"Wha... what?"

A RING went off in Joanna Sherman’s ears.

She had never expected Vincent Grant to ask about this.

"Warren Collins has been satisfied with the dividends from Yancy Shaw for years. Why would he suddenly decide to sell?"

"And to the Sherman Family, of all people?"

Vincent Grant was a smart man.

Some things became clear with just a little thought.

’So, Vincent is concerned about Sophia Shaw?’

The shock hitting Joanna Sherman felt like a magnitude ten earthquake.

Vincent Grant’s gaze fell languidly upon her.

Joanna Sherman forcefully suppressed the panic in her heart and said, "I don’t really care about company business. But even if my parents did do something, it was just a normal business transaction, wasn’t it?"

"For Sophia Shaw to use this to hold up the rocket project... Isn’t that going too far?"

Joanna Sherman’s eyes reddened with grievance, but she stubbornly held back her tears, refusing to let them fall.

It gave her a unique, cold, and defiant sort of beauty.

"If it were a normal transaction, it would be nothing. But it just so happened to occur after I met with Warren Collins."

"You should go back and ask your parents what their real objective was."

For Vincent Grant to ask this, he had clearly already found out more.

Joanna Sherman knew it was useless to evade, so she just choked back sobs.

"What objective? They did it simply because their hearts ached for their daughter."

"Six years ago, my fiancé was stolen from me. I come back six years later, still all alone, only to be hurt by your wife’s baseless suspicions and even slandered by her online."

"That’s all there is to it."

Joanna Sherman stubbornly wiped away her tears.

The meaning behind the phrase "all alone" was crystal clear.

"Vincent Grant, because of Sophia Shaw, my family’s company lost hundreds of millions, and my reputation suffered immense damage. Can’t I even get a little revenge?"

"I have already compensated the Sherman Family for their losses," Vincent Grant interrupted.

That one sentence left Joanna Sherman reeling.

"Vincent... did you give me that money just to clean up Sophia Shaw’s mess?"

"And here I thought... you did it because your heart ached for me."

"Joanna, I promised to help you launch your rocket. Between you and me, there is only friendship and that promise."

"Sophia Shaw is my wife. She always will be."

Joanna Sherman didn’t know how she made it home.

The moment she got out of the car, she collapsed to the ground.

"What’s wrong?"

Yvonne Sherman was terrified when she saw her daughter’s pale face as she crumpled to the ground.

She hurriedly helped her up. "Joanna, what on earth happened?"

"What’s wrong with you? Don’t scare Mom like this."

"Mom—"

Seeing Yvonne Sherman, Joanna Sherman’s tears fell like rain.

"Vincent, Vincent, he..."

Hearing it was about Vincent Grant, Yvonne Sherman glanced around warily.

"Let’s talk in your room."

Back in her room, after resting for a while and drinking a glass of hot water, Joanna Sherman’s spirits recovered slightly.

But the pallor on her face remained, and her eyes were terribly vacant.

She briefly explained that Vincent knew the Shermans had instructed Warren Collins to cause trouble for Yancy Shaw, and she relayed Vincent’s attitude.

"Mom, Vincent said he won’t divorce Sophia Shaw, and that between us, there’s only friendship and a promise!"

Even though two hours had passed, the moment she mentioned it, Joanna Sherman’s tears were STREAMING DOWN her face again.

"How could this happen?"

"How could he do this?"

Joanna Sherman covered her face in anguish.

In order to win the Grants’ approval, she had endured the pain of letting him go to another woman and had struggled abroad for six years.

’But what was the result?’

Joanna Sherman couldn’t accept this outcome.

"Mom, where did I go wrong?"

"Where did I possibly go wrong?"

"Is it wrong to want to have some status in the Grant Family, to not be looked down upon by others?"

Joanna Sherman couldn’t understand.

Back then, for her sake, Vincent Grant had been willing to break with the Grant Family and go into business.

She thought her place in Vincent Grant’s heart was irreplaceable.

But a mere Sophia Shaw had easily replaced her!

Joanna Sherman was indignant and hurt.

"What the hell is a Sophia Shaw? She’s not as educated as me, not as capable, and she’s so stupid. How could Vincent do this to me for such a worthless woman!"

She refused to accept it.

A thousand times, ten thousand times, she refused to accept it.

Yvonne Sherman held her daughter, her own heart filled with a thousand dissatisfactions.

Her own precious daughter was being trampled under the feet of her defeated rival’s daughter!

"My dear, don’t cry." For now, Yvonne Sherman could only comfort Joanna. "Perhaps Vincent was just speaking in a fit of anger."

"After all, a man like him can’t accept being manipulated by others."

