Chapter 1

At the scene of the car crash, I pooled every last drop of my strength to beg my daughter for help. But she stepped right on my bleeding hand, walking past me to save her biological mother, who only had a few minor scratches.

Shivering from the coldness of her betrayal, I choked out a question, asking her why.

She just sneered, her eyes dripping with contempt:

"Did you really think I didn’t know? You only adopted me to use me for your social status. My real mother is a billionaire. And you? You're just a stepping stone on my way to the top."

I died in that cold street, consumed by hatred, while she went on to win fame and fortune, living the luxurious life of an heiress she had always dreamed of.

But when I opened my eyes again, I had traveled back in time—right before the fatal crash.

This time, I’m going to personally hand you back to them, Chloe.

The excruciating pain of being crushed to death by a runaway truck still seemed to linger on my skin. The scream was still trapped in my throat.

I gasped, my eyes flying open as I frantically took in my surroundings.

I was in my own bedroom. Was I really dead? Was this the afterlife?

My heart hammered against my ribs as I threw off the blanket, ready to put my shoes on and investigate.

Suddenly, a haughty, annoyed voice drifted in from the doorway:

"Jane, what is wrong with you? Why are you sleeping so late? I just got back from school and there's no food on the table. I'm starving!"

The face of the speaker flashed in my mind, and my fingers tightened around the bedsheets until my knuckles turned white.

It was Chloe.

Memories of the crash rushed back. When the truck hit us, she didn't call 911 for me. She didn’t try to pull me out of the wreckage.

Instead, she dragged her biological father—who only had a few scratches—away from the scene, leaving me to bleed out and die. The sheer anger in my chest was almost impossible to control.

Seeing that I didn’t reply, she walked in, rolling her eyes:

"Jane, are you listening to me? I'm talking to you!"

I forced my voice to remain steady:

"What year is it, Chloe?"

Chloe gave me a weird, judgmental look:

"Did you sleep your brain away? It’s 2025!"

Rebirth. I actually came back.

That realization snapped me back to reality. For the first time, I actually looked at this girl. I had raised her since she was three years old.

Even at three, she knew I wasn't her biological mother. No matter how much love, warmth, and patience I gave her, she refused to call me "Mom." It was always just "Jane."

She never accepted me, but she certainly never hesitated to spend my money and leech off my resources.

She had even used my position as the Chief of Surgery at the city's top hospital to secretly dig into her biological parents' background.

It turned out she had never wanted to be by my side. She only tolerated me because of my high social status and wealth. The second she found out her biological parents were billionaire entrepreneurs who could offer her an even more lavish lifestyle, she checked out.

I had no doubt that if her biological parents had been blue-collar workers, she would have pretended they didn't exist.

I still remembered my dying moments, the sheer desperation as I screamed at her with my last breath:

"Chloe! I raised you for years! I gave you everything! How can you be so heartless?!"

Chloe had stopped, looking back at me with a cold, disgusted expression:

"You? You're just a glorified doctor, an employee. How can you compare to my billionaire parents? If it weren't for you holding me back, I would have been living the life of a trust-fund heiress long ago! Stop blocking my path to a better life!"

With that, she walked away, leaving me with nothing but her cold, retreating back.

Thinking of this, my heart ached again.

Even though she had always been rude, demanding, and bratty, I had foolishly believed that a human heart wasn't made of stone. I thought if I kept loving her, she would eventually accept me.

But reality had slapped me hard in the face. No matter how hard I tried, she was a viper that could never be warmed.

I took a deep breath, and a bright smile broke across my face.

I waved her over to the bed:

"Chloe, do you want to know who your biological parents are?"

Since she wanted to go back to them so badly, why should I risk my life to stop her?

But were her biological parents really the loving, perfect saviors she imagined them to be?

Maybe not.