Chapter 1 Chapter 1
“Lola, I’ll love you for the rest of my life. If I ever break this promise, may heaven strike me down with thunder!”
The vows Ethan Jones made to me ten years ago still rang in my ears.
Yet ten years later, our daughter Lucy was standing in front of me, holding his hand—and the hand of his mistress, Alice.
“I don’t want you, you old, frumpy woman, as my mom. Alice is my mom!”
Not only did Ethan fail to stop Lucy’s cruel words, he looked at Alice with nothing but tenderness in his eyes.
Alice, too, showed no restraint. Right in front of me, she gently stroked Lucy’s little head and smiled.
“Of course. I’m your mom.”
In that moment, I finally understood something clearly—
In this family, I was nothing but an extra.
At Lucy’s birthday party, I carefully carried the cake I had made with my own hands and placed it in front of her.
“Sweetheart, this is the birthday cake Mommy made for you. Do you like it?”
I looked at her with eyes full of anticipation.
But Lucy only shot it a look of disgust. Then, the next second—
Bang!
A loud crash echoed through the room.
Without any warning, she knocked the entire cake onto the floor.
The cake I had spent the entire day making lay smashed everywhere.
And my heart shattered along with it.
“Who asked you to make this ugly, tacky piece of trash? The champagne swan cake Alice bought me is way prettier!”
In front of all the guests, I clenched my fists, my face burning with embarrassment.
“I don’t want you, you old, frumpy woman, as my mom either! Alice is my mom!”
Lucy refused to let it go, glaring at me with vicious eyes.
Holding back the ache in my chest and the tears threatening to spill, I looked toward Ethan.
Lucy hadn’t always been like this. She used to be clingy, sweet—a gentle little child.
I didn’t know when it started, but she had grown more and more disgusted with me.
I had hoped Ethan would offer me a word of comfort.
But I was wrong.
“Why are you looking at me? Isn’t it normal that our daughter doesn’t like the ugly thing you made?”
“Hurry up and clean the cake off the floor. Haven’t you embarrassed us enough already?”
After saying that, Ethan walked over like a doting father and pulled Lucy into his arms.
“Alright, sweetheart, don’t cry. We’ll just eat the champagne swan cake Aunt Alice bought you, okay?”
“Mm! Aunt Alice always knows what I like!”
Lucy instantly brightened up, smiling through her tears in Ethan’s arms.
Then she stretched her arms toward Alice.
“Mommy Alice, I love the cake and the gifts you bought me! I love you the most!”
“As long as Lucy likes it, Mommy will buy you whatever you want.”
Alice beamed, smiling like a blooming flower—as if she were truly Lucy’s mother.
Lucy even wrapped her arms around Alice’s neck and planted a loud kiss on her cheek.
Thinking about how Lucy hadn’t been this close to me even once in the past year, my tears finally fell.
“Oh, Lola, honestly—Lucy didn’t like your ugly cake. That’s perfectly normal. What are you crying for?”
“The champagne swan cake I ordered was only 5,999 dollars. It’s your daughter’s birthday—are you really that stingy?”
“Then again, the Taylor family went bankrupt. I guess you’re too embarrassed to spend Ethan’s money, right?”
With her arms crossed, Alice looked at me with open mockery.
Her gaze was as if she were staring at a pathetic, penniless clown.
All the guests turned their eyes on me—confusion, disdain, and thinly veiled amusement.
“I can’t believe the Taylor family has fallen this far.”
“She already married way above her station by marrying Ethan. How dare she even think about spending his money?”
“Alice is young and beautiful. She suits Ethan much better than Lola.”
Their words stabbed into my heart like knives.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
In utter humiliation, I fled from the place that no longer had room for me.
