Gia’s brows knitted together. “Who are you? And how did you get in here?”

Before anyone could respond, the butler rushed inside, one hand pressed to his swollen, flushed cheek. “Mrs. Norris! This woman struck me as soon as she arrived. We couldn’t hold her back.”

“What the hell?” Gia’s fury erupted as she stared Adah down. “Breaking into my home and attacking my staff? Who do you think you are? What business do you have in the Norris residence?”

Adah’s red lips curved into a taunting smile. “Gia, you’ve been saying you wanted my life. I took the trouble of coming myself. Shouldn’t you be pleased?”

The room sank into stunned silence, confusion etched across every face.

Leonel’s eyes widened, realization crashing over him. “Adah!” he exclaimed, disbelief shaking his voice. “You’re Adah!”

Adah lifted her gaze and looked straight at her father. She had always known, somewhere deep inside, that he loved her. During those years she had been banished to a backwater town, he had sent gifts in secret, one after another. Even though the family she lived with there had seized everything and left her with nothing, she had never doubted that he still thought of her. Her father had even watched over Elliana from afar, aware of how close she was with Elliana.

What Adah could never make sense of was his cowardice. Why had he waited until today to finally stand up for her? Still, recalling how he had just been willing to cut ties with the Norris family for her sake, her heart softened despite itself. She could not bring herself to push him away. In a low voice, she called out, “Dad.”

Leonel rushed forward and clutched her hand tightly, his emotions spilling over. “Adah, you’re back at last! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Having you home again means everything to me. From now on, I’ll protect you.”

Adah’s eyes flicked to the woman standing beside him, his wife. A faint, wordless smile touched her lips. He had remarried. He had a different life now. There was no place for her in this family, and whatever they once shared as father and daughter could never return to what it was.

“You…” Gia’s voice faltered in disbelief. “You really are Adah?”

? ? .

Adah met her gaze, icy and unforgiving. “If you’re too blind to see the truth, feel free to take my blood and run a DNA test.”

That was all it took for Rowena to snap. She charged forward, grabbing at Adah’s dress and shrieking, “You slut! So that’s why you disappeared. You went and fixed your face! I’ll rip that fake nose and chin right off you!”

Crack! The sound of a slap rang out through the living room. Rowena screamed and collapsed onto the floor. She hadn’t even come close—Adah’s strike was swift and exact.

Pain exploded across Rowena’s face, her vision swimming as her thoughts went blank. A vivid red handprint spread across her cheek, swelling before everyone’s eyes.

The room was stunned into silence—but the real shock was Rowena herself. The blow had knocked her carefully shaped nose out of alignment, and the prosthetic forming her chin had fallen away completely. She sat there, mouth slack and unable to close, a distorted, humiliating ruin of the beauty she once flaunted.

For someone who accused others of cosmetic surgery, the irony was almost laughable. Any shred of Rowena’s dignity was obliterated on the spot.

“Oh my, Rowena!” Kimberly screamed as she rushed forward, wrapping Rowena in her arms and sobbing hysterically.

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