Chapter 83

Vanessa parted her lips to speak, but she only quivered. Her face felt heavy; she could feel the sting of her father's hand on her cheek. As a child who had always been pampered and who escaped consequences for every lie and deceit, this was heartbreaking. The most her father had ever done was glare and raise his voice. "I'm talking to you, young woman, and I need an answer, or else I'm going to end you right now," Eric's deadly voice boomed. His fists were clenched at his sides, as he struggled to restrain himself.

Vanessa sobbed harder; words failed her. But one thing was certain: her father didn't make empty threats. If he said he would do something, Eric Summers would follow through. She could barely look into his eyes, terrified by the danger she had seen in them earlier.

"You think I'm joking, huh?" Eric took two steps closer. Vanessa took six steps back, afraid of what he would do. She was about to take a seventh step when she stumbled and fell, crying harder, her hand instinctively going to her belly.

Eric shook his head. "Even that baby isn't going to save you today. You're going to answer my questions right now!"

"What the hell is going on here?" A familiar voice called out. Connie rushed to her daughter, helping her up. She then saw Vanessa's cheek, speechless for a moment. Vanessa was still sobbing.

Connie turned to her husband. "You did this?" she asked, pointing at Vanessa's face.

Eric glared. "Stay out of this!"

"You're maltreating our daughter, and you expect me to stay out of it? What has gotten into you, Eric? Are you out of your mind? You want to harm your daughter and your grandchild?"

"I need a DNA test done. There's no way my sperm would have produced such an evil child who brings nothing but shame to me."

Connie stared in shock. "Are you suggesting I cheated on you?"

"You stole from me! You both planned to leave the country when the company was near insolvency. You even had tickets booked. You both lied and watched me disown my own daughter. You made evil plans to ruin Cole and his career. Trust me, giving me another man's child is nothing new for you."

Connie was shocked, almost speechless. Her lips moved, but no words came out. "How could you say that? What has gotten into you?"

"Do you have any idea what Vanessa did?"

"I don't care! My daughter is always right, and you have no right to lay your filthy hands on her without my permission."

"Oh really? Just now you were attacking me for questioning her paternity, and now you're claiming her as your child."

"As far as I'm concerned, I've cared for her since birth, physically and financially. So even if she's not biologically mine, my obligations give me the same rights as you." "This is strictly between Vanessa and me, so stay out of it."

"So you want to kill your daughter and grandchild over the 'slutty' daughter you disowned a long time ago?"

Chapter 83

Eric shook his head in disbelief. "I will never forgive myself for getting involved with you. You brought problems into my life. You ruined me. You gave me a child, but you polluted her mind with so much hatred."

"You call this hatred just because she's brave enough to chase her dreams?" Connie countered.

"You call this disgusting attitude 'chasing dreams'?" Eric said, incredulous. He couldn't believe this was the woman he'd married, his second wife, after having a perfect first wife who loved him, sacrificed everything for him, and gave him peace of mind.

"It's not a disgusting attitude. Cole is the man of her dreams, and she's doing everything to be with him."

"With a man who doesn't love her. How is that going to work?"

Connie was about to respond when Eric interrupted. "This isn't about Cole and Hailey being a couple. This is about Hailey's personality. How dare she make a demeaning post about Hailey? A post filled with nothing but lies."

"W-well, th-they aren't totally lies," Connie stammered.

"Of course not! I wasn't expecting you to say anything good." Eric shoved her aside and faced Vanessa, who stood sniffling near the counter.

"What provoked you to write defaming things about Hailey?"

"Don't make me think I'm talking to myself. I need answers. I want to hear the thoughts in that evil mind of yours."

"Stay out of this, Dad. This is between me and Hailey," Vanessa mumbled, sobbing quietly, avoiding her father's gaze. The discomfort was intense; she hadn't even felt this much pain when Hailey hit her.

Eric chuckled incredulously. "Between you and Hailey? Really? You did this because you discovered the baby you tried to kill years ago is not dead. It's not even one baby, but two!" Eric raised two fingers.

"Because you were so pained about her bright future, you wrote lies to make her look bad."

"You did the worst thing ever, and I hope you know you're going to hell for that. It hurts me to involve this innocent baby, but your child must be ashamed to have you as its mother."

"If I didn't know you, I would have advocated for you to be thrown in jail. How far are you going to go? How much more wicked can you be?"

"I treated you better than Hailey, gave you bigger allowances and more benefits. She went to a regular school, while you went to schools with twelve times the tuition."

"The last time Hailey celebrated her birthday was when her mother was alive and she was young, but you celebrated every year, spending thousands."

"You always had luxury shopping, while Hailey wore mostly thrifted clothes."

"To top it all off, you framed her for something she didn't do, and I was stupid enough to disown her. And guess what? Your mother talked me into giving you Hailey's share of allowance. I foolishly followed her advice."

"You've always been the evil one, and yet you put out a statement describing her with all your qualities!"

"So what now? You think Cole is going to come running back to you after you messed with him and the woman he loves most?"

Vanessa sniffled, wiping tears from her eyes.

Chapter 83

"You should be ashamed of yourself. I honestly don't know how you sleep at night. You've done a lot of ridiculous things, and there's nothing to show for your efforts. It shows how much of a failure and loser you've been all your life."

Connie rolled her eyes, arms folded.

"I'm happy to let you know that Cole isn't going to love you more, and he's not going to come back to you. Even if your child is his, he's never going to recognize it as his child. Hailey's twins will be his sole heirs."

"Your dumb fans may support you, but who cares? Their opinions are temporary. You're the one who's going to die of bitterness and loneliness. You're going to be unhappy for the rest of your life!" "You may think you have the upper hand now, but guess what? Nobody messes with good-hearted people and gets away with it."