Chapter 2

Standing outside the door, hearing Julian's careless words, I could barely stand.

His friend wanted to say something else, but Julian cut him off with a soft chuckle.

"Alright, when the time comes, I'll just pretend I didn't know."

"I'll tell her the hospital made a mistake. She'll come crawling back on her own anyway."

I leaned against the wall, my chest aching with a sharp, stabbing pain.

Just a few hours ago, Chloe had come home from school crying. Her favorite uniform was covered in mud, and her knees were scraped and bloody.

I had called her teacher, only to be met with a cold, demanding voice telling us to transfer schools.

"Mrs. Vance, do you really want me to spell it out for you?"

"Your scandalous private life is all over the internet. Every kid in school knows Chloe is a bastard of unknown origin."

"The other parents are furious. The school is under a lot of pressure here."

Hanging up the phone, I had held my shivering daughter, my heart breaking into pieces.

Yet, she had looked up at me with her tear-stained face and asked, "Mommy, if I'm really Daddy's baby, will he... will he love me again?"

For the sake of that question, I had thrown away all my pride to find Julian today.

I wanted to beg him for another DNA test.

But I never expected to hear such venomous words.

In his eyes, faking a DNA test to publicly humiliate me was just a trivial game.

The humiliation and abuse Chloe and I suffered were merely a script he wrote to please another woman.

Even my adoptive parents, who had promised to love me forever, were accomplices in this cruel game.

I closed my eyes in agony.

Inside the room, their laughter continued.

His friend seemed to feel a bit of pity. "But Chloe is just a kid. I saw her running out of school crying today because other kids were calling her a bastard. Can you really bear to let her suffer like that?"

"If she finds out the truth, she might never accept you as her father again."

Julian's tone was filled with the arrogance of a man who held all the cards.

"Kids forget easily. What's wrong with her suffering a little?"

"Besides, she's my biological daughter. She can't actually reject me as her father."

I squeezed my hands into fists, my nails slicing into my palms, but I couldn't feel the physical pain.

If this were the old Gemma, I would have kicked the door open and screamed at him.

But this time, I just turned around silently.

I was done. This divorce was happening.

I packed a few clothes and took Chloe back to the Harlow estate.

In the past, whenever I came back, my parents would always greet me at the door with warm smiles.

But this time, my adoptive mother didn't even try to hide the disgust in her voice.

"What are you doing here?"

"Mom, I have nowhere else to go. I just want to stay here with Chloe for one night."

Helen Harlow sneered. "The Harlow estate is not a homeless shelter. Don't bring your bad luck into our house."

A lump formed in my throat.

Chloe peeked out from behind me, timid and small.

"Grandpa, Grandma!"

Her voice was soft and sweet, just like before, waiting for them to hug her.

But their faces remained ice-cold.

"Don't call us that. We don't have relatives with such loose morals."

I felt like I had been struck by lightning. I stood there, paralyzed.

In just a few days, we had gone from being a beloved daughter and granddaughter to disgrace.

I remembered how my dad used to lift me onto his shoulders, calling me his little princess.

I remembered how my mom used to brag about how proud she was of her brilliant daughter.

But ever since Audrey returned, their love had vanished overnight.

The business projects I had worked so hard on were stripped from me one by one.

The connections and resources I had built were handed over to Audrey.

At the time, I had comforted myself, thinking Audrey was the biological daughter and it was only natural for them to compensate her.

But now, I finally realized the truth.

They hated me.

They hated me for taking Audrey's place and living her luxurious life for over twenty years.

Julian's cruel words echoed in my ears.