"But you were smart to push all the blame onto us. I believe it won’t be long before Vincent regrets this and accepts you again."

"Really?"

’She was the one who planned this.’

’She was the one who deliberately chose to act after Vincent had met with Warren Collins.’

’Her real goal, besides driving Yancy Shaw to his death, was to make Sophia Shaw give up completely and divorce Vincent without a fuss.’

’But she never expected that Sophia Shaw, after hiding like a coward for six years, would suddenly know to go to the Grants and even get them to go to such great lengths for her.’

"Mom, does Sophia Shaw have some kind of special background? Otherwise, how could she get Elder Grant to step in on her behalf?"

Yvonne Sherman patted her daughter’s back and sneered at the mention of Sophia. "What background could she possibly have? The only reason Elder Grant got involved is because he’s afraid Vincent will go astray in business. He’s just using this incident to rap his knuckles."

Joanna Sherman thought about it and felt it made perfect sense.

Sophia Shaw had been a housewife for so many years, and even back in school, she wasn’t known for any special achievements. ’There’s no way she could be better than me.’

At this thought, Joanna Sherman secretly sighed in relief.

She was also glad that she had maintained her composure and hadn’t broken down in front of Vincent.

She had even managed to leave with a cool and detached air.

"What about the rocket? The Grant Family intends to shut down the base. Will all your years of hard work be for nothing?"

At the mention of this, Yvonne Sherman’s hatred for Sophia Shaw intensified.

She was also extremely worried about Joanna.

"I’m not worried about that."

Vincent Grant had promised her he would solve it, so he would.

’It’s just that what Vincent said tonight was too hurtful.’

Joanna Sherman decided to give him the cold shoulder for a while.

"Joanna, Vincent is not like your father. He’s the type who responds to a soft approach, not a hard one. You must be careful not to go too far," Yvonne Sherman instructed carefully, afraid Joanna would lose this powerful backer.

"I know."

...

When Sophia Shaw brought breakfast to Yancy Shaw in the morning, she heard cheerful laughter from far down the hall.

She initially thought June Evans had brought Chloe over, but when she entered the room, she saw Cedric Grant sitting by the hospital bed.

He had a tablet propped up in front of Yancy Shaw, his finger tapping away at the screen.

Laughter periodically erupted from the two of them.

Yancy Shaw hadn’t been this happy in a long time. Seeing this, Sophia Shaw couldn’t help but smile as she called out, "Uncle."

Seeing Sophia, Cedric Grant quickly called out, "Mom."

Sophia nodded and walked over to stroke his head. "What are you two playing that’s so much fun?"

"Mom, this is a little game I designed. It’s really funny." Cedric Grant presented the tablet to her like he was showing off a treasure.

Yancy Shaw also nodded in gratification. "Cedric is truly a descendant of our Shaw Family. So smart at such a young age, he can even make his own games."

Sophia Shaw looked down at it.

Although Cedric’s little game was simple and crude, it was very creative and far surpassed the level of his peers.

She had always known how smart Cedric was, so she certainly wasn’t going to spoil his fun.

"Cedric, you’re amazing."

Because Cedric was visiting, Yancy Shaw was in a good mood and ate much more of his breakfast than usual.

Even though it was Saturday, Cedric had other classes to attend.

Afraid of making him late, Sophia walked him downstairs after a short while.

"Mom."

Once downstairs, Cedric didn’t rush to leave. Instead, he said, "Could you please go talk to Great-Grandpa and Grandpa? Ask them not to shut down Dad’s rocket base."

The warmth in Sophia Shaw’s heart was instantly doused with a bucket of ice water, chilling her to the bone.

"Is that why you came to see your great-uncle?"

Cedric Grant’s eyes darted away guiltily.

"I came to see my great-uncle, but I also wanted to ask you for this favor."

He was her own son. How could Sophia not see that he was lying?

’Coming to see his great-uncle was just an excuse; his real reason was to help Vincent.’

’And the real reason he wanted to help Vincent was undoubtedly his fear that his precious Auntie Joanna wouldn’t be able to continue her rocket research.’

Sophia Shaw’s heart turned completely cold. It felt as if a hole had been torn in her chest, with a frigid wind whistling through it.

Cedric was so worried about Joanna Sherman that he didn’t even notice the extremely ugly expression on Sophia’s face.

He continued, "Mom, if you can help Dad sort this out, I promise I’ll treat that adopted girl well from now on. I’ll treat her like a real sister!"

Sophia Shaw stared at her son.

She had already told him that Bun was his biological sister.

’And he still thought she was adopted!’

’How could he use this to bargain with her!’