The Adopted Daughter’s Lies Made My Family Doubt My Cancer Diagnosis

The day I was brought back to the DuPont Family, my heart brimmed with joy. I was so excited, I prepared gifts for everyone. But my gestures of goodwill were met with impatience. My parents barely acknowledged me before whisking me off to the hospital. It turned out that their cherished adopted daughter, Erica, was gravely ill and they needed me to donate a kidney to save her.

Later, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Reluctantly, I broke the devastating news to them, thinking it might earn me even a sliver of care.

But I was met, with her sharp accusation. “Why is she pretending to be sick? Could she be jealous because today is my wedding day with Lucient?” Their faces darkened at her words. Without a second thought, they shoved me out of the car on the highway.

To them, my suffering was an act---a drama to ruin their lives.

——

I trudged through thirty kilometers of snow, my legs barely cooperating. It took me a full day and night to reach home, but when I got there, the gate code had been changed and no one had bothered to tell me.

Inside, I could hear Erica’s sugary, whining voice floating through the air.

“Everett’s not letting me win! Mom, Dad, get him. He has to carry me on his back and say sorry!”

“Sweetheart, your brother’s just being sentimental,” Mom cooed, tweaking her cheek. “He’s just sad that you will leave us. You’re getting married to Lucient after the New Year, remember?”

Erica pouted, her lips curving into that perfect, spoiled smile she always wore.

I shuffled closer to the glass, standing on tiptoe to get a better look. Mom’s face was soft, glowing with an affection she’d never shown me. I copied Erica’s pout, pressing my cold fingers against my cheeks, trying to mimic that same sweetness. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t match her effortless charm.

“Even though you’re married, don’t forget to visit us, okay?” Dad’s voice had that fatherly warmth I’d longed for all my life. “You’ve been a handful since you were little, but we still love you. You’re our precious daughter. The one and only. Lucient wouldn’t dare mistreat you.”

Those words hit me like a punch to the chest.

My vision blurred as the tears spilled over. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard Dad sound like a real father, doting and kind—but only ever to Erica. Never to me.

Everett, the always stern and domineering Big Brother, who was known to be cold and unforgiving, rushed to comfort her, “Stop saying that nonsense, Erica!” he snapped. “You are the precious daughter of this family. If Evangeline ever try to pick on you, I'll break her legs!”

His words cut deep, even more than the cold seeping into my bones. I stared at the concern in his eyes, the same eyes that had glared with hatred when he shoved me from the car.

Tears spilled down my cheeks despite myself. “Then you should’ve pushed harder, Everett. That way, you’d have broken both my legs and not just one.”

Everett’s head snapped up, his sharp eyes zeroing in on the window where I stood.

Panic gripped me. I quickly brushed the snow off my coat and forced a smile, trying to act like everything was fine.

For a second, he hesitated, his face softening into something I hadn’t seen in years—kindness. He smiled back at me, warm and radiant.

The icy weight in my chest lifted and I waved frantically, shouting, “Happy New Year!”

Before I could catch my breath, fireworks exploded in the sky, their brilliant colors reflecting in the glass. Everett’s smile lingered, but not for me.

He turned back to mom, dad and Erica, wrapping an arm around them as they posed for a family photo.

It hit me then. They hadn’t been looking at me. They were waiting for the fireworks to capture this happy moment of family joy.

Wiping the tears from my face with trembling fingers, I hid in the corner only show a bit in the lens. My lips curled into a bittersweet smile as I whispered, “Three, two, one… Happy New Year, Mom, Dad and Everett.”