Joanna was exhausted. Ever since Natalie started fighting back, it had been one disaster after another. Absolutely nothing had gone her way.

Every new catastrophe left her furious and on edge.

"What's wrong with him now?" she demanded irritably. "We severed ties. He threw me away just so he could keep his company and his money. If something happened to him, why are you calling me?"

Thinking back to what Nathan had done on New Year's Eve, her hatred for them surged. Why?

She had bet her entire future on them, so why did they drag her down into the dirt?

"Joanna, your father's company is bankrupt!" Sophia wailed. "It was all a trap set by Mrs. Wilson and Wendy! Wendy didn't go broke at all; she's still a billionaire! She even took down your older brother's overseas company. We were played, Joanna! Your father just had a massive stroke. The doctors say he'll be bedridden for the rest of his life. We have absolutely nothing left! He was so good to you all those years, and we both love you so much. You can't just abandon us!"

"Joanna, Wendy is an absolute monster! She swore she'd send us right back to where we started, and she meant it. She literally dragged us back to the gutter where we have nothing!"

"Boo-hoo-hoo..."

Hearing her mother's cries, tears spilled down Joanna's face as well.

So what had she actually accomplished?

She had allowed Wendy to completely strip her of her empire.

She had always prided herself on being a brilliant strategist. Was it because she had framed Natalie so successfully in the past that she became arrogant enough to target Wendy?

She had planned for so many variables. At what point did Natalie start clawing her way to the top, while she fell blindly right into their traps?

She felt physically sick, her voice cracking with exhaustion. "Sophia, why did you let me lose? I bet my entire life on you two, betting that I could finally have a perfect, happy family. Why did you ruin it?! Why?!"

Joanna screamed into the phone.

The freezing wind rushing through the window whipped her hair into her face, mingling with the unstoppable flood of her tears.

"Why is your love only built on money? No money, no love! Why are you so pathetic?"

"You're my biological mother! How could you do this to me? Everything I did was for you! I betrayed the woman who raised me for twenty years just so you could finally take your rightful place as Mrs, Scott!"

"So why did you let me lose?!"

Even if she were penniless, as long as she had a real family, the despair wouldn't have been this suffocating.

From the very beginning, she had orchestrated this entire bloodbath solely for her mother.

Sophia felt like a knife was twisting in her gut Joanna, I was wrong.

and I know it now.

wasvet

ve the behind.

realize now that you're the only one

who truly cares about me."

"I only got involved with Mr. Wilson for your sake! I never expected Wendy and Mrs. Wilson to scheme against him like that."

Sophia was wracked with agony. She was miserable. Why had she been so stupid?

She was totally out of her league against Wendy.

If her affair hadn't been exposed, she'd still be living the high life.

She regretted everything. The thought of growing old with nothing terrified her.

She had seen the elderly in her village die alone in abject poverty. She had fought tooth and nail to claw her way out of that hell and into a life of luxury, but now...

Feeling utterly hollow, Joanna replied ruthlessly. "I'm not bailing you out this time I gave you thirty million dollars over the holidays to save your degenerate son. I've done more than enough."