Chapter 215
"Donald, it was thanks to your cleverness back then that you swapped Betty with your wifeโs child and got rid of that worthless brat. It's just a shame that brat is still alive and now ruining Bettyโs life.โ
Jennyโs voice was soft and seductive. She traced circles on Donaldโs chest with her hand.
โBetty is our daughter, so naturally, Iโm looking out for her. Donโt worry, as long as Iโm around, Betty wonโt suffer any injustice. Whatever burdens Betty's facing now, Iโll make sure she gets revenge one day.โ Donald enjoyed Jennyโs sweet talk.
Their conversation hit Maelis like a bolt of lightning. She couldnโt believe the Betty she had raised was actually her husbandโs mistressโs daughter.
Unable to accept this truth, Maelis collapsed to the floor, her face terrifyingly pale.
โImpossibleโฆโ she murmured hoarsely, her throat feeling sore.
No woman could accept that the daughter she raised and spoiled for over a decade was actually her husbandโs illegitimate child. Maelis felt like she was losing her mind.
Sofia and the others didnโt know any of this. Hearing the audio, they also felt a surge of fury.
From the conversation in the surveillance video, it was clear that Zinnia was the one swapped by Donald.
Maelis had been completely in the dark before. Now, learning that Donald cheated, and suddenly realizing he was behind swapping the two children, she lost all composure and couldnโt recover for a long time.
Jackson said, โMaelis, Betty is the daughter of Donaldโs mistress, and your real daughter, Zinnia, was deliberately swapped by Donald so that his mistressโs child could live a wealthy life.
โOver the years, Donald has favored Betty because she is the child of him and the woman he loves.
โDo you know why he dislikes Zinnia and why he pushed for you to send Zinnia away? Because he feared Zinnia would threaten Bettyโs position in the family.
โDo you still think everything is Zinniaโs fault? Everything has been wrong from the start. Zinniaโs return only uncovered Donaldโs shame.
โIf Zinnia hadnโt come back, you would have kept raising the child of your husband and his mistress, worrying over her, planning for her, and hurting your real daughter.
โDonald and Betty have seen all this. They purposely drove a wedge between you and Zinnia, and you foolishly believed them. They must be thrilled seeing you argue with Zinnia, saying all those harsh things, even breaking ties with her for their sake.
โAnd you and your three sons happily live as one family with Betty.โ
Seeing Maelis unable to respond, Jacksonโs expression remained cold as he stated everything step by step. Henry and the others silently listened.
โItโs impossible. I donโt believe it. Youโre all lying to me,โ Maelis said. โYouโre all trying to get back at me for Zinnia.
โWas it Zinnia who put you up to this? Sheโs a jinx. Sheโs already destroyed my life, and now she wants to destroy everything I have.โ
Hearing Jackson reveal the painful truth, Maelis completely fell apart. She screamed, beating the ground with her fists knotted so tight that her knuckles turned white.
She couldnโt accept that Betty was Donaldโs illegitimate child. There was no woman who could easily handle her own husbandโs betrayalโmuch less the painful realization that the child she had nurtured with all her love was a symbol of his betrayal.
Maelis felt she was going mad; her emotions were on the edge of collapse. Whatever she was hearing now was more unacceptable to her than all the struggles the Shaw family had gone through recently.
In the adjacent box, Yannis reached over and ruffled Zinniaโs hair. โZinnia, you poor thing.โ
The two of them could hear everything from the neighboring room, naturally, because Yannis had used his influence to disable the soundproofing.
As he listened to the heated exchange, Yannis sighed inwardly.
โIโm not poor. I have my master. Youโre the poor one.โ Zinnia held her orange juice and looked up at him in protest. Yannis always liked to tousle Zinniaโs hair; she was afraid heโd soon scrub it all away.
โAlright, youโre not poor,โ Yannis smiled. โZinnia, youโll be the happiest person in the future. All these obstacles will disappear, and your future will be filled with light.โ
Noticing Zinnia ignoring the conversation next door and bickering back at him, Yannis couldnโt help but break into a small smile. His voice was lazy, yet a bit serious.
Zinnia snorted and took another sip of her orange juice. She chewed on the bouncy pulp while tilting her head to listen in on the conversation again. Yannis sat beside her and straightened the messy hair she had gotten all knotted up.
Zinnia couldnโt pretend Maelisโs hurtful words hadnโt gotten under her skin. She messed up her little braids in a nervous tug.
So Yannis called the internal phone and asked for a glass of orange juice to be brought in. That seemed to ease Zinnia enough to let go of her braids.
Jackson furrowed his brows. โYou still donโt believe it?โ
He hadnโt expected Maelis to be this obsessed โ unwilling to face reality and insisting on putting all the blame on Zinnia. Jackson sighed and shook his head. It was hard to wake someone who didnโt want to be woken up.
But Jackson insisted that Maelis face the truth. Otherwise, sheโd keep causing trouble for Zinnia. All of this was Donald and Bettyโs fault; it should be them who suffer the consequences.
He walked over to the door and opened it. A plainly dressed woman stood outside. She came in quietly.
โPlease tell everyone the truth about the children being switched back then,โ Jackson said to her.
For the past few days, Jackson had been investigating what really happened when Zinnia was switched.
Seventeen years ago, surveillance hadnโt been well developed. Maelis was close to her delivery date when she went with Donald to a small town for an inspection.
The bumpy journey made Maelis, who had been delicate and sheltered all her life, go into labor suddenly, and she ended up delivering in a small town hospital.
The townโs hospital was poorly equipped, and there were no surveillance cameras there. When Maelis was delivering, Jenny was also in labor in the same hospital. That was because the town Donald was inspecting was Jennyโs hometown.
More than a dozen years had passed, and the hospitalโs doctors and nurses had come and gone. Back then, surveillance was far from universal. It took Jackson a lot of effort to find the nurse who had assisted in delivery that day.
The nurse was elderly now and already retired, staying home to care for her grandchildren. When Jacksonโs men first came to find her, she was afraid and kept silent, worried it might be some kind of trouble.
But Jacksonโs men assured her there was no danger. They promised to guarantee her safety and pay her a sum of money afterwards, as long as she honestly revealed the whole story. Later, they safely brought her back to Jinston.
Chapter 215
The nurse was found and brought back just yesterday. Jackson hadnโt gotten a chance to bring up this story to Maelis yet, but now...