Chapter 274: Just Like Your Father

Chapter 274: Just Like Your Father

The slap landed so hard that not only did Laura freeze in shock—even Sophia stood paralyzed.

A mother-daughter reunion. Instead of the tender embrace Sophia had imagined, it felt more like enemies facing off. Fists flying before words could even be exchanged.

Had Ophelia lost her mind?

Sophia assumed this was some internal family dispute. She rushed forward, positioning herself between them, shielding Laura with her arm.

"Let's talk this through. Even if she's done something wrong, there's no need to get physical."

Laura's face remained turned to the side, her hand pressed against the spot where she'd been struck. She said nothing.

The pain in her heart cut deeper than the sting on her cheek. It felt like a thousand needles were pricking her from the inside out.

"You have no idea what's happened, do you?" Ophelia's voice broke the silence. But she wasn't addressing Laura—her question was aimed squarely at Sophia.

Sophia's expression clouded with confusion. "If you're upset that Laura's been secretly planning this wedding, you could have just told me directly. We already discussed the ceremony over the phone. You seemed totally fine with it then."

Why the sudden change? Sophia couldn't make sense of Ophelia's hostile demeanor.

After delivering that stinging slap, Ophelia's eyes had turned ice-cold. She folded her arms and settled back onto the sofa with forced calmness.

"Why don't you explain to Ms. Simpson yourself why I just slapped you?"

Laura remained silent, head slightly bowed, standing before them with defiance written all over her face of her body.

The sight made Sophia's heart ache.

"Ophelia, whatever this mix-up is about, just tell me directly. Why take it out on Laura?"

They said mothers and daughters had a natural bond, but looking at Ophelia now, Sophia couldn't detect even a trace of joy. Even if she had controlling tendencies—even if she feared losing her daughter to marriage—surely it wouldn't come to this?

Ophelia let out a cold laugh. "If you won't speak, then I will. AndI'm going to humiliate you."

Laura remained defiantly silent, teeth pressed into her lower lip, wearing the expression of someone who refused to apologize.

"Have you considered the possibility that you've been played?" Ophelia turned toward Sophia, her voice laced with frost.

Sophia felt the rug pulled out from under her. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? I mean exactly what I said!" Ophelia's laugh was bitter as she regarded Sophia with the look one might give a fool.

"I truly don't understand. Your entire family is supposed to be sharp as knives, yet you were taken in by such a simple lie? She tells you something and you just... believe her? No questions asked?"

Ophelia's gaze swept back to Laura with bone-chilling coldness, making the young woman shiver involuntarily.

"Some girl shows up at your doorstep claiming to be the heiress to Ascend Holdings Ltd., and you just took it at face value? You never thought to verify it with us?"

Part of Ophelia felt the Montagu family was gullible. Another part thought they were simply too stupid for words.

Forming a marriage alliance with them might actually drag her family's name through the mud.

Understanding dawned slowly across Sophia's face. She turned to look at Laura, then back at Ophelia.

"Are you saying... Laura isn't your daughter?"

Ophelia snorted. "Oh, she's my daughter alright. But she's not the Ascend Holdings Ltd. heiress. She's just the ordinary daughter of a low-life gambler! Her father gambled away everything we had. He abandoned his wife and child without a second thought, left us with nothing, and never looked back."

Fury radiated from every word. Ophelia brought her palm down hard on the coffee table with a resounding crack.

"I never imagined you'd turn out like this. You learned nothing good from me—but you picked up your father's gift for lying perfectly. You've been running cons, and you conned your way right into the Montagu family! I'm so disappointed..."

Sophia's confusion deepened. "But every piece of information she gave us checked out. That's why we believed she was the Ascend Holdings Ltd. heiress."

"My husband actually has a daughter—from his previous marriage! What does that have to do with Laura?"

"If you hadn't abandoned us, none of this would have happened! You married the Ascend Holdings Ltd. CEO because he had money—more money than Dad—so you just tossed us aside!"

Laura finally snapped. In front of Sophia, she let out all the pent-up anger she'd been bottling up.

Ophelia's lips twisted into a cold smirk.

"You're the one who's truly foolish. Did your father really tell you that I abandoned you?"

"What else would he say? You were just some hotel front desk manager who lucked into landing a rich man. Then you turned around and sold me and Dad out. And now you want me to feel guilty? You might as well be dreaming!"

Laura's voice shook with fury as she poured out her deepest pain.

"You probably never imagined this, but I came to see you once. I wanted to know how my mother was living—why she never came looking for me all these years. And what did I find? You, holding a child in your arms. You looked so happy. Did you ever think about me?!"

"Dad raised me all by himself, working his fingers to the bone. I won't let you slander him like this!"

Ophelia looked at her as though she'd just heard the world's most absurd joke. Her eyes bore into Laura for a long, unsettling moment.

"So that's the version your father told you? How noble and selfless he is. And I'm the villain who destroyed the beautiful bond between father and daughter? I was five months pregnant when your drunk father beat me so badly I nearly lost the baby. I spent two days in the emergency room just clinging to life. If I hadn't left him, how was I supposed to survive?"

The Montagu Manor drawing room fell into crushing silence.

Sophia stood to the side, listening to the mother and daughter tear into each other. She felt as though her brain might explode.

This family's dynamics were impossibly tangled.

Laura was Ophelia's daughter—but she wasn't the Ascend Holdings Ltd. heiress.

She'd simply stolen someone else's identity, hoping to extract benefits from the Montagu family.

"You're my biological daughter, but not once in all these years have you thought about me—your own mother. Even when you showed up at our door before college, all you did was complain that I wouldn't pay your tuition."

"Did you never wonder why the money I sent went to your father's account but never made it to you? Did you ever ask yourself why?"

Every word Ophelia spoke seemed to drip with blood and tears, crashing heavily to the floor and carving deep wounds into everyone's hearts.

"At first, I thought Summit Holdings Corporation's Montagu family was forming an alliance with Molly. I actually felt happy for her—finally, a good match. But no. It was you. You, the fake princess wearing someone else's crown!"

Her eyes blazed with cold fury as they locked onto Laura.

"You really are just like your father. Beyond redemption."