My Mother Killed Me For Her Stepdaughter novel Chapter 4

I listened, stunned, as Frank confessed. Bethany wasn't his ex-wife's kid; she was Mom's. They'd had a whole secret affair back in the day!

Apparently, Mom hadn't wanted Bethany to know the truth yet. Frank played it cool, all "Don't worry, she's with you now, that's all that matters."

Mom, the idiot, bought it. She had her precious daughter; nothing else mattered.

Except me, rotting in her basement.

At least I was dead. If I'd lived, who knows what kind of torture they had planned.

The next morning, Mom was a woman possessed, tossing my meager belongings into trash bags. Then, she pulled out a faded blue baby blanket from the bottom of the box. My blanket. The one I came to the orphanage with. The one theOrphanage director said was found with me, wrapped in it like a little burrito of sadness.

My heart, or what was left of it, ached. This was all I had left of my real parents.

Mom stared at it, her brow furrowed. I tried to snatch it from her, but my ghostly hands passed right through.

"This blanket..."

"No. That's impossible!"

She shook her head, clinging to denial. Then, she wiped her tears and practically skipped over to Frank and Bethany, a manic grin plastered on her face.

"Frank! Bethany! Look! It's the blanket I made for you, all those years ago!"

She shoved the embroidered name in their faces. "See? It has my name on it! Frank, remember? You bought this fabric!"