Chapter 684
Queena had been with the Institute’s headquarters for several years and held a senior position, responsible for handling new registrations and assessments.
Just as she was about to head down, she received a call from her mother, Nora. Gabriel and Nora had been in town for a few days, but Queena had been so busy they hadn’t even had a proper family dinner yet. Nora also wanted her daughter to take her shopping.
Queena thought about it and agreed. As for the receptionist’s call, it was just some unofficial candidate who would probably fail the assessment anyway. She wasn’t important enough for Queena to waste her time on personally.
“Just handle it,” she told the receptionist dismissively before hanging up and leaving for the day.
So, the receptionist simply took Anastasia through the standard registration procedures.
The rules at headquarters were relatively lax. Members weren’t required to clock in every day, but they had to be available on-call whenever a task arose. Since Anastasia hadn’t even earned her official credentials yet, even that rule didn’t apply to her. All she had to do was go home and wait for the assessment day.
With that sorted out, Anastasia prepared to leave.
As she stepped out of the main entrance, she stopped short, her gaze fixed on a scene a short distance away.
Standing by a car were three familiar figures: Gabriel, Nora, and Queena.
Gabriel was beaming, his eyes filled with pride as he looked at Queena. All traces of the gloomy, defeated man from Fairhaven were gone.
Anastasia let out a quiet, mirthless laugh, her expression unreadable.
Gabriel had only ever shown her a shred of pitiful affection, while he had doted on Penelope endlessly. But in truth, neither of them could compare to Queena. Queena was the daughter he was truly proud of, the one he had always cherished.
Not that Anastasia was envious. A selfish man like Gabriel, who had pampered Penelope so much, had still abandoned her without a
BUT
second thought when trouble struck. his own interests were ever truly the line, she imagined Queena
would be just as expendable.
With a final, scornful smile, she turned and walked away without a word of greeting.
Over by the car, Gabriel glanced in her direction and thought he saw a familiar silhouette. He frowned, assuming he was mistaken, and cursed under his breath at the unwelcome memory.
“What is it, Dad?” Queena asked.
“Nothing. Just thought of that wretched girl,” Gabriel said, trying to smooth his expression, though a dark cloud still lingered.
Queena smiled faintly. “You mean Anastasia?”
“Who else?” Nora’s face darkened as well.
“What exactly did she do?” Queena inquired. Thɪs chapter is updated by
“What did she do? More like what *didn’t* she do!” The mere mention of it sent Gabriel into a rage. “You know she married into the Lancaster family right? Now that she has powerful backing she thinks she’s good for the family that raised her. Do you know why our company is in this state? It’s all her fault!”
In reality, the Sterling family’s company had failed due to Gabriel’s own mismanagement, but he refused to accept that. In his mind, he had married Anastasia off to the Lancasters for one reason to use their connections to save his business. But that ungrateful daughter had not only refused to help, she had actually convinced Harrison Lancaster to stay out of it. So whose fault could it be but hers?
“And your sister Nora’s eyes reddened with resentment. “She’s the reason Penelope is in the state she’s in now!” Nora resented Anastasia, but she also held a grudge against Gabriel. How could he have been so cruel to his own daughter?