The True Heiress Returns: A Mother's Awakening Chapter 1

The daughter I raised for sixteen years wasn't my biological child.

The nanny's daughter had been spoiled like a little princess in our home, while my own flesh and blood suffered out in the country.

After bringing my real daughter back, I insisted on sending the adopted daughter away.

But my husband and son absolutely refused.

My husband claimed the adopted daughter was poised and well-mannered, perfect for keeping up appearances in our social circle.

My son complained that his biological sister was a tacky, uncultured hillbilly who would embarrass him in public.

Watching the light fade from my real daughter's eyes, I took her hand.

"Then let's get a divorce. I'll raise my daughter on my own."

* * *

"Is this the only reason you want to divorce me?"

William stared at me in disbelief. "Victoria, have you lost your mind?"

I shook my head. "I am perfectly serious. We are getting a divorce."

Our twelve-year-old son, Oliver, was completely stunned. When he finally found his voice, he looked at me with a mixture of shock and betrayal.

"Mom, you're leaving Dad, leaving my sister, and leaving me... all because of that country bumpkin?!"

"Oliver Hawthorne!"

I glanced anxiously toward the staircase, my brow furrowing in a stern reprimand.

"Watch your mouth! That is your biological sister!"

"I will never accept her as my sister!"

Oliver's face flushed bright red, his voice rising in anger. "She's just an unpresentable hillbilly!"

"She's tacky, she's uncultured, she has a rotten heart, and now she's manipulating you into divorcing Dad!"

"I hate her! I only have one sister, and that's Isabella!"

He bolted out the door in tears. William immediately called for the staff to chase after him, then turned to me with an accusing glare.

"Are you happy now that you've caused this kind of scene?"

"Can't the two girls just coexist? Why do you insist on sending Isabella back? It's not like our family can't afford to raise her. She is your daughter too!"

"I can no longer look at her as my daughter."

A wave of fury washed over me, followed quickly by an overwhelming, uncontrollable sorrow.

"Did you not read Audrey's medical reports? Do you have any idea how agonizing her life has been in that house?"

"For the past sixteen years, we gave Isabella a life of absolute privilege, happiness, and joy. Meanwhile, our biological daughter was abused by her adoptive family for sixteen long years."

"After seeing the scars on Audrey's body, I can never look at Isabella the same way again."

William's face darkened, his frustration palpable. "Then we'll just compensate Audrey moving forward! Isn't that enough?"

"The mistake was made by her biological parents! It has nothing to do with Isabella. She is innocent in all of this!"

"Was all your love and affection for Isabella over the years fake?"

My voice caught in my throat. "My love for Isabella over the past sixteen years was entirely predicated on the belief that she was my biological daughter."

"If Audrey had been treated kindly by that family, I wouldn't feel this intense revulsion toward Isabella. But the reality is, even if Isabella didn't know the truth, she still stole the life that rightfully belonged to Audrey."

I enunciated every word clearly: "She is not innocent."

William's eyes flickered; he seemed momentarily swayed. But then, a tearful, trembling voice came from behind me:

"Mom..."

The half-open front door was pushed wide. Isabella walked in, wearing her school uniform and carrying her backpack. Her steps were heavy, her eyes red as she fought back tears.

"Do you really not want me anymore?"

The moment she spoke, William's heart broke.

He rushed over to her, his voice softening instantly. "Don't listen to your mother's nonsense. She's just so worried about your sister that she's not thinking straight. Right, Victoria?"

He shot me a desperate look, silently begging me to play along.

Isabella looked at me with those same pleading eyes, tears brimming, threatening to spill over at any second.

If it were the old me, seeing her look so pitiful would have shattered my heart.

But looking at her now, all I felt was profound, seething hatred.

In my past life, it was only after my death that I learned the truth: the world I lived in was the setting of a "switched at birth" novel, where the fake daughter was the beloved protagonist.

My biological daughter, Audrey, was the true heiress, but in the narrative, she was cast as the malicious secondary villain.

