A Family’s Unfair Preference Chapter 08
After that day, my parents never pulled another surprise visit, nor did they ask when I’d be free to come home.
Our relationship faded to the point where, if they didn’t cautiously reach out to me, I wouldn’t even think of them.
Still, Mom sent me messages every now and then, and I’d read them whenever I had spare time.
She told me that after they went back, they did a lot of thinking.
They admitted they had been too greedy. They couldn’t bear to let go of the adopted daughter they had doted on for over twenty years, yet they also couldn’t bear to lose their biological daughter, whom they owed so much. In the end, they only ended up failing me more and more.
She said Dad had long since regretted the harsh words he had spoken back then. He would pace around the house, repeating over and over that he never should have yelled at me like that.
She also said that when they realized I was far more exceptional than they had imagined, they were actually deeply proud.
Elin’s easy, lavish lifestyle fell apart.
After realizing how much they owed me, Mom and Dad felt a jarring disconnect whenever they saw her spending money so lavishly.
Their biological daughter didn’t even have decent clothes, while their adopted daughter casually dropped millions just to buy a handbag in her favorite color.
The words I had spoken had finally pierced their hearts.
They placed a limit on Elin’s credit card, and no matter how much she cried and threw tantrums, they no longer catered to her every whim like before.
Elin was never one to take things quietly. Discovering the limit on her card, she stormed home and threw a massive fit, spiking Dad’s blood pressure so badly that he had to be hospitalized for days before recovering.
The very first thing he did upon discharge was to publicly announce Elin’s true identity.
Once her status as a fake heiress was exposed, Elin’s socialite image shattered almost entirely.
The sycophants surrounding her vanished, and the company Mom and Dad had specifically set up for her went bankrupt due to poor management.
She still tried to crawl back to Mom and Dad to play the victim.
Unfortunately, Mom and Dad were utterly disappointed in her and refused to even let her through the door.
According to Mom, she now showed up at their doorstep every day, screaming and demanding to know why they didn’t love her anymore.
It continued until they finally reached their breaking point and called the police, having Elin locked up to teach her a lesson.
But she harbored a deep grudge. After being locked up for a few days, she stole the family company’s trade secrets and handed them straight to a competitor.
The Harts exhausted all their resources to send her to prison, but the leaked secrets dealt them a devastating blow, leaving the family a shadow of its former self.
Yet, my bank account still received transfers, big and small, every single month.
I knew this was Mom and Dad’s way of making amends.
But to be honest, I didn’t need it anymore.
After years of dedicated research, several projects I was involved in had achieved tremendous success.
The bonuses I earned were more than enough for me to live comfortably on my own for a very, very long time.
I never went back home. It wasn’t until Mom fell ill that I finally took a personal leave, stayed for a few days, and then left in a hurry.
Mom and Dad seemed to have accepted reality as well.
The damage was already done, and any attempt to make amends was futile.
Only, at every lecture I gave, two familiar figures would always sit quietly in the corner.
They never came forward, and I never acknowledged them.
In this lifetime, we were destined never to be a close-knit family.
And I would never again sacrifice my future and ideals for anyone.
Staying true to myself, loving myself, and living my own life to the fullest — that was enough.