The next morning, Rylee stepped back into the Evans residence, her expression calm but unwavering.
"I'm done with Alec. I want to divorce him," she announced flatly.
Karan Evans shot to her feet before the sentence fully landed. Her palm cracked across Rylee's cheek with such force that Rylee staggered and dropped to the floor.
Dazed, she stared up at Karan, stunned to see half the family gathered in the room—yet not a single person moved to help her.
Karan jabbed a trembling finger at her, voice rising with fury. "Rylee, have you lost your damn mind? You chased Alec shamelessly from the time you were a child. Then right after graduation, you drugged that man and crawled into his bed, humiliating this family for years! And now you dare talk about divorce?"
Her voice sharpened to a vicious edge. "You're an adopted daughter. Where do you get the audacity to throw away the Bradley name? Without them propping you up, what are you worth?"
Rylee took in her adoptive mother's twisted expression, a hollow ache spreading through her chest.
Ever since learning she wasn't their real daughter, she had studied every shift in the Evans family's moods, bending over backward to earn even a scrap of approval.
It had never crossed her mind that, in their eyes, she was nothing more than a mark of shame.
Hank Evans, her adoptive father, offered a half-hearted murmur of comfort before releasing a weary sigh. "Rylee, there's no point hiding it anymore. We've located our biological daughter, Alina Evans. Alec is bound to learn sooner or later that you were never truly part of the Evans bloodline. Instead of obsessing over divorce, you should think about how to stay in Alec's good graces and keep this marriage alliance intact. That's the smartest path for you."
With that, he waved a hand toward a servant. "Go bring Alina downstairs."
Before long, a girl around Rylee's age descended the staircase.
She headed straight for Karan, who swept her into an affectionate hug and gently fussed with the strands of hair falling across her forehead.
With a voice softened by warmth, Karan murmured, "Alina."
Rylee's vision blurred as her eyes reddened.
Not once had Karan held her like that.
Only now did she understand—Karan, like any mother, saved her tenderness for her own flesh and blood.
Not being Karan's biological daughter meant she'd never had any real claim to that kind of affection in the first place—so what right did she ever have to long for it?
A hollow weight dragged through her chest, as if the world had quietly closed its doors on her.
Why had it been this way since childhood—why did everything she reached for slip through her fingers, no matter how fiercely she held on?
Karan leveled a cold, dismissive stare at her as she snapped, "Rylee, you should be grateful Alec even tolerates someone of your lowly background. Do you have any idea what's at stake? The Bradley family hold the key to our funding, and you're out here whining about divorce? I swear, if those words leave your mouth again, I'll cut you off without a second thought!"
The more Karan spoke, the heavier the ache in Rylee's chest grew—every sentence another blow she couldn't block.
Not once had this house offered her warmth.
If that was all this place held for her, then walking away felt like no loss at all.
A steely resolve sharpened her gaze as she pushed herself upright. "Then what are you waiting for? Go ahead—cut me off and be done with it!"
Karan's rage exploded; she flung a porcelain cup across the room, the impact cracking it into a spray of jagged pieces.
"You ungrateful brat! After everything the Evans family did for you, this is how you repay us? How dare you talk back?"
Shards scattered across the floor, one catching Rylee's calf and slicing a clean, stinging line that welled with blood.
Alina drifted forward with perfect timing, slipping a hand around Rylee's arm. "Rylee, you're bleeding. Come on, let me clean that up for you."
She tilted in closer, her breath brushing Rylee's ear. "After enjoying the Evans name for so many years, shouldn't you be ready to hand everything back to its rightful owner?"
The sweetness in her tone finally cracked. Rylee pulled free, ice settling in her chest.
Alina jerked back in exaggerated surprise, her heel striking a kettle behind her. Scalding water sloshed over her leg.
A piercing scream tore from her throat. "Ah! My leg!"
She bolted toward Karan, collapsing into her embrace as though the pain had shattered her. "It hurts, Mom... I'm really scared…"
Hank stormed over and struck Rylee hard across the cheek, the blow snapping her head to the side. "Rylee, how could you do something so cruel?"
He barked at the servants to fetch the doctor immediately.
Rage flared in Karan's eyes as she pulled the shaking Alina into her arms. "If anything happens to Alina, you'll pay for every bit of it!"
