Chapter 4

Just a few months ago, I'd been planning to bring her here right after her graduation ceremony and tell her everything about StellarTech Group.

I was going to spend years training her personally, teaching her step by step, and eventually hand over this business empire I'd built from nothing.

It was supposed to be the most magnificent coming-of-age gift I could give her.

But she destroyed all of that with her own hands.

At her graduation ceremony, in front of everyone, she took my sincerity and crushed it into the dirt.

Now, I didn't need to go out of my way to make things difficult for her.

I just needed to pull away every path I'd paved for her and take back every umbrella I'd held over her head.

Then I could sit back and watch her precious talent and that ridiculous pride of hers tear her apart from the inside out.

I told Frank, "Keep following protocol. When her probation ends, if her evaluation still doesn't meet standards, HR should handle it however they normally would."

After Emily moved out, I cut off every source of information about her.

Whether her life turned out good or bad, that was her choice to make and her consequences to live with.

I threw myself entirely into the group's overseas acquisition case.

That afternoon, I'd just wrapped up a cross-border video conference when Phoebe called through on the internal line. "Ms. Moore, they found Emily."

Several video files popped up on my screen.

The footage showed the entrance of StellarTech Group headquarters.

A man and a woman, both wearing cheap, ill-fitting clothes, had cornered Emily as she left work for the day, and they were sobbing uncontrollably.

The man looked exactly like the gambling addict I remembered, but his hair had gone gray, and he'd aged considerably.

The woman grabbed Emily's hand and wouldn't let go, beating her chest as she sobbed, "My daughter, oh my daughter, I've missed you so much."

I watched the video as Emily went from shocked and guarded at first, to visibly moved, and then finally, she reached out and hesitantly hugged the woman back.

I turned off the video and felt like laughing.

The person she threw away like trash was me—the one who'd given her eighteen years of a comfortable life.

The people she treasured like gold were the parents who'd sold her out for a few thousand bucks.

Blood ties could be pretty ironic sometimes.

After that whole mess, I decided it was time for one final cut.

The next day, I had James pack up Emily's remaining books and old clothes—the stuff she hadn't taken with her—and deliver everything to her. I wanted every trace of her gone from my house.

But Emily saw it as a sign of weakness, as if I were trying to keep tabs on her.

"Ms. Moore, I—" James' voice came through the phone, sounding both uncomfortable and angry.

"What happened?"

James said, "Right in front of her parents, she threw everything you gave her straight into the trash. Then she told me to tell you to stop harassing her and her family. She also said you're not worthy of her."

Through the phone, I could faintly hear someone shouting in the background. "Oh, so you think having money makes you special? You stole our daughter for eighteen years, and now what else do you want."

The woman said, "Exactly. We're her real family, and that woman is nothing but a homewrecker who took what wasn't hers. She should pay us compensation for eighteen years of emotional damage!"

I listened to the chaos coming through the speaker, but my eyes grew colder and colder.

I hung up the phone. "Family? Emily, you'll find out soon enough just how much your so-called family really loves you."