Bianca had been sitting off to the side, dejected and silent, weighed down by Abigail’s cold indifference. But when she heard that announcement, the words slipped out before she could stop herself. “How did it get this bad?”

Even Gabriel, who had been sitting silently at the table, looked completely blindsided.

Wyatt answered flatly, “You can thank your golden boy for cooking the books. I found out when I made surprise visits to the branches. Turns out the managers down there are barely holding it together.”

Hearing that, Christian dropped his gaze, shame written all over his face, and said nothing.

Gabriel exploded almost immediately. “Where the hell did all the money go?”

His voice thundered with rage, and Daniella instinctively shrank back. Terrified, she turned to Stephen, her eyes pleading.

But Stephen didn’t bother to save her. He said bluntly, “Chris gave it all to Daniella. Even while the company was running at a loss, he kept transferring three million dollars to her every month for pocket money. During that time, over one million dollars of our allowance was used up on her.”

When Gabriel heard that, he whipped his head toward Daniella and fumed inwardly, ‘I’ve been breaking my back for this company, and she’s over there spending money without a care in the world? She really doesn’t feel any pressure, does she?‘

Daniella flinched under his glare. Her shoulders trembled, and she stared at the floor, too afraid to speak.

Wyatt spoke again, calm but cutting. “The money is already gone, and yelling at them won’t make any difference.” If there was any consolation, it was that Daniella’s life at home was about to get a lot harder.

He couldn’t bring himself to pity Daniella. After all, when she faked those photos of Abigail and the higher-ups, calling her a mistress, he believed she deserved whatever was coming her way.

All Abigail did was join Halden Group, and Daniella immediately started spreading nasty rumors about her. Wyatt figured that all the years Abigail spent being ignored and treated badly at Gibson Villa had Daniella’s fingerprints all over them.

Above all, Wyatt suspected Daniella’s hit-and-run was no accident. She wanted to get Abigail sent to prison, making sure she could never be part of the Gibson family for the rest of her life.

After all, Daniella was just the adopted daughter. If she wanted to become the rightful heiress of the Gibson family, Abigail had to either disappear or be dragged so far down she’d never rise again. Otherwise, Daniella would never feel secure.

Gabriel slammed his fist on the table, his voice sharp with rage. “The company is already bleeding money, and you’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars on her in a year?” Then, he turned on her, shouting, “Where did all that money go, Daniella?”

“I spent it…” Daniella lowered her gaze as tears spilled from her eyes.

Seeing her like that only infuriated Gabriel more, and he barked, “Stevie was right about you. Whenever something goes wrong, all you know how to do is cry! You had a perfectly fine position at the company, and what did you do? You spread fake stories about Abigail with Photoshop. What is wrong with you? Can’t go a day without stirring up trouble, is that it?”

It was the first time Gabriel had ever insulted Daniella so harshly.

He thought anxiously, ‘230 million dollars in debt, 15 million dollars due at the end of the month, and not a cent of usable cash left in the company account. What are we supposed to do? Cover it with our own money?‘

Bianca wanted to speak up for Daniella, but the fury on Gabriel’s face kept her quiet.

He snapped, “The Gibson family spent a fortune raising you, and this is what you give us? You’ve only been working for a few months and are already blacklisted across the industry! No one wants you. Now you just sit at home, living off us. The scandal has spread through every elite circle. You’ve humiliated this family. I try to make business deals, and what do I get? ‘Aren’t you the foster father of that girl who makes up dirty stories about her sister with fake photos?’”

By the end, Gabriel slapped his own face in frustration. “I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life. I just wanted to disappear into a hole right then and there!”

Daniella was so upset she started crying on the spot. Abigail, on the other hand, suddenly found the whole scene ridiculous—pitiful and laughable all at once.

Stephen then dropped a bombshell. “I heard Abby got into Vanguard University before she went to prison. Honestly, I’m starting to think Daniella hit that person on purpose just to ruin her.”

Hearing that, Daniella fell off the couch and landed on the floor in a panic. “I didn’t. I swear I didn’t! I really don’t know what happened back then-”

Stephen cut her off, “You weren’t even diagnosed with depression, yet you claimed it was a depressive episode that made you crash and kill someone. Then you let Abby take the fall and go to prison for you. The second she got out, she landed a job at Halden Group, you know? If she had actually graduated from Vanguard University, who knows how far our family could’ve gone by now?”

Stephen’s face darkened as he finished, and he practically snarled, “This is all your fault, you lying brat!”

Christian couldn’t help but jump in. “What are you talking about?”

Stephen shot back, “What am I talking about? I’m saying she got into the best university before she went to prison, for crying out loud.”

He then sarcastically continued, “If we had poured all that money into Abby instead, forget Vanguard University, plenty of top-tier schools overseas would’ve fought over her. With a bit more training in computer science, she wouldn’t even need to leave campus to launch her own project team. And now, with AI booming? She would be making a killing.”

The more Stephen said, the more regret started sinking into Gabriel’s chest.