Chapter 533

Chapter 533

These news articles were written so vividly, as if the writer had seen everything firsthand.

She turned off her phone and got up to walk to the window.

The night was still dark, with hospital lights flickering in the distance.

Missy, you think this is enough to break me?

You really underestimate me.

And overestimate yourself.

At the same time, in another building at Serenity Health Center, the atmosphere was equally heavy.

Cecilia stood at the hospital room door, looking at the woman lying in the bed—pale but still radiating an air of arrogance. It was her mother, Teresa.

She had just picked up the payment slip and hadn't even entered the room when a voice reached her ears—familiar and annoying.

"Cecilia, such a devoted daughter. Mom's in this condition, and you're still here by her side."

Drew, her half-brother, was leaning lazily against the doorframe.

Cecilia crumpled the slip in her hand.

"Mom's sick, I take care of her—that's what I should do. And you? Besides asking for money, what else can you do?"

"Me?" Drew snorted and slowly walked up to her. "I'm waiting to inherit the family business, of course. Why else do you think Mom's favored me all these years? It's for her son. As for you, someone who's going to marry out eventually—staying here playing the caring daughter, aren't you just trying to grab more for yourself?"

"Drew!" Cecilia felt her chest tighten. "Watch your mouth! All these years, if I hadn't been out there working for the Green family, cleaning up your messes, you think you could've lived so comfortably?"

"Paving the way for me?" Drew laughed like he'd heard a joke. "Cecilia, stop flattering yourself. Mom's always said I'm the one she loves most. Everything you've done—wasn't it just to please her, to get her to notice you? Too bad, all for nothing!"

He leaned in closer, lowering his voice so only they could hear. "No matter how hard you try, you can't change the fact that you're a woman. Everything in the Green family will be mine in the end."

With that, he gave a light snort, threw out a "good luck with that," and swaggered away.

Cecilia stood there, her fingertips cold. Her palms marked where she'd dug her nails in.

She steadied herself and pushed open the door.

Teresa was awake, her head turned toward the window.

Hearing the door, she slowly turned her face.

"You're back." Her voice was hoarse, with its usual distance.

Cecilia put the payment slip on the bedside table without looking at her. "Yes. The doctor says you need a few more days of observation, nothing serious. I have things at the company, I'm leaving."

She didn't want to stay a second longer.

"Wait." Teresa suddenly spoke.

Cecilia stopped but didn't turn around.

"Don't you wonder... why I've always treated you that way?" There seemed to be a tremor in Teresa's voice.

Cecilia was silent for a few seconds before responding coldly, "I don't wonder. Maybe I used to, but now, it doesn't matter."

She turned around and looked steadily at Teresa in the bed. "I'm not a child anymore, Mrs. Green. I don't need this family, and I don't want to be the Green family's puppet anymore. I don't need your belated—or maybe never-existent—motherly love."

Teresa watched her resolute expression, her lips moving, finally turning into an almost inaudible sigh.

"I prepared a wedding gift for you, prepared it a long time ago." She said slowly, "I figured you'd leave sooner or later."

Cecilia felt like something had pricked her, and the anger she'd been suppressing for so long suddenly flared up.

"A wedding gift?" She repeated the words, her voice full of mockery. "Mrs. Green, do you still think you can fix everything with money? What do you take me for? A chess piece you pick up when I'm useful and throw away when I'm not? Is this supposed to make me grateful?"

"No," Teresa's voice was strained. "Cecilia, I... I just... I don't know how to face you. Cecilia, I admit I was blinded by hatred for many years. Without that hatred, I wouldn't have survived till now."

Teresa's voice trembled with indescribable exhaustion, almost pleading. "Cecilia, wait... I know it's too late to say anything now, but I still want you to know some things."

Cecilia didn't stop, her back resolute, her voice flat. "I don't want to hear it."

"It's not made up, it's true!" Teresa's voice suddenly rose. "Your father, he... he forced me back then! He already had a mistress, and she was pregnant with his child, a boy. He lied to me and said the child died. At that time, I couldn't have children anymore after giving birth to you. For the Green family's future, I had to adopt a child—your brother."

"When he was five, I found out he was your father's illegitimate son!"

"From beginning to end, it was all his carefully woven lie to get my shares."

Cecilia's shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly, but she still didn't turn around.

Teresa seemed drained of all strength, her voice dropping, sounding weak. "I hated him, hated him for ruining my whole life. And because of that, I didn't want to see you either. I always felt you were the dirty thing he forced on me, my shame. If I hadn't married him, I would have had a better life. If he hadn't taken advantage of me when I was drunk, taken my innocence, you wouldn't have been born, and I wouldn't have had to marry him. I was devastated then. It felt like only hatred could keep me going."

She sniffled, her words full of bitterness. "You know what's even sadder? Your grandfather threatened me with your maternal grandfather's property and reputation to force me not to give up Drew. If I didn't raise him well and help him become CEO, he'd destroy the reputation your grandfather spent his whole life building. You know he was a pure scientist. I brought you back because I put all my hopes in you, but I didn't expect my stubbornness to push you further away. I knew it was wrong, but I didn't know how to get along with you."

"I prepared birthday gifts for you every year, kept them secretly, thinking maybe someday... maybe someday I could give them to you myself." Teresa's voice choked up. "That wedding gift, I prepared it for you long ago. I know you're proud, and the Green family can't keep you. Cecilia, if you want to leave, just leave. All these years, because of me, you've lost too much."

She took a deep breath, her voice carrying uncontrollable tears. "Cecilia, I know I was wrong, terribly wrong! Those years, I let hatred blind me. I didn't know how to treat you or how to make up for it. Hatred has already ruined my whole life. I don't want it to continue with you. I'll die eventually. I knew from the start that the Green family never planned to let me hold power for long."

Only Teresa's suppressed, intermittent crying remained in the room, annoying to hear.