Seeing the lawyers begin their work, Monique struggled to her feet. "Scott, how can you be so cold? I'm being set up! Can't you see Chloe is deliberately targeting me? She's always hated me! You're throwing away our marriage without even seeking the truth. How can you be so heartless? If you don't care about me, what about Carolyn?" Hearing her mother's pleas, Carolyn snapped out of her daze. The word "divorce" sent a jolt of panic through her. "Dad, it's fake! It has to be! Mom is a good person—she would never do something so shameful! She's your wife! Why would she mess around with some... some nobody?" Carolyn rushed forward to hug Monique, then turned her fury on Ernesto. In her eyes, Ernesto was insignificant, nothing compared to Scott, the chairman of Lewis Group. Even if her mother had entertained him occasionally, it was just a distraction—a woman's needs, after all. Scott had always been emotionally absent, hung up on his dead first wife. Her mother had complained about it for years. Carolyn clung to the belief that she was Scott's true daughter. What was Ernesto? Nothing. Hearing Carolyn's defense, Monique's face paled. Now her only hope was to use Carolyn as a shield, to persuade Scott not to go through with the divorce. This could not be allowed to stand. She had no idea where the video came from or when it was recorded. Someone had copied the surveillance footage. Ernesto wouldn't have done it. The only possible culprit was Chloe. Monique looked up, her eyes meeting Chloe's. The sheer coldness in that gaze made her legs buckle, and she nearly collapsed again. "Chloe, I know you despise me. But you can't slander me like this in front of everyone. I may not be your birth mother, but I've always cared for you. When you were missing, I searched tirelessly. The moment I brought you back from... from out of town, I only wanted to do my duty. It's just... you never wanted anything to do with me..." Monique's voice broke, and large, convincing tears rolled down her cheeks. "You hate me and Carolyn for taking what you feel is rightfully yours. I understand that resentment. But to fabricate something like this to destroy me..." She shook her head, a picture of wounded virtue. "If you hate me so much, I'll leave. But you shouldn't resort to forgery, to humiliate me and make your father a laughingstock! This... this deepfake isn't real!" "Heh." Chloe looked at Monique's performance of victimhood and let out a soft, humorless laugh. "How amusing. Monique, you give yourself far too much credit." Monique faltered. A sudden, cold dread tightened in her chest. Chloe was laughing?"If I truly wanted you gone, I wouldn't bother with such a clumsy trick," Chloe continued, her voice chillingly calm. "Consider this a taste of your own medicine. You know perfectly well what you've been scheming behind my back." Monique's heart hammered. She stared, terrified, at Chloe. How much did she actually know? Was this a bluff to scare a confession, or did this little witch have all the pieces? "Carolyn," Chloe said, shifting her gaze to the younger woman huddled beside her mother. "You were the one who tampered with the control room equipment to lock the playback. Once it started, it couldn't be stopped. Did it ever occur to you what would happen if the video that played was about you?" Hearing this, Carolyn's temper flared. She pointed a shaking finger at Chloe. "So it was you! You conniving little witch! I loaded the video of you canoodling with your men! How did it turn into footage of my mom? You're disgusting! You're evil—" "Carolyn! Shut your mouth!" Monique hissed, and her hand flew out, striking Carolyn hard across the face. The slap cracked through the tense air. Carolyn's head snapped to the side, her lip splitting. The pain was sharp, and she nearly cried out, but the humiliation of being hit in front of everyone stifled the sound. "Mom! Why did you hit me? Hit her!" Monique raised her hand again, wishing she could slap the sense back into her daughter. "After everything I've done for you... just be quiet!" "What did I do wrong...?" Carolyn whimpered, cradling her cheek. In Monique's eyes, she saw not just anger, but a devastating, final disappointment—the look of someone giving up. Was she being discarded? The realization hit Carolyn like a physical blow. In her outburst, she had fallen right into Chloe's trap. She had just blurted out their entire plan. She had confessed without even being pressed.