Luna felt a wave of vindication at her words. "Natalie, how could it be useless? What Mrs. Scott did today was designed to completely obliterate Joanna's dream of entering the entertainment industry."

"If I remember correctly, today is the premiere of Joanna's movie. By doing this, she's trying to end her career before it even starts."

Natalie paused. Wendy had finally started fighting back.

She had always been a woman of strategy, but even the best laid plans might not be enough against Joanna's sheer viciousness.

Natalie didn't want to watch, but a morbid curiosity kept her glued to the screen. She wanted to see how this would end.

How far would Wendy go? It seemed she truly had no lingering affection left for her adopted daughter.

Once Joanna was dealt with, Nathan would be next.

At the private club.

Wendy wiped her eyes, staring at Joanna's smug expression. Let her gloat. The harder she falls, the better.

If Joanna could hear the torrent of curses flooding the live stream comments, she would drown in them.

Wendy stared deeply into the younger woman's malicious face. "So, even after Natalie was driven out and cut ties with us, you still wouldn't let her go? You set her up time and time again. You even stole her design drafts. You took her work, won first place, and actually had the nerve to stand on that stage and accept the award? Was that your design?"

"How dare you steal from her?"

"Tch." Joanna scoffed, her arrogance radiating like a physical force. "I didn't plan on stealing her drafts. I just wanted to see what she had on her phone. I happened to see the sketches and took them. I didn't expect her to actually have a shred of talent. They were drawn perfectly."

"She was born to be my stepping stone. Of course, I'm going to play her until she breaks. Everything she has belongs to me. So I took a few pieces of paper. What's the big deal?"

"Besides, she wanted to keep a low profile anyway. With her talent, she could have beaten me even if I stole her work, but she deliberately let me win."

"Look at yourself, Wendy. I hurt her over and over again, and what did you, her mother, do about it? You just stood by and watched."

"She was born an unloved stray. So what if she came out of your womb? You

tortured your own flesh and blood until she wished she was dead."

"You made her hate you to the bone. She might have been born privileged, but now she's nothing."

Joanna casually pushed all the blame onto Wendy.

Feeling it wasn't enough to break the older woman, she sneered. "And let's talk about your sons. Each one stupider than the last. All it took was a few whispers from me, and they turned on their own sister. They're' ruthless. The boys you raised are truly pieces of work."

"When you truly love and care for someone, they are the only one in your eyes and heart. Your family only ever had eyes for me. You never cared about Natalie That's why she was in such despair when she signed those severance papers." Cóntent

Joanna's expression grew more twisted the longer she spoke.

Suddenly, she shouted, "Nathan was feeding you slow-acting poison! Once it took effect, he was going to lock you in a psych ward. But it failed. I want to know, how did you find out the medicine was tampered with?"

Wendy's heart ached. Environment shaped a person, and she knew exactly what kind of men her sons had become.

It was easy to learn bad habits, but it took a lifetime to learn how to be good.

She let out a cold laugh. "How I found out is none of your concern. But I've known you were the daughter of his mistress since your birthday banquet. As for the poison, the moment discovered the truth, I,

stopped taking their your father

had a lot of health issues later on, high blood pressure, failing health. Add that to the fact that my company was in trouble and he was too busy trying to steal my assets,

he simply didn't have the time to keep poisoning me."