Chapter 50: Chapter 50: You Call Having Your Husband and Son Snatched Away Glorious?

Furious, she confronted him, asking why he would help an outsider bully his own biological daughter.

His excuse was sanctimonious. "I heard that girl grew up without a father. You’re at school all day, bragging...

...about how wonderful your father is. It’s only natural for a child in her position to get jealous."

"Her life is hard enough as it is. We can’t destroy her over something so petty."

To silence her, he would then do things to win back her affection.

Chad Jennings had a silver tongue. He could wrap even a strong-willed woman like her mother around his little finger, so what chance did a child have against him?

And so, Joanna Sherman bullied her for an entire semester.

She went from being the teachers’ pet to an incorrigible troublemaker.

Later, Chad Jennings even brought Joanna Sherman to live with them, lying to her mother that he just wanted to find a companion for her.

Joanna Sherman had good grades, so her mother took him at his word.

The moment Joanna Sherman stepped through the door, she destroyed everything that belonged to Sophia. Her arrogance was astounding.

But every time, just as before, Chad Jennings only ever sided with Joanna Sherman.

She went to her mother.

Chad Jennings twisted the truth, claiming she was the one looking down on Joanna Sherman and picking fights on purpose. Her mother believed him and scolded her for being petty and narrow-minded.

After learning that Joanna Sherman came from a single-parent home, her mother started buying Joanna a gift every time she bought one for her.

Her mother loved Chad Jennings dearly. She couldn’t bear to see him struggle, so she handed over control of the company’s finances to him while she took on the most difficult accounts herself.

She worked day and night, so busy she barely had a moment’s rest.

Meanwhile, Chad Jennings lived in the lap of luxury, enjoying a life of leisure.

Her mother thought that by providing Chad Jennings with complete financial security, he would be utterly devoted to her. She never imagined that not only would he enjoy it for himself, but he would also drag Yvonne Sherman into it.

He used her mother’s money to woo Yvonne Sherman.

When Yvonne Sherman’s company was failing, he threw wads of cash at it.

When he had drained the company’s accounts, he started cooking the books.

Her mother trusted him implicitly, believing every penny she earned was being spent wisely.

This continued until the company’s books could no longer hide the deficit, and she personally witnessed Chad Jennings in the million-dollar luxury car she had bought him, wrapped in a passionate embrace with Yvonne Sherman.

Her world shattered.

Her proud, strong-willed mother chose a path she never should have taken: she drove her car, aiming straight for the two of them.

Chad Jennings scrambled out of the way, but her mother was crushed under the wheels of an oncoming truck...

When the scandal broke, Chad Jennings felt no guilt or shame. Instead, he conspired with Yvonne Sherman to twist the truth.

They claimed her mother was the one who tore them apart.

Tearfully, Chad Jennings told the cameras about his and Yvonne Sherman’s epic love story, claiming Sophia’s mother had forced him to leave Yvonne, even though she was pregnant with Bella Sherman.

He fabricated a mountain of evidence and false testimony, successfully painting her mother as a vicious woman, a villain for everyone to scorn.

He and Yvonne Sherman, meanwhile, had their "happy reunion," and together they ran the Sherman Company—revived with the money her mother had bled and sweat for.

Even after years without seeing Chad Jennings, Sophia Shaw still gritted her teeth in hatred.

Chad Jennings was not pleased with Sophia Shaw’s attitude.

"Whether you admit it or not, I’m your father! That’s a fact you can’t change!"

Sophia Shaw ignored him and turned to leave.

Chad Jennings blocked her path. "Sophia Shaw, that’s enough. So you were wronged a little back then. Didn’t you also snatch Vincent Grant away from Joanna?"

"Look at you, living the high life under the glamorous title of Mrs. Grant."

"The high life?"

"So, having your husband and child stolen by another woman is what you call ’the high life’?"

Chad Jennings looked awkward at her retort, but he didn’t stop talking.

"Isn’t your name still on the marriage certificate with Vincent Grant?"

"And look, even Levin Sawyer is smitten with you."

"You’ve monopolized the two most eligible bachelors in the city."

