I always believed that family was unbreakable. That no matter what happened, no matter how bad things got, blood was blood. Family always had each other’s backs, right? That’s what I thought. But after my mother passed away, my sister Barbara made me question everything I knew about family.

And by the time the truth finally came out? Barbara was the one begging for forgiveness.

My mother raised two daughters: me, Charlotte, and my older sister, Barbara.

Barbara was always the golden child. The one who got all the attention. If she wanted a roast chicken, my mother had one in the oven before she even finished speaking. If she needed her dry cleaning picked up, my mother was in the car before Barbara could even ask

Barbara was beautiful too—stunning, really. She had long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, just like our mother. She had that effortless grace that made people turn their heads when she walked into a room. Meanwhile, I was the odd one out. Dark hair, dark eyes. I never really looked like either of them.

But I never questioned it. Why would I? I loved my mother. No—I adored my mother. She was my entire world.

So when she got sick, I put my life on hold to take care of her. I didn’t complain. Not when she held onto me so tightly that bruises bloomed on my arms as I helped her to the bathroom. Not when she got frustrated and threw food across the room. Not even when she sobbed for hours, lost in her pain and exhaustion.

Barbara, on the other hand? She was too busy chasing her dream of becoming an actress.

“I can’t take care of Mom, Charlotte,” she said, her voice filled with fake regret. “I have auditions. I have producers to meet. I have to stay relevant. You understand, right? Right, Lottie?”

And I did. Because that’s what I always did—I understood. I was the one who sacrificed while Barbara lived her glamorous life. She would visit occasionally, flaunting new designer outfits and flashing photos of herself with famous actors and actresses.

“This is the life, Mom,” she said once, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “You know, Lottie, you really should clean yourself up. You look awful, always hunched over that computer. It’s no wonder nobody notices you.”

“It’s my job, Barbara,” I said simply, holding back the exhaustion that gnawed at my bones.

For months, life went on like that. And then, finally, Mom passed away.

That’s when Barbara came back.

Not to grieve. Not to mourn.

But to take everything our mother left behind.

After the funeral, we met with my mother’s lawyer, Alistair. Barbara walked in like she owned the place, draped in expensive black silk, diamond earrings twinkling in her ears.

I should have known something was off when she sat down with a smug smile.

Alistair pulled out the official will, but before he could even begin reading, Barbara interrupted. She reached into her designer bag and pulled out an old, yellowed piece of paper.

“Before you read that,” she said, her voice sickly sweet, “I have something interesting to share.”

She slid the paper across the table to me.

“Look what I found in Mom’s drawer while I was looking for her jewelry.”

I unfolded it, my stomach dropping as I read the words at the top.

ADOPTION DECREE.

Barbara leaned back, smirking.

“Well, well, well,” she drawled, tapping her manicured nails on the table. “Looks like I finally know why you always looked so different from us.”

My hands shook as I reread the document. Once. Twice. Three times.

You… you’re lying,” I gasped. “You made this up! You got one of your sleazy friends to forge this!”

She laughed, feigning shock. “Oh, Charlotte. Don’t be so dramatic. My friends have better things to do. Besides, it’s all right there. You’re adopted. You’re not even Mom’s real daughter.” She leaned in closer, lowering her voice mockingly. “I always knew your brown eyes and brown hair didn’t belong in our family.”

I felt sick. Bile rose in my throat. My mother had hidden this from me? But why? Would it have changed anything? Not for me. I would have only loved her more for choosing me.

Barbara crossed her arms.

“So, despite Mom’s will saying we split everything, I’ll be making sure you get nothing. You don’t belong in this family, Charlotte, so why should you get a dime?”

Alistair cleared his throat. “Ladies, let’s take a moment to think this through—”

But I had stopped listening. Because there was something about the document that didn’t sit right with me.

The name on the adoption decree had been erased. Deliberately.

That made me suspicious.

Barbara didn’t care. She turned to Alistair with a satisfied sigh.

“Please, go ahead with the legal stuff,” she said breezily. “But as for the estate, I want it all.”

I wasn’t about to let her erase me from my mother’s life. Not without proof.

So, I demanded a DNA test.

Barbara scoffed. “What’s the point, Lottie? You know what it’ll say. That you’re not family.”

But when the results came back, they didn’t say what Barbara expected.

Because Barbara—

She was the one who wasn’t biologically related to our mother.

Shocked, I went to Aunt Helen, my mother’s younger sister. When I told her the DNA results, she finally revealed the truth.

“Your mother never wanted either of you to know,” Aunt Helen said, tears in her eyes. “She didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt us with what?” I asked, my heart pounding.

“Barbara wasn’t your mother’s biological daughter.”

A lump formed in my throat. “So, she knew?”

Aunt Helen nodded. “Your mother found Barbara abandoned at a train station when she was two years old. She took her in and raised her as her own. A year later, she made it official—she legally adopted Barbara so no one could take her away.”

I felt my world tilt.

When I told Barbara the truth, she laughed at first. “You’re lying! You probably faked the results!”

But when I showed her the papers, her face turned ghostly pale.

“No. No, this can’t be right. Mom loved me! She wouldn’t just take in some abandoned kid!”

But she had. She had loved Barbara deeply. And how had Barbara repaid her?

By trying to steal from the only real daughter our mother had.

When we met with the lawyer again, Alistair confirmed the will was valid. Barbara couldn’t change a thing.

“Wait!” Barbara screeched. “I don’t want to share!”

“Then you’ll have to fight it in court,” Alistair said simply.

And so, she did. She dragged me through a legal battle, desperate to take everything.

But in the end, she lost.

I got it all.

She had tried to destroy me, but in doing so, she destroyed herself.

And you know what?

She deserved every bit of it.