Chapter 2

Vanessa froze for a second, then let out a scornful little laugh, looking at me without a trace of fear.

"You don't need to threaten me here. Do you think I'd actually believe you?"

"You'd never bring yourself to pull the funding. If my real mom hadn't told me, I wouldn't even know how much profit those patents my lab churns out every year bring your company!"

"On the surface you're funding me, but really you've just been using me as a free cash cow. Now that I've won a big award and my value's doubled, you want to play hard to get so you can control me? Keep dreaming!"

Looking at that blindly confident face, I didn't even have the energy left to be angry.

Those patents her lab produced,

if I hadn't poured a few hundred million of my own money in every year to package and run it,

her lab would have gone into bankruptcy liquidation eight hundred times over.

"Is that so?" I put my phone back in my bag.

"Then you go on guarding your cash cow and make your fortune."

With that, I turned and walked away.

Behind me came Vanessa's contemptuous cold snort.

"What a show. Within three days, you'll be crying and begging me to take your money!"

I'd taken only two steps when a figure darted out in front of me.

"Melissa, don't go! Let me explain!"

It was Vanessa's birth mother, Louisa Chavez.

Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she dropped to her knees with a thud.

"Melissa, I'm begging you, please don't be angry with Vanessa."

"Every bit of it is my fault. I couldn't help myself, I came to see her in secret."

"Please, whatever you do, don't pull the funding!"

I frowned and yanked my hand back hard.

"Let go."

Louisa didn't let go. If anything, she cried louder.

"I won't! Not unless you promise you won't withdraw the money! Why do you have to drive the two of us to our deaths?"

"As long as you keep investing, I swear I'll never see Vanessa again, all right?"

Just then, a rush of hurried footsteps came from behind me.

"Mom! What are you doing! Get up!"

Vanessa hauled Louisa up off the ground, then turned her head and glared at me, venom in her eyes.

A sharp crack.

The crisp sound of a slap rang out.

My head snapped to the side, my cheek burning with a stinging heat.

Vanessa pulled her hand back and stepped in front of Louisa, shielding her.

"Don't think a bit of dirty money lets you do whatever you want! What gives you the right to make my real mom kneel to you?"

"You stole twenty years from me and that still wasn't enough? Now you want to use money to force the two of us apart?"

"I'm telling you, if you dare bully my mom again, I really won't acknowledge you as my adoptive mother anymore!"

The commotion quickly drew the other guests and reporters just coming out of the venue.

The crowd gradually closed in, pointing and whispering at us.

"Isn't that the genius girl who just won the award?"

"The one who got slapped looks like her adoptive mother. I heard she's some big boss."

"Rich people really are vicious. Using her money to force some brilliant girl to stay hers,"

"and now the girl's real mom shows up, and she still makes her kneel."

Vanessa gave a cold snort.

"This slap is what you owe my mom. Don't bother coming to my celebration dinner tonight. Just the sight of you disgusts me."

"You'd better go home and think hard about what you've done. When you've come to your senses, I'll consider whether to forgive you."

With that, she supported Louisa and, surrounded by the crowd, walked out of the parking lot.

I stood where I was, watching their backs, and took out my phone.

"Assistant Wells."

"Yes, Ms. Sharpe." Victor's voice was as steady as ever.

"Draft a statement dissolving the adoption. Send it to all the major outlets first thing tomorrow morning."

"And settle the accounts on every major asset I've given to Vanessa over these fifteen years."

"Including the large flat in the city center, the two sports cars, and all the luxury goods she bought by quietly siphoning from the company account."

"Take it all through the legal channels. I want every last bit of it back."