Chapter 6

Alaine stared at Tracy, her heart aching. She understood that the latter must have gone a lot to make her doubt everyone.

“You are my daughter, my flesh and blood, so how can I not be ashamed of you?” she said before turning to Lilian and her brother.

“I am sorry for making a fool out of myself,” she apologized with a faint smile on her face, but the siblings just looked at her emotionless.

Julian couldn’t understand what Lilian was trying to achieve, but as her brother, he stood by the side to support her.

Alaine sighed when she understood that things might not ease till she spoke the truth. “Yes, Tracy and Eve were swapped at birth. Tracy just arrived.”

Lilian stared at Tracy for a while before her lips curled up in a good mood.

“Eve’s biological mother, she is from the village?” she asked, causing Alaine to frown, displeased with her words. Inwardly, she thought that Eve’s words about the girl were true.

“I hate your daughter; no, I loathe Eve, and I like seeing her suffering. Now knowing that the thing she always boosted with doesn’t even belong to her, why can’t I be in a good mood?” Lilian said in a serious tone when she saw displeasure in Alaine’s eyes, startling everyone.

Julian frowned, looked at Alaine, then at Tracy as he wondered how come he had never heard of that name from the little girl.

“Tracy, right?” Lilian asked, ignoring Alaine’s gaze.

Tracy nodded as she looked at the girl with suspicion, wondering what she was up to. She didn’t want to make any enemies with the girl or the person and family behind her.

“I believe that you will soon join our school. If you ever need help, come find me,” Lilian said with a smile, before turning to Alaine. She nodded at her, then turned around to leave.

“Mom, let’s get out of the road,” Tracy said as she dragged Alaine away.

As they stood by the road, Alaine stared at Tracy with a complicated gaze, which Tracy saw but pretended not to.

“Are you really going to be friends with her?” Alaine asked, causing Tracy to stare at her for a while.

“Why? Can’t I?” she questioned back.

“That girl doesn’t get along…”

“With Eve. I understand,” Tracy interrupted her as she nodded seriously. “But do you think that Eve and I can get along?”

Alaine was stunned. What happened today at home flashed in her mind, and she lowered her head in embarrassment.

“I understand that she has been by your side all these years and has feelings for her, but I am different. I loathe her. The way her parents treated me, can you try at once to understand my feelings? She was treasured by my family, but I was a slave at hers; how can I let it be?” Tracy asked; the hatred in her eyes shook Alaine.

When she recalled the body check-up result she had been given, her eyes darkened. ‘Yes, why should I continue treasuring that girl while mine was being tortured? They should be grateful that I won’t repay her with that.’ She inwardly thought.

Seeing her mother’s darkened eyes, Tracy sighed softly, thinking that things would be hard that she had thought.

“It’s enough that we are sheltering her, and giving her everything she wants. However, mom…” Tracy said, then stopped, her following words becoming sharper. “There is no way outside; I will be known as the Grants’ adopted daughter, the Grants’ second miss, or even a family member that has visited the city. I am my parents’ only child, and I am selfish to share that title with anyone else.

Alaine was stunned by her words. “But baby…”

“No, Mom. I am being the understanding daughter, not asking you to send her away. Just let everyone know the truth. She is living with us cause of our kindness,” Tracy interrupted her coldly.

With the gaze in her eyes so sharp, she added, “If you aren’t willing, then I will leave.”

Alaine staggered; she stared at Tracy in disbelief, and seeing the seriousness in her daughter’s words, she knew that the latter wasn’t lying at all. She was so serious. She lowered her head, bit her lip unwillingly, causing Tracy, who had been watching her every move, to turn her head, her eyes full of disappointment.

She had thought that after her mother understood how she had suffered in that family, she wouldn’t have any compassion for Eve and would only have her in her eyes, but it seemed she was wrong. She couldn’t compare to seventeen years of affection.

She turned around and started walking away, with a heavy heart.

Being hit by the light that Tracy had blocked with her back, Alaine looked up. Seeing her daughter leaving, blood drained from her face, causing it to look white. Her lips trembled as tears started flowing down.

Her daughter, the only product of her and the man of her life. She felt her heart ache, and immediately placed her right hand on her chest as if trying to force it to remain intact and not break.

All she felt was fear, fear that she might lose her only flesh and blood. The thought of not being with Tracy any longer tore her apart. She felt the same pain she had eighteen years ago.

She closed her eyes, took deep breaths as she tried to calm herself, but as soon as she started calming, she recalled that her daughter had left her; the pain in her heart broke into piercing got worse. Her lips were already bloody cause of biting herself so hard, but that pain seemed to soothe her broken heart, causing the pain inside to diminish a little bit.

She opened her mouth to call out to Tracy, but she didn’t have the strength to. After struggling for a while, she closed her mouth and started dragging her weak body forward, chasing after her.

Tracy felt lost as she walked slowly; her gaze darted from different shops to the stalls, but there was only emptiness. She was confused; she didn’t know what to do. She neither had money nor somewhere to stay. She had just arrived in the city; she didn’t know anyone. She bit her lip, forcing herself not to shed tears, as she consoled herself that at least she had been given a chance, a chance to start afresh and correct the mistakes she had made in her past life.

Recalling her bruised body from the prison, how often she had been ganged up against by her fellow innates, and now, only recent bruises and scars from her past, she forcibly wiped the few tears that had escaped as determination took over in her eyes.