Chapter 4

The day after I returned to the Hayes family, news of my giving birth out of wedlock spread throughout the city, at Charlotte’s instigation.

Not only did all our friends and relatives know, but there were countless gossip posts online too.

My father, furious that I had disgraced the Hayes family, ordered me to move out of the Hayes mansion with my daughter.

My mother tried to stop him. “Aria is your daughter too. She just came home; how can you bear to kick her out?”

But Charlotte interjected, instigating, “Sister’s actions last night, bringing that bastard home, already angered the Maxwell family. This morning, Maxwell Group postponed their partnership with our family. If Dad keeps Sister at home, our family business will be ruined. Mom, you don’t want to see the Hayes family go bankrupt, do you?”

The Hayes family’s finances were never as strong as the Maxwells', and in recent years, their investments had consistently failed, losing billions. If not for the Maxwell family’s support, they would have declared bankruptcy long ago.

Normally, my mother might have listened to Charlotte’s words and endured it for the sake of the Hayes family.

But ever since she learned Charlotte wasn't her biological daughter, she had come to resent my father and Charlotte, almost wishing the Hayes family would go bankrupt sooner.

Just to make that father and daughter pair experience the same hardship I had endured.

“Don’t call me Mom, I’m not your mom!” My mother shot Charlotte a disgusted glance, then stared directly at my father.

“Are you really going to abandon your own flesh and blood, our biological daughter, and kick her out of the house?”

My father’s face was indifferent. “I have no choice. It’s her fault for being disobedient and insisting on bringing that little mongrel home. If you keep nagging, then pack your bags and go with her, and that little mongrel too.”

My mother froze, her eyes wide with disbelief, as if she had completely given up on my father. Finally, she calmly nodded.

“Fine. Don’t regret this.”

That very day, my mother took me and my daughter and moved out of the Hayes family home, into a hotel.

Though my mother seemed decisively resolute, she couldn't help but be heartbroken by my father's cold indifference. That night, she developed a high fever.

I cared for her at the hotel for two days, but seeing no signs of improvement, I took her to the hospital.

Only when I was handling the admission procedures did I discover my father had frozen my mother’s bank card.

Living in that small fishing village all these years, and raising my daughter alone, I had only saved a few thousand dollars.

After barely covering the hospital deposit and the hotel fees, I had very little money left.

I had no choice but to take my daughter and seek out the Maxwell family.

Unexpectedly, I ran into Charlotte and Blake Maxwell right at the Maxwell family gates.