Daniel Brooks frowned at me and snapped,
“Emma Carter, were you being lazy at home again today? It’s already this late—why haven’t you made dinner yet? You—”
Before he could finish, I cut him off coldly,
“Do you two really think I’m nothing more than your live-in maid?”
Daniel froze for a moment, clearly surprised. After all these years, I had never spoken to him in such a detached, icy tone.
Lucas, however, kept glaring at me angrily.
“Stop nagging and just cook already. You sit around all day doing nothing, spending my dad’s money, and now you don’t even want to make dinner? How is that right?”
His words stabbed straight into my heart like sharp knives.
All these years, I had given everything to care for Daniel and Lucas, always putting them first. And what did I get in return?
Coldness. Disgust. Contempt.
Daniel, especially, seemed to have completely forgotten what saved the Brooks Corporation back then.
If not for my parents’ help, the company would have gone bankrupt long ago.
When Daniel and I were preparing for our wedding, my parents died in a car accident. I was devastated. Meanwhile, Daniel used my parents’ inheritance to rapidly expand the Brooks Corporation.
Our wedding was postponed indefinitely. Even when I later gave birth to Lucas, Daniel never bothered to make it up to me. All we did was sign a simple marriage certificate at City Hall.
The truth is, without my family’s support, there would be no Brooks Corporation today.
In the early years, Daniel treated me decently. But everything changed three years ago, when Chloe Miller joined the company as his secretary.
Since then, Daniel grew more distant and dismissive of me. Even Lucas, my own son, began treating me with disdain.
In their eyes, Chloe seemed to be the ideal wife and mother.
Like father, like son—both fickle, quick to forget the past.
Their scolding and rejection of me were obvious to Chloe. She looked at me with a flash of triumph and mockery in her eyes, though her words sounded sweet and false.
“Emma, you must not be feeling well today, that’s why you didn’t have time to make dinner. Don’t blame her, Daniel, Lucas. She didn’t do it on purpose.”
Then she turned to me with fake sympathy,
“Emma, Daniel and Lucas had a long day, they’re just a little short-tempered. Don’t take it personally, okay? You watched the graduation ceremony stream today, didn’t you? Are you upset about the things Daniel and Lucas said there? Emma, I was only acting with them on stage…”
Before Chloe could finish, Lucas pouted and muttered,
“I wasn’t acting. I really want Aunt Chloe to be my mom! She’s young and pretty, always well-dressed, way better than you. Everyone envies me for having such a beautiful mom.”
He shot me another look of disgust and added,
“Last time you came to pick me up from school wearing an apron, the other kids laughed at me for weeks. I don’t want an old and ugly woman like you as my mom!”
The moment his words fell, Chloe quickly covered his mouth, smiling at me sweetly.
“Emma, kids don’t know any better. Please don’t get upset with him over something so small.”
