However, before I could finish my word, Ella suddenly shoved me away. With tears streaming down her face, she shouted, “Mom, please! Stop lying to me! I heard everything you and Dad said! I’m not your real daughter. Cassie is! You don’t have to keep pretending to me …”
“No, Ella! When have I ever lied to you?” Panic gripped me as I saw her labored breathing and agitated expression. I frantically searched for her heart medication. “Please, don’t get upset! You have a heart condition. Promise me, Ella, stay calm… You’re my daughter, you're always my child.”
Her face was flushed, but suddenly, her face seemed off and she collapsed in my arms. I turned, about to plead with Simon to convince Ella that she was our daughter, but he just stood up, furious and out of nowhere, he produced a folder and slammed it onto the table in front of us.
“Ella, take a look for yourself,” he said coldly. “This is the paternity test report for you and Cassie. You look nothing alike. How could you be twins? Your mom might have tried to fool you, but don’t be stupid enough to believe it! For eighteen years, you’ve been living off the Barnes Family, eating our food, wearing our clothes, using our resources … Hah!”
Simon sneered. His tone was devoid of any fatherly warmth. “Now, I want you to give everything back to Cassie. Pack up your things and get out! Make space for my real daughter!”
After he said that, he suddenly raised his leg and kicked away Ella's heart medication, sending them scattering across the floor. Before leaving, he sneered one more time, “The Barnes Family has no history of heart disease. Why do we have to waste money on this medicine?”
"Simon, are you insane? Can't you see Ella is having a heart attack?" I yelled in panic and anger then rushed over to pick up the scattered pills.
However, he showed no remorse at all. Instead, he raised his foot and ground the medication under his heel, crushing the tablets into powder. “She’s had plenty of attacks before and never died, right? Maybe she’s just faking it for our sympathy,” he said as he laughed mockingly.
He strode up the stairs without a backward glance and headed straight to Cassie's room.
I could only watch my daughter, whom I had loved for eighteen years, slip into unconsciousness in my arms. The seconds ticked by; precious time lost even before I could call the emergency numbers