Chapter 203

“Bet you hate me right now, don’t you?”
She looked straight at Nora as she spoke.
For a split second, something twisted and ugly crossed Nora’s face. But when she realized Gabriel was watching, she forced a smile. “Anastasia, what are you talking about? Why would I ever hate you
“Really?” Anastasia replied, her voice calm and unhurried. “With the way things are for Penelope, I figured you’d be dying to tear me apart.”
The smile faltered, then vanished from Nora’s lips.
She couldn’t help but think of her daughter-her reputation in ruins, too ashamed
to even set foot on campus. Her eyes narrowed, sharp and venomous, as she stared daggers at Anastasia.
“How dare you?!” she hissed, her voice low and shaking with rage. “Who gave you the nerve to do that to Penelope?!”
Anastasia let out a soft laugh, her gaze turning icy cold.
“Did I need anyone’s permission? If I wanted to do it, I just did.”
“Penelope’s suffering? Oh, this is just the beginning ”
“Everyone who deserves to pay will get what’s coming. I won’t let a single one off the hook.”
With that, her meaning unmistakable, Anastasia turned and strode away without a backward glance.
Nora was left frozen in place, replaying the girl’s words and the chill in her eyes, feeling a shiver run down her spine.
Back at Harrison’s side, Anastasia slipped her arms around him with a familiar affection. “Let’s go home, darling.”
Harrison’s expression didn’t change. He seemed entirely unfazed by whatever tension lingered behind them. He wrapped a protective arm around Anastasia’s waist, guiding her into the car before getting in himself only after making sure she was comfortable.
…
Nora arrived home, still visibly shaken. The source of this content ɪs
“Ma’am, Miss Penelope won’t touch her dinner!” one of the housekeepers reported anxiously.
Nora’s resentment only deepened. “I’ll go check on her.”
Inside her room, Penelope sat hunched on the bed, eyes swollen and red from crying.
The moment Nora walked in, Penelope flung herself into her mother’s arms.
“Mom, I worked so hard to get into Kingsbridge University, and now… how am I supposed to go back?”
Everything she’d built for herself at school, her reputation, her circle-Anastasia had destroyed it all.
Now the university forums were tearing her apart, calling her shameless, a disgrace, even running polls asking whether she should be expelled from Kingsbridge forever.
She felt like some filthy rat that’d crawled out of a sewer, everyone eager to stomp her down.
Nora hugged her daughter tightly, her face dark with anger. “Don’t worry, Penelope. I’ll make sure Anastasia pays for this. She won’t get away with it.”
Just then, Gabriel came home. Hearing the commotion, he strode over and snapped, “Crying again? That’s all you ever do! I spent a fortune to get you into Kingsbridge University, and this is how you repay me?”
“Dad, it was Anastasia—she set me up! She-”
“Enough!” Gabriel’s tone was ice. “Stop blaming everything on Anastasia! Was she the one who made you spread rumors? Was she the one who told you to chase after someone else’s boyfriend?”
“Day after day, you never learn-just like your mother, always up to something you’ll never dare admit in public!”
His words cut deep, the implication plain: Nora herself had once seduced him, and not honorably.
He’d always doted on Nora and Penelope before-never would have spoken so harshly. But lately, his patience for Nora was wearing thin, and ever since he’d learned the truth about Penelope, he’d grown colder toward his daughter as well.
He even found himself regretful-how could he have been so blind, spoiling the wrong pair and neglecting Anastasia?
In the end, it was Anastasia who’d made something of herself, his brilliant daughter who’d won the heart of none other than Mr. Harrison Lancaster.
Loosening his tie, Gabriel wandered off, already thinking about how he might leverage Anastasia’s newfound status.
He left Nora and Penelope behind-Nora’s face a thundercloud, Penelope’s pale and shell-shocked-neither able to recover from the sting of Gabriel’s words.
“Mom Penelope’s voice was small, her eyes swollen and bewildered as she looked at her mother, unable to believe what she’d just heard.
The father who had always doted on her, who had always sided with her against Anastasia-how could he turn on her like this?
Nora closed her eyes, Gabriel’s words “never dare admit in public”-still ringing in her ears. She was shaking, nearly driven mad with rage.