Chapter 6: The Truth Beneath the Lies

The news spread faster than anyone expected.

Within a single night, the Wheeler family's reputation began to collapse.

The livestream that was supposed to announce Lola as the new heiress became the evidence that exposed everything.

Millions of people had watched.

Millions of people had seen the moment my parents erased my name.

And then they learned...

I was already dead.

The internet exploded.

[They held an adoption ceremony while their real daughter was lying dead somewhere?]

[How could parents do this?]

[The girl worked eight jobs and they still abandoned her?]

[That poor girl didn't run away. She was pushed away.]

For the first time, people weren't insulting me.

They were defending me.

But I couldn't feel happy.

Because their sympathy came too late.

I didn't need strangers to believe me.

I needed my parents to.

And they never did.

The next morning, my parents went to identify my body.

I followed them.

I didn't know why.

Maybe a part of me still hoped...

Maybe when they saw me, they would finally break.

Maybe they would hold my hand and say they were sorry.

Maybe they would call me their daughter again.

But some wishes are cruel.

The moment my mother entered the room, her legs gave out.

The sheet covering my body was slowly pulled back.

Even after all the suffering I had endured...

Even after death...

She still couldn't look away.

"Sam..."

Her voice cracked.

"Sam, wake up."

She reached toward me with trembling hands.

But her fingers passed through mine.

Because I wasn't there anymore.

Not the daughter she could hug.

Not the child she could protect.

Only a soul watching her regret.

My father stood behind her.

A man who always told me to be strong.

A man who said emotions were useless.

But now...

He was crying.

"I should have gone to find her."

His voice was broken.

"I should have answered that call."

My mother covered her mouth.

Then she remembered.

The last call.

The ninety-ninth call.

The call where I asked:

"Mom... do you really love me?"

Her face turned completely white.

Because now she knew.

That was goodbye.

And she had hung up.

After the funeral home, they went to the police station.

The officer placed my belongings on the table.

My broken phone.

My old wallet.

A few coins.

And a small notebook.

My father picked up the notebook.

"What is this?"

The officer looked at him.

"It was found in Samantha's bag."

My mother immediately reached for it.

"No..."

She whispered.

"Don't open it."

But my father already had.

Inside were pages filled with my handwriting.

Every page was a memory.

The first page said:

"Today I worked twelve hours. My feet hurt, but Mom said Lola needs money, so I have to keep going."

My father's hand started shaking.

He turned another page.

"I got accepted into college today. I wanted to tell Dad first. But Mom said Lola's tuition matters more."

Another page.

"I wonder what it feels like to be someone's first choice."

My mother couldn't continue reading.

She pushed the notebook away.

"Stop..."

But the officer quietly said:

"You need to see everything."

He opened another page.

It was written just days before my death.

"I think I'm tired."

"Not tired from working."

"Tired from hoping."

"Maybe one day they'll understand that I never wanted their money."

"I just wanted them to choose me."

The room became silent.

My mother started crying.

Not the fake tears she used whenever Lola was upset.

Real tears.

The kind that came from losing something forever.

But it didn't matter.

Because I was already gone.

That evening, my father returned home alone.

For the first time in years, he entered the house without asking about Lola.

He walked straight to my old room.

Except...

It wasn't my room anymore.

Everything that belonged to me was gone.

My childhood books.

My drawings.

The small decorations I collected.

All replaced by Lola's things.

My father opened the closet.

Inside were expensive dresses.

Designer bags.

Jewelry.

Everything they claimed they couldn't afford.

Everything they claimed didn't exist.

His expression became darker.

The bankruptcy.

The debt.

The poverty.

All of it was fake.

He rushed downstairs.

"Lola!"

She came down slowly.

"Uncle Roger?"

My father threw the documents onto the table.

"Explain this."

Lola looked at the papers.

Her face changed.

Just slightly.

But enough.

"Where did you get these?"

My father's eyes narrowed.

"So it is true."

My mother came downstairs behind him.

"What is true?"

My father looked at her.

"We were never bankrupt."

The words hit her harder than anything.

She turned toward Lola.

"You knew?"

Lola stayed silent.

And silence was the answer.

My mother stepped back.

Her entire world was collapsing.

All these years...

She sacrificed her own daughter.

She destroyed Samantha's life.

For a lie.

For someone who wasn't even her child.

I watched Lola's face.

For years, she had smiled while I suffered.

She had watched me lose everything.

My education.

My future.

My family.

Now, for the first time...

She looked afraid.

But I knew something.

This wasn't the end.

The truth had only just started coming out.

Because there was one secret left.

A secret even Lola didn't know.

The reason my parents had hidden her.

The reason she came into our family.

And the reason my entire life was destroyed.

My real identity.

And Lola's.

Were connected in a way no one expected.