“Who said I eat his food or drink his water?” Clara stood up, the wound on her back throbbing again, but her eyes were incredibly firm. “The down payment for this house was paid with the prize money I won when I won a gold medal in ballet; the wages of the maids in the house were raised by selling the jewelry my mother left me; even the food and clothes you eat and wear were mostly bought with my own savings. I don’t owe you anything!”
Liam finally spoke, interrupting her. He walked over, ruffled Lila 's hair, and said in a soothing tone, "Mommy was just saying that in anger, don't pay any attention to Mommy."
"I wasn't saying that out of anger!" Lila suddenly burst into tears, which streamed down her face like a broken string of pearls. "I don't want a fat and ugly woman to be my mother! I want Vanessa to be my mother! Vanessa is so gentle and beautiful, why wasn't I born from her!"
Clara like a hammer blow . She remembered three years ago, struggling for three hours on the operating table, nearly dying from severe bleeding, to give birth to Lila ; she remembered Lila crying at night when Lila was just a month old, and her mother holding and comforting her all night long, without closing her own eyes; she remembered crying tears of joy for a long time when Lila first called her "Mama." But now, her own daughter wanted someone else to be her mother.
Vanessa stood to the side, a look of surprise on her face. She quickly walked over, took Lila 's hand, and said with a deliberately guilty tone, " Clara , don't blame Lila . It's all my fault. I just wanted to be nice to her, buy her snacks, and play with her. I never thought it would make her think like this... It's all my fault for being too patient, making Lila feel like I'm more like her mother." As she spoke, she wiped her eyes, as if she had suffered a great injustice.
" Vanessa , what are you pretending to be a good person for!" Clara clenched her fists, her nails almost digging into her flesh. "You think I don't know you're doing this on purpose? You're deliberately trying to please Lila , deliberately acting weak in front of Liam , just to steal my place!"