The CEO mom brought back the coworker who used to bully me, acting all emotional like she found her long-lost daughter. Then she told me to pack up and leave so her real daughter could take my place.
While I was collecting my stuff, I overheard the coworker—Everly—acting all sweet.
"Mommy, I want Janey's endorsement deals too. What if she won't give them to me?"
Mom just smiled gently and said,
"I run this company. If you want it, it's yours."
The next morning in the meeting, she publicly announced that Everly was her real daughter.
Then she flat-out told me to hand over all my endorsements.
I didn't say a word. Just quietly handed them over.
She never once considered that those endorsement deals were specifically built around me—breaking the contract now? That's gonna cost the company a fortune in penalties.
"You've lost all your endorsements. What's the point of keeping a useless person like you around here? Go pack up and leave my mom's company already!"
As I headed to the makeup room, Everly cut me off and started throwing insults.
Plenty of coworkers don't have endorsement deals. Most just do photo shoots and minor gigs.
No one's ever been forced to resign over that.
I turned to look at the CEO mom. "Are you seriously firing me too?"
She hesitated, face twitching like she wasn't quite sure—
But then she hardened up and snapped,
"HR, terminate Janey's contract today. Finance, settle her paycheck."
I've got the looks and height for the industry. Back in college, several top agencies were lining up with high-paying offers.
But I turned them all down to help Mom launch her startup.
I worked for free for five years—shooting ads, landing deals, building partnerships.
Little by little, I helped grow the company into what it is today.
But now, just because Everly happens to be the daughter of Mom's first love, she's throwing away everything I brought to the table and handing it all to her.
She knows full well how critical these resources are to me. But just to fulfill Everly's dream, she labeled me as some fake and literally kicked me out of the house to force me to give it all up for Everly's rise.
She's betting I'd never walk away from the company I helped build, the team I personally trained. That's why she's being so ruthless.
My coworkers saw how pissed I was—face burning red—and immediately tried to calm me down.
"Janey, don't get upset. Moms and daughters fight all the time. Just apologize and this'll blow over."
Mom let out a cold snort, playing the elder card.
"I'm your mother. Everything I do is for your own good. You have to listen to me."
Hearing that, coworkers started chiming in even more.
"Janey, your mom clearly loves you. You've been each other's only family for over 20 years—Everly can't replace that. Just let it go."
"If I had a CEO mom like you do, I'd be the happiest person alive. Even if I mess up, I've still got someone to back me up."
But as they all kept piling on their so-called advice, I felt more and more weighed down.
Things were never how they thought.
Growing up, whenever something nice came into our home, Mom always made sure to give it to Everly.
Even leftovers and old toys weren't for me—because my mom said I was low-born and didn't deserve anything nice.
When we got older, Everly and I joined the company together.
I was out there hustling hard, pulling clients, chasing partnerships.
Meanwhile, she just sat in the office playing video games, occasionally doing ads she liked, and the moment she got in a bad mood, she'd quit on the spot.
And every single time, it was me cleaning up the mess, apologizing to clients like some desperate loser.
I argued with Mom about it all the time. But she never took my side. She always said how Everly had potential, that she'd be a huge star one day. That everything she was doing was for the company, for me.
I didn't agree, but I told myself—this was my mom. No matter how messed up things got, she wouldn't really hurt her own daughter.
But now that I've built a name out there, with most of the big clients coming in because of me…
She still chose Everly over me. Threatened me with the company, just to give Everly all my hard-earned resources.
That's when I finally got it—if someone truly cares about you, they don't just keep squeezing you dry under the name of “sacrifice.” They give. They protect.
I was still frozen in place when Everly suddenly picked up a glass of water and threw it straight at me.
"Janey, stop being shameless. I'm Mom's real daughter. If you keep pretending to be me, I'll sue you!"
"You're just a nobody without a mom. What right do you have to fight with me?"
Mom stood there the whole time, and didn't even glance at me. Instead, she grabbed Everly's hand to check her nail art.
"Oh no, sweetie, you were too rough. One of your rhinestones came off. Come on, let's go get that fixed soon."
The whole office went dead silent. Everyone just stared.
"I'm resigning," I said quietly as I wiped the water off and filed my resignation on the spot.
HR didn't dare hesitate, they were about to approve it—
When Mom panicked. She rushed over to stop them.
"Forget it! I raised you for twenty years. I'm not that heartless. Just stay in the company."
People started to relax. Someone handed me clean clothes.
But Everly snatched them, chucked them on the floor, and stomped all over them.
"Mom, I'm your real daughter! I can't even fire one person?"
Mom, who always spoiled her, suddenly dragged her to the side and told her to be quiet.
Then she turned to me, forcing out a smile.
"Janey, you've worked hard these past years. How about this—take a long vacation, rest up. We'll talk about work later, okay?"
She seriously thought I didn't see what she was doing—use my contacts to get Everly more exposure, then sweet-talk me into staying and working like a mule again.
Just like before.
But not this time.
She admitted it herself. I've never been her real daughter.
So what's the point in staying? Her or the company—I don't want either.
I pulled out my phone and wiped every single photo and video of her from my gallery.
Blocked her on WeChat right after.
Done.
I looked up and said it loud and clear:
"I want nothing to do with you ever again."