Real Daughter's Revenge novel Chapter 1

The next day, Bernard came to campus to find me.

“Lena’s moved out,” he said.

“Oh.”

“Mom and Dad want you to come home.”

“I’m not going back.”

“Jessica,” he looked at me, “Lenny’s gone now. Isn’t that enough for you?”

I smiled. “Bernard, don’t you get it?”

“Get what?”

“The problem isn’t Lena. It’s all of you.”

I looked him straight in the eye. “You chose to believe a fake daughter for 18

years and deliberately ignored your real one. Even with Lena gone, do you really think you’d treat me any differently?”

He was speechless.

“Stop lying to yourself. You didn’t kick her out because she hurt me–you did it because she lied to you.”

“That’s not-”

“Yes, it is.” I cut him off. “If she hadn’t faked her illness and just didn’t like me, would you have sent her away?”

He fell silent.

“See? You already know the answer.”

I walked a few steps, then turned back. “Tell Nolan and Rhonda I’m not coming home. There was never a place for me in that family.”

After Lena left, my parents and brother went overboard trying to make it up to me,

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Rhonda messaged me every day, fussing over my well–being.

Nolan started wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars into my account.

Bernard was the most extreme–he bought an apartment near campus and said it was for me.

I refused all of it.

I didn’t need their compensation.

Some things can’t be bought back with money.

Like all those nights I was ignored.

Like the birthdays I spent alone.

Like that Thanksgiving family photo–where I wasn’t in the picture.

Early December, finals were coming up.

I spent every day in the library, studying late into the night.

One evening, as I was working through practice problems, my phone suddenly rang.

It was an unfamiliar number.

“Hello?”

“Is this Jessica?” The person sounded anxious. “Your father was in a car accident. He’s in emergency surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital!”

I was stunned for a few seconds. “Which father?”

There was a long pause.

“…Never mind, I understand.”

I packed up my things and headed to the hospital.

When I arrived, Rhonda was crying in the hallway.

Bernard stood by the operating room, pale as a ghost.

The moment she saw me, Rhonda rushed over. “Jessie, your dad–he…”

“What happened?” I asked Bernard.

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“He was struck by a truck on his way home from work. The driver fled the scene.” His voice was

hoarse.

I nodded and found a seat.

Apparently, my indifference made him angry. “Jessica, do you even have a heart?”

I held up three fingers. “First, whether he’s my dad or not depends on whether he sees me as his daughter.

“Second, whether I have a heart isn’t for you to judge.

“Third, if you’re really worried, keep quiet and don’t make a scene in the hospital.”

Just then, a doctor came out. “The patient has lost a lot of blood. He needs a transfusion.”

“I’m type O!” Bernard said immediately.

The doctor shook his head. “The patient is RH negative–it’s a rare blood type.”

RH negative–indeed a rare type.

Rhonda panicked. “What do we do? Does the hospital have any?”

“The supply is low. We need family members to get tested, see if there’s a match.”

Bernard rolled up his sleeve. “I’ll go

first.”

Rhonda followed him. I stayed seated.

Ten minutes later, the results came back.

Neither of them was RH negative.

The doctor looked troubled. “This is a problem. We’ll have to request blood from outside, but the fastest we can get it is two hours. The patient’s condition…”

“I am,” I said, standing up.

Everyone turned to look at me.

“I’m RH negative.” I rolled up my sleeve. “Take my blood.”