A heavy silence settled over the Jean residence. After a long pause, Ross asked, "Is there any chance of finding Mom's remains?"

Shermaine shook her head. "Zack stuffed her into a suitcase and dumped it in the ocean. Finding the remains would be like searching for a needle in a haystack."

Ross frowned. "We have to try."

"Yeah." Shermaine nodded. "If Mom were here, she would never have treated us this way."

Janice collapsed onto the sofa as she gasped for air. "That damned Madeline! How could she do something so monstrous?"

Her heart ached for Shermaine and Ross. They grew up with a neglectful father, only to learn their mother had been murdered and replaced by a maid living in luxury for over a decade. The sheer absurdity of it left Janice reeling.

Ross took the news with eerie calm, though the truth of Ruth’s death cut deep. Shermaine, having known longer, could only give them time to process.

Eventually, Janice steadied herself. "Ruth is gone, but those shares Madeline sold… Sheary, do you know who bought them?" She silently prayed Jameson hadn’t orchestrated this.

"Natalie set the trap," Shermaine said. "Jameson funded ten billion dollars." But the entire scheme had been her design.

Janice paled. "So the shares went to Natalie?" That was as bad as Jameson getting them, and maybe worse.

"No," Shermaine smiled, pulling the genuine transfer agreement from her bag. She handed it over. "Ross, keep these safe." He was the beneficiary.

Ross stared in shock. "Sheary, you…"

Shermaine simply explained, "I turned Natalie's hired seducer against her."

Ross took the paper, stunned. He hadn’t realized just how much Shermaine had done behind the scenes. "Sheary, thank you."

Janice exhaled in relief. "Brilliant work." Jameson would probably have a fit if he learned his ten billion dollars bought worthless papers.

Madeline had already been taken away to face the punishment she deserved. Shermaine hadn’t turned her or her family over to the police. A cloned identity was too volatile. Exposing it risked attracting dangerous attention.

Meanwhile, Natalie was celebrating with a glass of red wine, clutching the share transfer document like a trophy. The beneficiary wasn’t Jameson but herself. She had become a shareholder of Jean Group. Tomorrow, she could stride into the company, and soon after, she would be Jameson’s rightful wife.

All day, Jameson had been trying to reach Madeline to finalize their divorce, but her phone went unanswered. Then, he heard the news that Ruth had been swindled out of ten billion dollars by Jasper.

Jameson immediately called Natalie. "Nat, did you tell that guy to steal Ruth's money?"

"Absolutely not!" Natalie denied sharply. "He ran off with it?"

Jameson frowned. "Yeah. He vanished without a trace. Not even the police can find him."

Natalie scoffed. "How stupid can Ruth be? Letting some conman trick her out of all that money? She'll probably cling to you even harder." The thought wiped the smirk off her face.

Jameson never imagined "Ruth" could be this gullible, trusting a stranger with everything. "She must've crawled back to Jean residence," he muttered. "I'll deal with her myself."

Chapter 270

Jameson arrived at Jean residence. He found Janice sitting stiffly on the sofa, rosary beads slipping through her fingers. He asked, "Mom, has Ruth come home?" It was the only place she could go after losing everything.

Janice’s voice was glacial. "After you cheated on her with Natalie all these years, you've been so eager to divorce, but did it ever occur to you that the woman in your bed wasn't your wife?"

Jameson frowned, utterly confused. "What does that mean?"

Janice stared back at him and asked, "Didn't you ever wonder how Ruth, once such a brilliant woman, could suddenly turn into a brainless fool?"

Jameson had wondered about that, but he had chalked it up to trauma, never digging deeper.

Janice delivered the truth. "Ruth died fourteen years ago. The woman you've known since then is an imposter."

Jameson’s frown deepened. "Mom, it’s not April Fools’ Day. I get that you oppose the divorce, but Ruth filed first."

"This isn't a joke," Janice said coldly. "That Ruth was Madeline Guston."

Jameson froze. He thought, 'So for fourteen years, I’ve been sharing a bed with that lowly maid I despised?' The realization turned his stomach. His real wife was long dead. The fact left him both shocked and strangely hollow.

"Sheary exposed her today," Janice continued. "Bradley took Madeline away."

Jameson’s face darkened. "What about my divorce?" It would only need a courthouse stamp to finalize the divorce.

"Even if this Ruth is fake, that divorce won't happen," Janice said firmly. "Natalie will never set foot in this house as your wife."

At Hilton Hotel, Richard’s growing suspicion about Juliana’s silence led him to interrogate her closest friend, Ximena. Under pressure, she told him that Juliana had gone to Wallington.

If Juliana had been reachable, the lie would have been held. But after arriving in Wallington, she had completely disappeared.

When Richard heard that Juliana was in Wallington, his face went pale, sweat beading his brow.

In Maple Leaf Ville, Juliana finally stirred after a day-long sleep. She had unlocked fractured memories. She knew her name was Ruth Jean, the true hostess of the Jean family. She wasn’t Juliana Rivera. Her real name was Ruth Jean.