The Foster Daughter Reborn: Protected by the Ruthless CEO

In the damp, dark basement, Eleanor Hamilton coughed up blood.

Unable to bear it any longer, she wrapped her clothes around herself and limped up the stairs to the first-floor living room.

Witnessing the lively atmosphere in the living room—streamers and balloons celebrating Zoey Hamilton's twenty-fifth birthday—her whole body trembled.

Eleanor was Harper Getty's adopted daughter, personally brought home from the hospital by Harper. She had late-stage lung cancer, yet no one cared for her. She had made many calls, but the Hamilton Family ignored her, just throwing her in the basement to live.

Yet Harper was actually upstairs celebrating Zoey's birthday! What a party!

Zoey nestled in Harper's arms, "Mom, do you think Eleanor will agree to donate her bone marrow to me? She already has cancer! Can her bone marrow even be used?"

"Zoey, Eleanor doesn't have cancer at all!" Harper coaxed Zoey. "Back then, I didn't let you go to our family's mine because the air quality was bad. What she has now is just pneumonia, but she really thinks it's cancer."

Eleanor felt cold all over.

Pneumonia? She didn't have cancer but pneumonia?

Pneumonia only needed hospital IV treatment, but Harper had lied to her, saying it was late-stage and untreatable, even coaxing her to skip chemotherapy and treat it at home to avoid suffering.

Going to work at the mine was Harper's personal assignment to her, saying she was capable. Turns out it was because the mine's air quality was bad, and Harper couldn't bear to send Zoey there.

If she hadn't gone to work at the mine back then, the Hamilton Family would have gone bankrupt long ago. It was precisely because she went and reformed the system and production methods that she revived a nearly bankrupt mine.

The Hamilton Family also moved from a small villa into the current two-thousand-square-meter estate.

She had known since childhood that she was adopted, so she learned early to read people's moods. When she was ten, she fell seriously ill, and Harper saved her life with a blood transfusion. She wanted to repay the Hamilton Family, so she agreed to whatever Harper said.

Going to work at the family mine, moving from the third-floor master bedroom to the basement, solving problems when Zoey got into trouble.

Each time she solved these issues, she even felt accomplished, thinking she could finally do something for this family and repay their kindness.

But she never expected that Harper, who once held her while seeking medical help and was even willing to give her blood transfusions, would now not only refuse to treat her illness but also lie about it being lung cancer—all to make her donate bone marrow to Zoey!

Zoey felt entitled to take Eleanor's life. "Mom, when will she die? I don't want to wait anymore."

"Wait a bit longer. Living in that basement every day, she'll soon be critically ill, and then we can do the matching." Harper touched her forehead to Zoey's.

Eleanor's chest suddenly felt sharp pain, and she coughed violently, startling Harper and Zoey.

Harper looked toward the staircase and saw Eleanor with her messy hair.

Eleanor's vision went black, her body fell backward uncontrollably, and she crashed heavily onto the floor.

She lay on the ground, her breathing growing weaker, reaching out her hand with the last bit of strength to call for help. "Mom, save me, I feel terrible."

"You scared me to death!" Zoey jumped in fright, clutching her chest and grabbing Harper's hand.

Harper glanced coldly at Eleanor. "Who told you to come up! You're so sick—what if you infect us!"

With that, she covered her nose and stepped back in disgust.

Zoey took Harper's arm and said sweetly, "Mom, ignore her. She's just pretending. Ruining my birthday—what bad luck."

"It's fine. If she dies, even better—we can get your bone marrow transplant right away." Harper looked down at Eleanor, her tone flat.

Eleanor's heart stabbed with pain. She struggled to get up, using all her strength to grab the railing and stand.

Gasping for breath, she steadied herself and pulled out her phone, preparing to call an ambulance.

Zoey panicked. "Mom! Is she trying to call the police?"

"We can't let her call the police!" Harper walked over and slapped the phone out of Eleanor's hand.

Her eyes were mean and vicious. "Eleanor, you stay here quietly and don't tell anyone!"

"Save me," Eleanor weakly grabbed Harper's wrist with her faint breath, at least to save her life first.

Harper mercilessly raised her arm and flung it back hard. Eleanor had no way to resist. Her feet left the ground, and her whole body fell backward.

She tumbled down the stairs, her head hitting the steps, rolling several times before finally stopping at the basement corner.

Eleanor's vision gradually blurred, her head throbbed with pain, and blood seeped out.

She heard Harper singing "Happy Birthday" to Zoey.

So jarring.

This time Harper didn't save her. She was dying, yet Zoey was celebrating.

After she turned eighteen, the Hamilton Family never celebrated her birthday again. Though she stayed with the Hamilton Family, they never gave her a kind look.

Harper ordered the servants, "Someone! Carry her away—stop being an eyesore here!"

"Eleanor, you didn't think that just because Mom saved you before, she'd save you this time, did you? Let me tell you the truth—Mom saved you ten years ago because someone was willing to pay three hundred thousand to treat your illness." Zoey laughed contemptuously.

Harper chimed in, "Too bad that person died five years ago. You have no use to us anymore! Oh wait, except for your bone marrow—consider it your final repayment to the Hamilton Family!"

The last bit of warmth in Eleanor's heart was completely extinguished, leaving only bone-chilling cold and overwhelming hatred.

She closed her eyes.

So the Hamilton Family's kindness to her was all fake, all because someone was secretly helping her.

If there's a next life, she would never help the Hamilton Family revive the mine and save the company.

...

A crisp slap struck her face hard, the burning pain exploding instantly.

Eleanor's eyes flew open, and she saw she was now in a boutique VIP reception room.

Strangely, the suffocating feeling in her lungs was gone, replaced by a clear pain on her face.

"Eleanor! You thief! How dare you frame Zoey!"

A familiar voice rang in her ears. Eleanor turned her head and saw Harper's mean face.

Her whole body trembled, her mind filled with images of Harper pushing her down the stairs.

Zoey put on an understanding act beside her. "Mom, Eleanor didn't mean it. She likes that bracelet. It's only two hundred thousand—I'll pay for her. If we buy the bracelet, she won't have to go to jail."

Eleanor looked up and saw the display screen at the counter showing the year 2020.

Time had returned to five years ago! She had been reborn!

She suddenly remembered—this was during her freshman year when Zoey had a strange habit of stealing things. She stole a two-hundred-thousand-dollar bracelet from a luxury store and was caught by the police, wanting her to take the blame.

At that time, thinking of Harper's life-saving grace, she actually agreed.

From that day on, her status in the Hamilton Family plummeted, and she was even driven to live in the basement.

"What are you staring at! Get up right now and go to the police station to confess!" Harper said, pulling Eleanor up.

"I can confess." Eleanor took out her phone and played a recording. "I'll hand this recording to the police."

"Eleanor, please, if Mom finds out I stole something, she'll beat me to death."