Her identity had been maliciously swapped. She was raised in the countryside, suffering sixteen years of horrific abuse at the hands of her adoptive parents.

One would think that returning to her rightful family would finally bring her happiness. But to everyone's shock, whether it was her biological parents, the household staff, or even the teachers and students at her new school—everyone favored the fake daughter, Isabella.

Everyone pitied Isabella for losing her status as the "true heiress," yet no one ever bothered to ask Audrey how she had survived the past sixteen years.

Including me. Her own biological mother.

Under the insidious influence of the novel's "plot," every time I resolved to compensate my suffering biological daughter, the moment I laid eyes on Isabella, my mind and heart would be entirely consumed by her.

Driven to extremes by this universal rejection, Audrey became radicalized, targeting Isabella at every turn.

She died on her twenty-fourth birthday.

It was the day of Isabella's wedding to the male lead. Audrey had kidnapped Isabella, intending a murder-suicide, but was ultimately shot by a police sniper on the roof of a thirty-eight-story building.

My physical body had held Isabella, weeping tears of joy for her safety, while my soul floated in the air, screaming in agony as I watched Audrey plummet thirty-eight stories to her death.

"Victoria!"

William's harsh reprimand snapped me out of my memories.

He frowned deeply, looking at me with a mix of anxiety and profound disappointment. "Are you truly willing to abandon the daughter you've raised for sixteen years for someone else?!"

I instinctively looked up. The girl hiding near the staircase had a face ashen with despair, the light completely gone from her eyes.

"Audrey is not 'someone else'."

My breathing quickened, fueled by a potent mix of resentment and anger. "She is my precious daughter, carried in my womb for ten months! She is the one who should have been by my side for the past sixteen years!"

I turned my glare toward Isabella, standing next to William, making absolutely no effort to hide my animosity:

"If your biological parents hadn't stolen my daughter, if you hadn't usurped her place, Audrey would never have suffered all those years of torment!"

Isabella's face drained of color instantly. She murmured, "Mom...?"

"Do not call me Mom!"

I stared at her coldly. "I only have one daughter, and her name is Audrey."

Her tears spilled over instantly. She stumbled backward a few steps before turning and running out the door, sobbing.

"Isabella!"

William was both anxious and furious, his face dark as a thundercloud. "Did you have to speak to the child like that?!"

"Victoria, when did you become so utterly unreasonable?"

He threw that accusation at me and chased after her.

I took a deep breath and looked toward the staircase. The space was empty; Audrey was gone.

I walked straight upstairs and knocked on the door of the second-floor master bedroom.

The door opened quickly. Audrey turned away in silence, walking back into the room. On the bed lay her backpack, packed and ready for reasons I couldn't fathom.

"You don't need to do this. I know we are biologically mother and daughter, but in reality, we're no different than strangers."

She kept her head down, her hands gripping the straps of her backpack tightly. "I'll move out. It won't disrupt your family's life."

"But... could you perhaps lend me a little money? Just enough for a few months' living expenses. Once school starts, I'll find a part-time job near campus."

I choked back a sob for a long moment before I could finally say her name. "Audrey, everything Mom said downstairs was the absolute truth."

She froze. I took a deep breath and continued, "You saw everything just now, didn't you?"

"Then why are you afraid to believe what I said?"

"I know it's impossible for you to accept living under the same roof as Isabella and pretending to be loving sisters. Similarly, I find it impossible to continue playing mother and daughter with the thief who stole my biological daughter's life."

I gently reached out and took her hand. "Can we live together from now on, just the two of us? Just you and me. You won't have to worry about tuition or living expenses. Mom can provide for you."

I paused, my eyes growing hot. "Mom was always supposed to provide for you."

She didn't answer, but her shoulders began to tremble.

I leaned in closer and realized that, without me noticing, her face was covered in tears.

She stopped pretending to be strong. She dropped the hardened shell she used to keep people at a distance. She turned and threw herself into my arms, choking out the two words with a raw, unfamiliar ache.

"Mom."

I held her tight, my own tears flowing like a broken dam.