Chapter 5

I gave a portion of my allowance to Hazel, calling it "pre-paid tutoring fees."

She stared at the hundred dollar bills in the envelope, too stunned to speak.

In both my past and present lives, the Sterling family never skimped on their adopted daughter's basic necessities, living expenses, or allowance.

But what was pocket change for Julian was enough for Hazel to buy medicine for her grandmother and pay hospital fees.

She could even rent a small apartment off-campus, away from her abusive father.

After arranging a tutoring time with Hazel for the next day, I returned home.

The luxurious villa was empty. Mr. Sterling was out on business, and Mrs. Sterling was at the beauty salon.

As for Julian, he was probably having dinner at the Finch’s house right now.

In my previous life, Julian had the driver drop me off at home, and when my adoptive parents, the Finches, saw him, they enthusiastically invited him to stay for dinner.

Then, just like a standard scene in a romantic drama, one dinner allowed the young master, who had grown up in the cold, opulent world of a wealthy family, to experience the strong family warmth of a modest home.

The simple smiles always on the Finch parents' faces.

The cramped, rundown but lively room.

All these made Julian yearn for their life, and he grew even fonder of the pure-hearted, struggling girl from such a family.

At this moment, even though he and Seraphina were eating simple, unadorned food, they were probably both very happy.

I slowly put on my Hermès bathrobe, washed my face with Chanel cleanser, and ate a bowl of rock sugar bird's nest soup brought by the housekeeper, a cold smile playing on my lips.

No one knew that the Finch couple, though poor, were not simple-hearted.

The couple favored sons over daughters and had originally wanted to adopt a boy.

But there were no non-disabled boys in the orphanage, so they settled for a beautiful daughter, hoping she'd attract a promising son-in-law someday.

When they saw Julian dropping their daughter off, the couple's blood must have boiled with excitement. They immediately "captured" this potential high-flying prospect for a son-in-law and treated him lavishly.

The so-called warmth, the so-called lively atmosphere, it was all just an act.

After all, to impress a young master from a wealthy family, these were the only things they had to offer.

And in my previous life, when I told them I didn't want to marry Julian, my adoptive mother locked me in my room, and my adoptive father beat me half to death with a table leg and a belt.

Seraphina thought this life she had entered paradise, but she didn't know there was no true paradise in this world.

The Sterling home was a rich hell, and the Finch home was a poor hell.

And who could crawl out of hell alive, that depended on one's own capabilities.