The first time I came back, Violet grabbed my cat and wouldn’t let go. She said I was a bully, that I had taken everything from her. But it was her family who had taken everything from me. When I pushed her away to save my cat, my adoptive parents turned on me.
They said they were blind to have taken me back. Violet cried and played the victim, and they believed her. They called me a cripple, an ugly fish seller, and said my real parents raised me wrong. I told them my mother was dead, that I only came back because of her last wish.
They didn’t care. They told me to get out. So I left. I took my cat and went home to the small apartment my mother left me.
But the cat was already dead. I held her and cried. I promised to take her to my mother. Then I remembered what my mother said before she died.
She told me to go back to the Gilbert family. She said they had money and luxury, and I would be safe. I didn’t want to go back, but she was the only family I had left. Later, my adopted mother got sick.
She admitted she sold me to the Gilberts for five million dollars. She said she did it because she wanted a better life for me. She was the one who found the cat and brought it to the hospital. She said the cat was important to me, and she was right.
That cat was my mother. She had reincarnated into the cat to protect me. After my mother died, I returned to the Gilbert mansion. Violet was there.
So were my birth parents and my brother Jeremy. They tried to act like a family again, but I couldn’t trust them. Violet had burned my mother’s belongings. She had locked me out of the house.
She had scolded me with boiling water when I was thirteen. She had locked me in the bathroom and poured ice water on my head when I was fourteen. Every time I tried to tell the truth, they called me a liar. When I applied to be a vet at the hospital, Violet showed up and slandered me.
She told them I never got my diploma, that I was a terrible student, that I killed my mother. The hospital refused to hire me. I felt like a jinx. I started to believe everything they said about me.
But then Dr. Elliot came. He was the vet who had helped me before. He knew the truth.
He found out that Violet had framed me for the missing diploma and made the hospital reinstate me. He also found out that Violet had tampered with my medical records. She was the reason I became deaf in one ear. She had tried to kill me in a fire.
She had set that fire, just like she had set the fire that killed my mother. Dr. Elliot was also my childhood friend. He was the boy I had helped when I was seven.
He had come back to find me and protect me. He gave me the shares of his company as a birthday gift. He wanted me to always have the freedom to choose my own path. The more time I spent with him, the more I felt safe.
He had a dog named Puppy. The dog liked me because I was a vet. Dr. Elliot treated me like I mattered, like I was more than just a burden.
But Violet couldn’t stand that. She recorded herself taunting me. She played the recording of me saying I caused my mother’s death. She showed it to my birth parents to make them turn against me.
She manipulated them for years, and I was the one who suffered for it. When they finally heard the truth, they tried to apologize. They begged me to come home for dinner. They said they would make everything right.
But I didn’t know if I could ever trust them again. I only had one ear that could hear, and I was tired of listening to their lies. Then the birthday party happened. Dr.
Elliot transferred his shares to me. He told me I would always have a choice. He said he loved me. But the Gilberts showed up at the party.
They tried to guilt me into coming home. They said they were my real family. Dr. Elliot stood up for me.
He said they had no right to hurt me anymore. He told them to leave. The next day, I went with him to the Gilbert mansion. They had redecorated the house and prepared a feast.
They said they wanted to make up for everything. But all I could remember was the pain. I couldn’t even sit with them when I was a child. I ate with the servants.
I was only a ghost in that house, and now they wanted to pretend I was their daughter. Violet lost her temper. She said I stole everything from her, that I wasn’t really a Gilbert. She told me to get out.
But I didn’t need to stay. I had already cut ties with that family. At dinner, Violet tried to attack me again. She hired men with guns to follow us.
They forced our car off the road. Violet was there, screaming that she would kill me. She said she had already killed my mother. I wanted to destroy her.
I wanted to make her pay for everything she had done. But I looked at her and saw something I couldn’t recognize. She wasn’t just evil. She was a coward pretending to be strong.
I told her I was not like her. I said I would never hurt anyone at will. That’s when I realized the truth. Kitty was not just a cat.
Kitty was my mother. My mother had come back to protect me. She had reincarnated into the cat to watch over me. She had been with me all along, sneaking into the kitchen to eat spicy food, just like she always had.
She had tried to tell me with her eyes, but I was too blind to see it. I held her and cried. I told her I was sorry for everything. I said I missed her so much.
She said she missed me too. Later, I got married to Trevor, Dr. Elliot. I was a vet.
He was a vet. We worked together, saved animals, and built a life beyond the pain of the Gilberts. We even held a wedding rehearsal in the courtyard because my mother couldn’t wait. She wanted to see me happy.
At the wedding, I didn’t know if my mother was still there. But I remembered her voice. She told me I was beautiful. She said I was the best daughter in the whole world.
She said I would live happily ever after. Before the rehearsal, I saw my mother. I told her I had no regrets. I only wanted her to be safe.
She said she had already planned the rehearsal for me. She said she didn’t miss my wedding. I understood then that love isn’t about blood or duty. It’s about who shows up for you when you need them.
My mother chose me, and I chose her back. And even though she is gone from this world, I know she is still watching over me, the way she always has. I am Daniela Gilbert. I am a vet.
I am a survivor. And I would never let anyone take that away from me.
