Sandra smiled. It seemed like they expected her to thank the family for the harm they had brought to her.
Ivy smirked slyly as if she was showing off her victory.
Ivy pulled Sandra and said, “Sandra, my parents and Keith are celebrating my birthday. We’re having my favorite strawberry cake. You should join us.”
Sandra pushed her away and snapped, “I don’t want to interrupt your family of four from celebrating.”
Sandra did not push Ivy strongly, but Ivy took the opportunity to slam herself against the coffee table next to her.
Tears fell down instantly. She cried like it was the end of the world, which made the three of them feel pity for her.
“Sandra, that’s too much!”
Sandra had a headache. She could not stand the happy appearance of the family of four, so she turned around and headed upstairs, leaving a few words.
“I’m allergic to strawberries.”
When Sandra entered her room, she found that the room was filled with Ivy’s belongings.
Irene entered and held Sandra’s hand. “Sandra, don’t be angry at your father. Ivy said that she liked your room and that the sunshine was good here. We were afraid of irritating her, so we followed her wishes. Your things have been moved to the first floor. Please bear with her.”
A good cop and a bad cop. Her parents worked really well together.
Sandra ran to the first floor in a hurry. Her things filled up the tiny storage room. Among the messy pile of things, Sandra looked for her research reports.
Those were the reports from her hard work in the laboratory over the past six months. They were also her first copyright project.
Sandra walked to the living hall. She knew that the only person who took her report would be Ivy.
“Ivy, did you take my reports?”
Mike spoke before Ivy replied, “We decided to give the reports to Ivy. She needs them to graduate. Since you’re so capable, you can just come up with another one.”
Sandra clenched her fists and yelled, “So, you all know about it? Do you know what you’re doing? This is called stealing, plagiarism!”
Mike did not even look up at Sandra. “Everything you have belongs to Ivy. It’s just a research report, so we took it.”
Sandra trembled angrily and exclaimed, “That’s the result of the team’s effort. It doesn’t just belong to me. Ivy, give the report back to me!”
Ivy acted pitifully and hid in Irene’s embrace. She even pretended to retreat.
“Sandra, we’ve done our best to raise you for the past twenty years. Do you want to compete with Ivy now?”
Sandra realized that she would never be able to win the argument, so she had to give in.
“Since you want to compensate her, I can give her all the assets and belongings under my name. I just want my research report back.”
Mike continued to defend Ivy. “All the assets belong to Ivy in the first place. They’re not yours to return.”
Sandra felt completely disappointed as her heart sank, seeing the way her father reacted in front of her.
A father that she had for the past twenty years, a father that put her on the pedestal.
There was no reason for her to stay.
“Fine. I’ll leave since there’s no place for me in this family, but don’t ever think of using my research reports.”
Sandra felt angry yet somewhat amused. She wondered what would happen if her parents were to find out that their biological daughter was not Ivy.