"Spit it out or get lost!" Sophia Shaw never used coarse language in public, but she couldn’t help herself when it came to Chad Jennings.

Chad Jennings’s face stiffened. Knowing Sophia Shaw wouldn’t humor him, he spoke quickly, "Regardless, you and Joanna are sisters. In the future, she’s the only one who’ll have your back."

"Sophia Shaw, even if it’s just for your own good, don’t make things so difficult for Joanna."

"I heard Levin Sawyer refuses to commit to a partnership with Joanna, and it’s because you’re standing in the way."

"Joanna is a huge name now. You can block him for a while, but not forever. Levin Sawyer will go to her sooner or later. You might as well do Joanna a favor now. With her backing you in the future, your life certainly won’t be so hard."

’Joanna Sherman’s backing? How could I possibly accept that?’

’I’ve only been back for a short time, and I’ve already suffered unbearable pain countless times.’

’If I hadn’t resolved to make a clean break from Vincent Grant and Cedric Grant, I can’t imagine what kind of hell I’d be in right now.’

"If you’re done, then get lost!"

Sophia Shaw was completely unmoved, which infuriated Chad Jennings. "Do you really think Levin Sawyer likes you? He’s just using you to steal Joanna’s spotlight!"

"You’re just like your mother—a complete fool!"

"Say that again?" Sophia Shaw’s eyes snapped open, a murderous glint appearing even in the beauty mark beneath her eye.

She could ignore anything else Chad Jennings said, but he was not allowed to speak ill of her mother!

She looked so fierce and terrifying, as if she might leap at him and tear out his throat at any moment. Chad Jennings stumbled back a few steps in fear.

"Security!" Sophia Shaw turned and commanded. "This man is acting suspiciously. If you can’t make him leave, take him to the police station!"

Behind her, Chad Jennings’s furious shouts echoed.

Sophia Shaw squeezed her eyes shut and walked away quickly.

The moment she turned the corner, tears she could no longer control streamed down her face.

The image of her mother on her deathbed floated into her mind—holding her hand, apologizing again and again.

Her mother, a proud woman her entire life, had never imagined that her seemingly perfect family was so rotten and broken on the inside, or that her only daughter had suffered so many grievances because of her neglect.

It wasn’t that people hadn’t warned her; she had simply trusted that man too much.

Her temperament was fiery, and even though she had been prepared to die along with Chad Jennings and Yvonne Sherman, she had hesitated at the very last second.

That moment of hesitation gave Chad Jennings and Yvonne Sherman the chance to escape, but it cost her her own life.

Her mother’s marriage had left a deep scar on her. If she hadn’t met Vincent Grant by a strange twist of fate, she likely would have never married at all.

After her mother’s death, Vincent Grant had been the only light in her world. A light so warm, she could never forget it.

But she had forgotten that light can also burn.

Wiping away her tears, Sophia Shaw entered her office and immediately got to work.

She worked around the clock for the next several days.

During that time, Cedric Grant called her twice, but she didn’t pick up.

Only after she had nearly completed the assignment from her mentor did Sophia Shaw find the time to go home and see Bun.

She hadn’t seen him in days, and Bun seemed to have grown so much.

Even Ms. Archer joked, "If you don’t come back more often, Bun is going to forget you."

"I’m sorry."

Sophia Shaw felt a pang of guilt.

She had raised Cedric all by herself, but she could only squeeze in moments here and there to be with Bun.

"In a couple of days, I’ll clear my schedule and spend the whole day with Bun."

Sophia Shaw hurried back to the office.

As she walked toward her office, she saw someone standing in the corridor.

"You’re Sophia Shaw?"

The man looked down at her, his rude gaze sweeping over her from head to toe.

Sophia Shaw nodded. "Yes. And you are... Elias Underwood?"

Besides Samuel Goldman, Lead Aerospace had one other vice president: Elias Underwood.

He had been abroad when Sophia Shaw started, so they had never met.

"A pleasure to meet you."

Sophia Shaw extended her hand.

THUD!

Elias Underwood didn’t even glance at her hand. He turned and threw a box down at her feet. "Take your things and get the hell out!"

The contents of the box, her office supplies, were tossed about.