Why did the Vinton family and the Lancaster family refuse to let it go?
But now that Old Mr. Lancaster had called her out directly, she naturally couldn't admit it.
She heard the old man let out a cold laugh, his voice weathered yet commanding. "When Serena went missing all those years ago, the Lancaster family exhausted everything we had, but we couldn't find her. Catherine washed her face with tears every day, drowning in despair."
"If it weren't for the advice we received back then—that adopting a girl of a similar age with a compatible astrological chart would bring good karma and increase our chances of finding Serena—you would never have had a place in this family!"
"You were only able to become a child of the Lancaster family and enjoy the title of a wealthy heiress by riding on Serena's coattails, do you understand?"
Old Mr. Lancaster stared coldly at her pale, shattered face. "And on the day Serena returned, we fully intended to send you away."
"But since you had been our adopted daughter for twenty years, Catherine was soft-hearted. Serena didn't want to put her mother in a difficult position, so she agreed to let you stay."
"We figured we had raised you for so many years and there was some emotional attachment. As long as you knew your place, the Lancaster family could afford to feed you."
"The only reason you're still sitting here, still enjoying the life of the Lancaster heiress, is entirely because of Serena's kindness."
"Everything you have right now—your identity, your status, your reputation—were all handed to you by Serena as charity."
"What right do you have to hate her? What right do you have to try and ruin her?!"
Those piercing words were like blades ruthlessly stabbing into Isabella's heart.
She was already riddled with holes today.
For someone as arrogant and self-important as Isabella.
Old Mr. Lancaster's revelation completely obliterated her pathetic sense of pride.
Her face was chalk-white as she sat paralyzed on the floor, trembling violently.
The Lancaster family only adopted her because of Serena?
It was all to accumulate good karma to find Serena.
And she was only allowed to stay because of Serena.
One second she was crying, and the next she looked completely unhinged.
She truly looked like a madwoman.
"Compete?" Julian sneered. "Isabella, what exactly do you have to compete with Serena?"
"You don't even have the right to try."
With that, he tossed a pen down. "Sign the agreement immediately. From this moment on, you have nothing to do with the Lancaster family."
The pen hit the back of Isabella's hand.
She stared blankly at it.
Then, like a lunatic, she snatched the pen and hurled it across the room. She grabbed the agreement and tore it into pieces.
She screamed, "I won't sign! I'll never sign! I belong to the Lancaster family! I've been the heiress for twenty years, and I'll die a Lancaster! You... you can't do this to me!"

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