Parasite of Fortune

That night, after eating too much fruit, I couldn’t help but wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.

Since there was no bathroom in the maid’s room, I had to go to the shared bathroom in the house.

As I passed by my dad’s bedroom, I suddenly heard Carol’s voice coming from inside. "When are you finally going to kick that money-draining burden out? Lori said if Jacelyn doesn’t leave soon, she’s going to divorce Gordon!"

My dad took a deep breath. "Calm down, just give me a little more time."

Carol grew anxious."How can I not be anxious? Lori keeps threatening to abort the baby. I’m scared to death! And what about the medicine you gave Jacelyn? Is it not working? She’s been taking it for so many days. Why isn’t she dead yet?"

I was stunned. What medicine? Carol actually wanted to poison me?

No wonder, ever since I came back home, even though I had been resting well, my body kept feeling worse.

I was constantly dizzy and nauseous, and I even had unexplained nosebleeds.

I had thought it was just my body struggling to adjust after being away for so long, but it turned out the real reason was much more horrifying. It was my own family trying to kill me.

At that moment, my dad lowered his voice and said,

"How could it not work? Did you forget how Hillary died? Wasn’t it the same medicine that you used to poison her?"

Hillary was my mother’s name.

Hearing my dad’s words, my body began to tremble uncontrollably.

No wonder my mother died so suddenly, it turned out that she was poisoned by Carol.

Did my dad know about this all along?

Could it be that my mom was deliberately murdered by him and Carol?

I didn’t dare to think any further. The sheer horror of this revelation was beyond anything I could comprehend.

Through the sliver of light coming from the door, I saw Carol looking a bit uneasy as she sought my dad’s opinion.

"If it really doesn’t work, should we add more to the dose? We can’t just keep dragging this out."

Then she sneered and added, "Honestly, we should just have someone run her over, just like we did with Hillary back then. That would save us all this trouble."

My dad nodded in agreement. "That might be the only way. But don’t worry too much. This old house will belong to our son sooner or later. Whether it happens sooner or later doesn’t really matter."

My blood ran cold.

They were planning to kill me. Just like they had killed my mother.

"Besides, we can’t rush this. If she suddenly dies without reason, it’ll raise suspicion."

***

Hearing my dad and Carol’s conversation, my mind went completely blank.

My relatives had always warned me. "Once you have a stepmother, you’ll have a stepfather too."

But I always thought I was lucky. Carol, my stepmother, seemed to treat me well, so I never rejected her. I even treated her like my own mother, showing her the same respect and filial piety.

But I never imagined that she was the one behind my mother’s death.

And my dad, the man who had shared a bed with my mom for so many years, had actually been part of the plot to kill her. It was chilling.

No wonder I had always found it strange how close my dad was to Gordon, even though they had no blood relation.

Now I understood. Gordon was actually my dad’s illegitimate son.

And my mom was the ultimate fool. She had built everything from the ground up, only for someone else to take it all away.

She even lost her life in the end.

I need to find a way to avenge my mother.

Lost in my thoughts, I returned to my room in a daze.

The next morning, I got up with dark circles under my eyes.

Only Lori and I were left in the house.

I planned to go to a big hospital for a check-up first and then start my revenge plan.

But unexpectedly, when I went downstairs, Lori greeted me with a bright smile, inviting me to have breakfast.

Feeling a bit suspicious, I asked, “Lori, if you have something to say, just say it directly."

Lori smiled and said, "Jacelyn, I know you're unemployed right now, and it's not suitable to ask you to move out. But you also know that supporting such a big family comes with a lot of expenses. We can't rely solely on your brother forever, right?"

"How about this? You can continue living here, but you’ll need to pay 3 thousand dollars a month for rent and living expenses. Consider it as helping to ease the family's burden. What do you think?"

"After all, you've been eating and living here for free as an outsider for so long. Charging you some money seems only fair, doesn't it?"

I had to admit, Lori’s calculation was quite precise.

I let out a cold laugh. "You're right, it's only fair. But, Lori, do you not know? This old townhouse actually belongs to me."

She was stunned upon hearing this. Staring at me in disbelief, she asked, "What nonsense are you talking about? How could this house possibly be yours?"