ever see!"

The next day, Sophie came by with Julie's gift as promised. However, Emma was nowhere in sight.

I could not resist but asked, "Where's Emma?"

Sophie looked revulsed to hear her own daughter's name. "Why did you have to bring her up? She disgusts me. Well, I punished her by making her stand out on the balcony in the cold last night, and guess what? She fell sick. Can you believe it?"

I could not believe it. It was close to zero degrees outside, and with the few scraps of clothing Emma usually wore, it was no wonder she had fallen sick.

Sophie rolled her eyes at the concern on my face. "No need to feel sorry for her. I'm just training her to be more resilient. She needs to toughen up, otherwise she won't even stand a chance in this cruel world! Besides, she'll take care of herself. She needs to wake up for work later, anyway."

My eyes widened in shock. "Work?"

Sophie seemed pleased with herself when she explained, "Yes, work! I found her a job washing dishes in a restaurant, and at night, she's supposed to hand out flyers for a supermarket. Once she comes home, she'll host a livestream for a social media account. With these three jobs, she earns a few hundred bucks a day!

"It's too bad, though, that this is the best she can do. She's too hideous, and no one else will take her. I see child prodigies online earning a few hundred thousand dollars on top of their studies. If only she was half as smart as them!"

At the mention of that, she hugged Julie and squealed, "Don't you agree, Julie? When Emma's salary comes in, I'll buy you some new clothes, and we can go out for a meal! You like Italian food, don't you?"

Julie was delighted, but the next moment, her expression turned sour.

She said glumly, "I can't, Aunt Sophie. Mom says that I'm overweight, and I need to watch my diet. My heart is going to suffer if I get any bigger. Also, I can't accept any more gifts from you, Aunt Sophie. Mom says that they belong to you because you bought them, and I shouldn't accept things that aren't mine."

Sophie scowled, but she replied reassuringly, "How can that be? You're not overweight, Julie! Besides, being skinny is just a trend! If anything, those supermodels look anorexic to me! We mustn't blindly follow the trends. What matters is that you're happy and healthy!

"Besides, I bought those gifts with my own money, so I can decide who I want to give it to. You deserve all the best things in the world, darling!"

That seemed to cheer Julie up. She chirped, jumping with joy, "Aunt Sophie, you're the best! I wish you were my real mother! If you were my Mom, I'd be the happiest girl in the world!"

Sophie was overjoyed. She was about to bring Julie out to the newest Italian restaurant in town when I pulled her aside and murmured, "You mustn't indulge her anymore. She needs to lose weight!"

Sophie did not heed my warning. Instead, she snarled at me.

"Why are you depriving your own child of her nutrition? It's not like you can't afford it! She's growing! She needs all the nutrients she can get!"

I explained to Sophie that the more overweight Julie became, the more strain it would place on her already weak heart. If she got any heavier, her heart would give out in the future, and she would even need to rely on a ventilator for the rest of her life.

Sophie's hand flew to her mouth. She even took a few steps back, as if this was the most shocking thing she had ever heard. "Is this true?"

I nodded my head solemnly, but Sophie did not seem to believe me. She kept shaking her head in denial. After a few moments, an idea occurred to her.

"Why don't we find her a heart donor?"

It sounded like an impossible plan. "Who would willingly donate their heart to a complete stranger? Even if we get Julie on the transplant list, it'll take ages until a suitable match comes around. It's better if we keep a close eye on her health to delay this from happening as long as we can."

Sophie pursed her lips. "Our precious Julie can't just accept a heart donated from a random stranger! What if she contracts something from the transplanted heart? You never know with those people! If she must undergo a heart transplant, it must be from a live, healthy donor!"

That idea sounded borderline delusional to me. After all, why would a healthy, living person willingly die to donate their heart?

Sophie seemed utterly convinced that it was the best idea to happen to mankind. She trotted over to Julie, looking excited. I hovered on the other side of the wall and eavesdropped.

Sophie deliberately lowered her voice, but I could still hear her every word.

"Julie, do you want to have Emma's healthy heart?"

I did not hear Julie's reply, but it was a no-brainer. Who would not want a healthy heart in place of their diseased one?

Besides, it would not be the first time that two of them conspired against me. I did not mind it one bit, because I had a better surprise waiting in store.

Whenever Julie's birthday rolled around, Sophie would be even better prepared than me. I did not even need to do anything because Sophie would have everything covered for Julie's birthday party. That year was arguably the most important one because it was Julie's 18th birthday—the year that marked her transition into adulthood.

