All my life, I felt like an outsider in my own family. My mother adored my sisters but treated me like a burden. The reason? I looked too much like the man she wished to forget. When I finally discovered the truth about my real father, everything changed—but not in the way she expected.

They say children pay for the sins of their parents. My mother made sure that was true. Though she never admitted it. All my life, I felt like a stranger in my own family, and it turned out there was a reason for that.

I grew up with two older sisters, Kira and Alexa. I spent my childhood watching them and how our mother treated them. She loved them openly, bought them expensive clothes, gave them new toys, and took them out for ice cream on warm summer days. She brushed their hair, kissed their foreheads, and told them how much she adored them.