Chapter 2

But Emily quickly felt relieved again. Since he wasn't the man from back then, she didn't need to worry about anyone coming to take Oscar and Nina away from her.

The thought had barely formed when it was interrupted by a phone ringing.

Yasmin, the caregiver's anxious voice came through the phone, "Ms. Johnson, something terrible happened! A group of people just burst in and tried to attack your mother!"

"What?" Emily's face changed. She immediately told the two kids to take care of the house, then rushed to the nursing home.

Back then, she had been schemed against by Sophia and nearly died. Fortunately, she was saved by her teacher at the last moment. When she was about to give birth, she asked her teacher to find a way to bring her mother out.

But because treatment came too late, her mother fell into a permanent coma and was now placed in a nursing home by Emily.

Who would suddenly go after her mother?

Emily rushed to the hospital room filled with worry and questions. As soon as she entered, she saw Yasmin being held in a corner by two bodyguards, while Brian and Sophia, whom she hadn't seen in five years, were coldly watching a nurse prepare to inject a syringe into Emily's mother's vein.

"Mom!" Emily cried out and rushed over to shove the person away.

She stood in front of the bed. "What are you doing?"

"Who are you?" Brian looked at Emily, his brows tightly furrowed. "Can anyone just barge into this nursing home?"

"Security! Where's security!"

Emily looked at him with cold eyes, a mocking curve to her lips. "Five years and you don't even recognize your own daughter anymore, Mr. Johnson?"

"Emily?"

Sophia exclaimed in shock. She stared at Emily's smooth, flawless face, "Where's the birthmark on your left cheek?"

When Emily was first brought back, she had seemed nervous and uncomfortable, with a large purple-red birthmark on her left cheek that was hard to look at.

So even though Brian had acknowledged her as his biological daughter, Sophia had never worried.

But now!

The birthmark had completely disappeared, and she was no longer as timid as before. Even wearing just a simple t-shirt and jeans, Emily was stunningly beautiful.

In contrast, Sophia wore a custom-tailored suit with delicate makeup, clearly refined in every way, yet standing before Emily, she was like an ugly duckling meeting a swan.

Emily didn't answer but asked instead, "What are you trying to do?"

Yasmin finally broke free from the bodyguards' grip and rushed over to her. "Ms. Johnson, they wanted to euthanize your mother!"

She grabbed Emily's arm, her face full of lingering fear.

Emily's eyes instantly turned sharp. She forced the words through gritted teeth, "Brian, my mother is already like this, and you still won't let her go?"

Over these years, she had been learning medicine from her teacher while trying to treat her mother.

As Emily learned more about her mother's condition, she discovered that the reason she remained unconscious was due to various chronic poisons in her body.

After years of accumulation, her body had rapidly deteriorated.

"What nonsense are you talking?" Brian denied it. "We just heard the news and came to check on her."

"Check on her?" Emily moved closer to him. "Check what? Check how to kill my mother so you can quickly marry your mistress? Dream on."

Over the years, because of Amelia Johnson, Sophia's biological mother, Harper Anderson could only live at the Johnson Villa without proper status.

Everyone in their circle knew Harper had been a homewrecker who moved up in the world. No one respected her at social events. They had wanted to deal with Amelia years ago, but Emily had acted quickly and taken her away.

"You ungrateful child, how dare you speak to me like that?" Brian seemed to have his sore spot touched and raised his hand to slap her.

Emily narrowed her eyes and blocked his arm with her hand. "Do you even deserve my respect?"

Brian hadn't expected her to resist. His hand trembled slightly as he pointed at her in anger.

Sophia quickly stepped forward, "How can you talk to Dad like that? Don't you know that over these years, looking for you both has nearly destroyed his health?"

Emily looked at Brian's ruddy complexion, the mockery in her eyes growing deeper. "I don't blame Brian for being old and having poor eyesight, but why are your eyes so blind at such a young age?"

"Enough, get out!" Brian shouted furiously, pointing at the door.

Emily stood still. "Mr. Johnson, let me remind you - this is my mother's hospital room. The ones who should leave now are you."

Brian paused, unable to react for a moment.

When Emily had returned home back then, life hadn't been easy.

Because she didn't know proper etiquette and was full of country manners, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't win Brian's approval. Add to that Sophia's deliberate bullying and false accusations, and she was thrown out to stand outside almost every day as punishment.

When luck wasn't on her side, and it was windy or snowing, Emily suffered even more.

To this day, her left leg still occasionally ached on rainy days because of how long she'd been frozen in the past.

But Brian had never cared about any of this. In his eyes, Emily was just an animal picked up from outside - give her food and she should be grateful.

So even now, he still ordered Emily around.

"Mr. Johnson, why so angry?" A voice came from the doorway.

James walked in from outside. He wore a white suit, his manner refined and gentle, so much so that people easily overlooked the cruelty beneath his features.

He walked to Sophia's side, his gaze pausing on Emily's face, his eyes showing intense interest.

"Who is this?" James looked at Sophia.

Sophia didn't miss the flash of amazement in his eyes. She clenched her fists, her smile forced. "This is Emily. Didn't you recognize her?"

James was surprised. He stared at Emily's clean, flawless face, his heart burning.

He hadn't expected that the ugly duckling from back then had become so beautiful. If she'd looked like this earlier, how could he have gotten a fake marriage certificate to trick her out of disgust?

But it didn't matter. Given how obsessed she was with him, he figured he could just say a few kind words, and she would come back to him.

With this thought, James pulled out his phone, his smile growing warmer. "Emily, why didn't you tell me you were back? Let's add each other on WhatsApp. If you need anything in the future, just reach out to me."

"Where are you living now? What do you do? Do you need me to find you a new place?" He spoke with thoughtful concern.

Emily felt sick watching him put on this act. She casually tossed a business card at him.

"No need." She smiled sweetly. "You just need to support my business. I'm a funeral director now. Whenever the Smith family needs my services, feel free to contact me anytime."

"Since we know each other, one person gets 10% off, two people get 20% off, and you personally get 50% off."