Needless to say, Sophie had gone all out. She oversaw everything, from the cake to the party decorations, and had even taken to cooking all of the party food herself. In order to perfect every recipe, she tried and experimented countless times, just to get every morsel of food down to perfection.

That was rather excessive to me. I could not help but mock Sophie for it, joking that not even the Queen received such treatment for her birthday party.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "What do you know? We must be very cautious when it comes to the food children put into their mouths. I saw on the news that a bitter woman poisoned the food at a child's birthday party, all because she was jealous that she could not conceive a child of her own. Not to mention that with Julie's popularity, there will certainly be plenty of people who are envious of her. I won't risk it!"

I could not help replying tersely, "Well, in that case, how come you never put in so much effort for your own daughter? Emma always looks malnourished, and one time, I even caught her rifling through the trash, looking for scraps of food to eat. Aren't you at all concerned about her getting poisoned?"

The color drained from Sophie's face, and she explained hastily, "Why did you have to bring her up? This is all just part of my training her to be more resilient and hardworking. Besides, you're overthinking this. There are plenty of people in this world, but not all of them are bad! I'm sure her chances of getting poisoned are impossible!"

What a hypocrite. I did not even attempt to call her out.

Instead, I watched in silence as Sophie fed Julie with her own hands, trying to get her approval of the food.

They should both spend more time with each other while they still could.

On the day of Julie's birthday, our relatives gathered around the table and compared the two girls' report cards.

"My, my. Julie is the epitome of a child genius! I can't believe it! She got into an ivy league school! She has a bright future ahead of her, this one!"

"Indeed! You can't say the same for Emma over here. Look at her grades! Dismal! At this rate, she might not even get into a community college!"

Sophie grinned from ear to ear, but she still tried to put on a show. She replied, sounding not at all convincing, "You can't deny that some people have more talent than others. Perhaps it's genetics, but we mustn't be too harsh, you know!"

Everyone seemed rather perplexed by that. Why was Sophie so happy since her own child was the one failing her studies?

Since Sophie had everyone's attention, that was the moment she had been waiting for.

With everyone's eyes on her, she took out the DNA report that she had hidden for almost two decades and announced, "Ladies and gentleman, behold the truth! Julie is doing so well in life because she's inherited my genetics! Yes, that's right! You heard me correctly! Julie is my biological daughter!"

The entire room erupted into shocked whispers.

"What's this? Do my eyes deceive me? Did she seriously plant her child in another family's house and reaped the benefits?"

"Poor Claire and Andrew! What rotten luck they have!"

"Yes, I heard her as well! How can she do such a thing? She let another couple raise her daughter, and then reclaimed the child after all the time, effort, and energy they had put into child rearing. I'm mortified!"

My husband, Andrew Williams, was so outraged that he slammed his palm against the table. "You did this on purpose! You knew that Julie was your biological daughter, so you spoiled her whilst mistreating my Emma! You abused my daughter!"

Sophie was not at all fazed by the accusations.

She replied coolly, "This is all for her greater good, you know. Emma is such a dim-witted child. If I hadn't cracked down on her, who knows what she would've become?

"Aside from this, I have another announcement to make. I have decided that Emma shall donate her heart to Julie. I've already spoken to Emma about this, and she agrees that Julie's happiness should be above anything. She's willing to sacrifice herself in exchange for Julie's health."

Andrew hurled a cup across the room at her, where it shattered against the wall.

He roared, "You evil witch! I'm going to kill you!"

Not even our relatives could take it any longer. They all snapped.

"Sophie, this is out of line!"

"Claire and Andrew poured so much into raising Julie, and now you're claiming their hard work! Not only that, but you even have the audacity to make Emma donate her heart to Julie. You're murdering the poor child!"

"This is outrageous!"

Sophie was having none of it. She countered, "What do you know about raising a child? It's people like you who end up raising the imbeciles that roam this earth! Don't you know the law of evolution? Evolution decrees that only the fittest survive! It's not my fault that Emma can't survive in this world! It's her own fault!

"Besides, what right do you have to reprimand me? Emma should be grateful that I'm even allowing her hideous heart to reside within my darling Julie's body! This is the greatest honor she can ever do with her life!"

The relatives had to physically restrain Andrew to stop him from hitting Sophie on the spot. I, on the other hand, sat in my chair with tears streaming down my face.

Everyone thought I was so overcome by sadness at my best friend's betrayal, but unbeknownst to them, the tears I shed were tears of joy.

Things were finally about to come to an end.