In Brooklyn City, Cindy Paulson has just stepped out of her class where she learned fine art, as she wanted to become a jewelry designer and take over her mother's jewelry company, Tonia's Jewelry.
Just then, Cindy's phone rang aloud in her bag as she was walking alongside her friend, Rachel Nolan. Taking out her phone, Cindy's brows furrowed deeply as she spotted her father's name on the screen. She was his first daughter, yet she was treated as something lesser than a maid.
Wanting to reject the call, Cindy held back and answered it. After all, the university had just begun, and she would need her father's help to support her education.
"Hello, Father, what is it?" Cindy asked coldly, her face scrunched up with noticeable irritation.
"Where are you, Cindy? Come home quickly. We have something important to discuss," her father, Mr. Rex Paulson, declared over the phone call.
Clenching her fist, Cindy drew a deep breath. "I do not want to come home."
"Cindy. You have no choice. This is about your mother, Tonia White. I'm sure you don't want her to die."
A wave of annoyance washed over Cindy's slender figure. "Fine. I will be back. Just give me an hour to get home," she replied, her tone laced with annoyance, and her father grinned.
"Good. I will be expecting you."
Once the call ended, Rachel looked at Cindy with concern etched on her face. "What's the matter?" she asked, her voice thick with concern.
"It's my dad. I have to go home. I don't know what he's calling me about, but I'll be back. You can go home," Cindy said, her voice firm and irritable.
Cindy had avoided going home because she didn't want to witness her father's display of affection for her stepsister, Tasha, and his wife, Mabel. She believed they were the ones who drove her mother insane.
"Are you sure you'll be fine, Cindy?" Rachel asked, her voice tinged with concern, as she didn't want to let Cindy go.
"Of course. There's nothing I can't handle. I'll call you when I get home or if anything occurs," Cindy replied, her brows furrowed deeply.
"Alright. Take care," Rachel replied, knowing how Cindy had been treated badly, even though she was the first daughter of the Paulson family. She wasn't recognized as such, and her father favored Tasha.
Rachel could only hope for the best for Cindy. She stood watching as Cindy got into a cab and went home. They were both from average homes, but unlike Cindy, Rachel's family didn't care about her and favored her brothers over her. They believed a woman's place was to remain in the kitchen and next to her husband. While Rachel had to do menial jobs to support her education, like Cindy, they worked as waitresses in a restaurant for their university expenses.
Shaking her head, Rachel left for the room she shared with Cindy before she changed out of the yellow dress she had worn that morning to class. She stepped out in a blue dress and went to work at the restaurant.
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Cindy arrived at her father's house, a white duplex, but her father acted like he was poor, refusing to sponsor Cindy's mother's medical expenses for her mental health condition.
"Cindy, you're back," Mr. Paulson said as he perched on the living room couch alongside his wife, Mabel, and their precious daughter, Tasha.
Mabel was a 44-year-old woman. She was once Cindy's mother's friend, the reason Cindy hated the woman's guts. She had secretly befriended her father, and immediately after Cindy's mother's health went downhill, Mabel jumped into the family, pretending to take care of Cindy, before she brought her children.
As Cindy was 24 years old, Tasha was 22.
Cindy disliked Tasha; after all, she was only 7 years old when her father married Mabel, and her mother got admitted to the hospital. Mabel then brought home her daughter, Tasha and her son, Amos.
Cindy was furious at her father's betrayal. As she learned that he didn't love her mother, his true love was Mabel, yet he hid it to take over her mother's small business that was flourishing.
Taking a deep breath as she stood in the living room dressed in a flowing white dress, Cindy peered at her father's face and asked, "Why did you call me home, Dad?"
"Cindy, is that how you greet your own father? Well, this is about your mother. I found a cure for her."
"Really?" Cindy's eyes shone with hope. She wished that her mother's health condition would improve, but it hadn't in 17 years. She had already lost hope that her mother would return to normal.
Her mother was an orphan who had no one to help her, and now Cindy was left to her father and his own family.
"Good. Have a seat; let's talk business first," Mr. Paulson said, his voice gentle compared to the harsh way he had spoken to Cindy before.
It was still after 3 pm, and Cindy knew that she had to get to work at the restaurant by 4 pm, where she worked until nightfall.
Moving to take her seat on the living room's black couch, Cindy fixed her gaze on her father's face.
"Yes, Dad. What business do you want?"
"Well, Cindy," Mabel chimed in with a sweet voice. "The Sullivan family is looking for a wife for the elderly Mr. Daniel Sullivan. He is 70 years old, and they promised to compensate any family that allows their daughter to marry him with the hefty sum of 20 million dollars. That will be enough to fund your mother's medical bills, right?" Mabel flashed her pristine white teeth at Cindy, whose fist clenched.
'So this is what it's all about,' Cindy thought inwardly, watching her dad and his lovely wife, who had treated her poorly.
Cindy had a lot of scars on her body because of her evil stepmother's brutality. But whenever she complained to her father in the past, he always brushed it off and told her it would heal on its own. He never confronted his wife or protected her.
What made them think that she would trust them to spend the money on her mother? Moreover, why would she be the one to marry an old man? Why not, Tasha?