Chapter 6
"She says she's staying put until you show," Len said.
Kendall's expression didn't flicker as she strode toward the elevator. The doors parted, and it dropped them straight to the underground parking garage.
As she neared her car, a familiar figure leaned against the door—a woman in a light gray coat, looking exhausted but defiant.
It was Gillian.
Her eyes were red, and the harsh glow of the headlights made her look older, almost broken.
"Kendall," Gillian said, her voice softer than Kendall had ever heard it, stripped of its usual edge.
Kendall stopped, hands in her trench coat pockets, her gaze steady and cold as steel.
Gillian took a shaky breath. "I know you hate us. I get it. But I'm your mom."
"Yeah," Kendall said, her tone flat. "In DNA only."
Gillian flinched, her voice cracking. "We didn't know you were switched at birth. Sharon was three, and your dad and I… we'd already raised her like she was ours."
"So when I came back, you shut me out. Chose her over me. Even kicked me to the curb." Kendall's voice stayed low, but every word hit like a jab.
Gillian clutched her chest, her voice barely holding together. "We messed up, Kendall. I know that now. Sharon's in deep trouble, and the company's falling apart. You're a White. You really gonna stand there and watch us go down?"
"What's this? You begging me to save you, or just piling on the guilt?" Kendall's eyes turned sharp, like a blade catching light.
She continued,"Three years ago, when you tracked me down, I didn't want money or power. I just wanted to be your daughter, to belong with the Whites. But you didn't trust me. You pushed me out. You crushed me."
She stepped closer, her voice calm but cutting. "You said it yourself: 'Blood doesn't mean anything—feelings do.' Ring a bell?"
Gillian's lips quivered, words stuck in her throat.
Kendall leaned in, her gaze level and empty of warmth. "You made your choice. Now deal with it. I'm not your backup plan, and I'm definitely not Sharon's fall guy."
Gillian let out a choked sob, reaching for Kendall's hand.
Kendall stepped back. "Don't."
She turned and yanked the car door open.
As it started to close, Gillian lunged forward, her voice breaking through the window. "Kendall, if you walk away, Sharon's gonna lose it completely!"
Kendall paused, eyes shutting briefly before snapping open. "Maybe she should. At least she won't have to fake it anymore."
The window slowly rolled up, sealing Gillian's sobs outside.
Kendall sank into the leather seat, her face a mask of icy calm.
Len glanced back from the driver's seat. "Where we headed?"
Kendall opened her eyes. "Helios Tower."
"Got it," Len said.
The car peeled out of the garage, cutting through the city's neon glow.
From this moment, Kendall wasn't the White family's forgotten heiress anymore.
She was the power behind White Group, the shadow running Luminary Investment Group, and the force that could tear an entire empire apart with her bare hands.
Helios Tower, 34th Floor, Executive Suite.
At six in the morning, the floor blazed with light, every office humming with early-morning urgency.
Kendall stood by the massive windows, her eyes scanning a dizzying array of digital reports and spreadsheets flickering across her tablet.
"Initial audit's done," Len said, handing her a slim folder. "Over the past three years, we've got red flags on three projects. The big one? Helios Medical Solutions' R&D budget. seven million bucks funneled into a shell company."