Chapter 81 Secret Origin

Chapter 81 Secret Origin

The lead officer scanned the room, his gaze landing precisely on Giselle. His voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the office could hear him clearly. "Excuse me, which one of you is Ms. Montague?"

Giselle's heart sank. A bad feeling washed over her.

She slowly stood up. "That's me."

"We need you to come with us to the station to assist with an investigation. Please cooperate."

This statement exploded like a bomb in the quiet office.

All eyes shifted from curiosity to shock, fixed squarely on Giselle. Those looks held speculation, suspicion, and some schadenfreude.

Giselle felt her blood run cold. She clenched her fists, trying to maintain her composure, and followed the two officers out of the office under everyone's stunned stares.

The police car sped through the streets, taking her to the district station.

The cold interrogation room and harsh fluorescent lights made Giselle's heart sink deeper and deeper.

She couldn't figure out what she had done to warrant such a big response from the police.

Until a young officer came in and led her to another office.

There, Giselle finally saw two people she never wanted to see again in her life.

Susan and Stella.

Both wore the standard gray detention center uniforms, their hair messy, faces pale, all traces of their former arrogance and dignity gone.

The moment they saw Giselle, their dull eyes suddenly lit up with wild joy, as if they had grabbed onto their last shred of hope.

"Giselle, you're finally here." Susan rushed forward, trying to grab Giselle's hand across the table, her voice choked with tears. "Tell the police we've been wrongly accused. We didn't do anything."

Stella joined in with her tearful pleading. "Giselle, I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have treated you that way before. You're my only sister. You can't just leave us to die. Help us post bail. Please."

The two played off each other, putting on the most pitiful act.

Giselle watched them calmly. Her gaze was like looking at two strangers, without a ripple of emotion.

She slowly pulled her hand back, her eyes coldly sweeping over their faces full of calculation and fakery, then turned to the officer taking notes nearby. Her voice was flat, without a trace of warmth.

"Officer, I don't know them."

Susan and Stella's crying stopped abruptly. Both stared in disbelief, eyes wide.

Giselle didn't look at them again, coldly adding, "Whatever they did, you should handle it however you need to. Just follow legal procedures."

The grief on their faces instantly froze, then twisted into resentment.

"Giselle, you bitch." Stella was the first to drop the act. She lunged forward, her sharp nails reaching for Giselle's arm. "We raised you all these years for nothing? Now that we're in trouble, you want to kick us aside? I'm telling you, no way."

Susan's face changed too. Her cloudy eyes burst with bone-deep hatred as she grabbed Giselle's other hand, shrieking, "You ungrateful wretch. Have you forgotten who raised you? Now that you've climbed up the social ladder, you want to cut ties with us? I'm telling you, as long as we don't agree, you'll never be free of the Montague family."

The mother and daughter pinned her down from both sides. That familiar, disgusting greedy look appeared clearly before her eyes again.

The last bit of hesitation and sympathy in Giselle's heart was completely crushed in that moment.

She jerked her hands away forcefully, making both of them stumble back half a step.

"Raised me?" Giselle laughed coldly. The laugh sounded particularly harsh in the empty office. She stepped toward the mother and daughter, the mockery and coldness in her eyes something they had never seen before. "Are you sure you 'raised' me, or did you use me as a stepping stone for Stella? As an ATM you could squeeze dry whenever you wanted?"

She paused, her gaze falling on Susan's face, flushed red with anger, and returned their own words to them, word for word, crystal clear.

"Who was it that pointed at my nose and called me a jinx, told me to get lost as far as possible? And who guarded against me like a thief, afraid I would steal your 'wealthy marriage'?"

"I just did what you wanted and stayed away from you. What, having second thoughts now?"

These words hit home, every single one.

Susan and Stella's faces turned from red to white, looking terrible.

They never imagined that Giselle, who used to be so submissive in front of them, not even daring to breathe loudly, would now dare to fight back so sharply.

Seeing that the family card and throwing tantrums weren't working, Susan, in her desperation, finally played her last card.

She pointed at Giselle's nose and screamed with all her might, "Fine. Giselle, you listen carefully. From today on, I don't have a daughter like you. We're cutting ties. Whether you live or die from now on has nothing to do with the Montague family."

This threat was what Giselle had feared most hearing in her twenty-plus years of life. But now, hearing it, she only felt it was ridiculous and liberating.

She didn't even bother giving the mother and daughter another glance, turning to the officer nearby. "Officer, sorry for the trouble. I'm leaving now."

Watching Giselle actually walk toward the door without looking back, Susan completely panicked.

Once Giselle walked out that door, she and her daughter were truly finished.

"Stop." Susan, like a cornered animal, let out a hysterical scream. "If you dare walk out that door today, you'll never know who your real parents are."

Giselle's steps stopped abruptly.

Her back went rigid as a board, her whole body frozen in place, her mind going blank.

Real parents?

These words struck like thunder, exploding massive waves in her previously calm heart.

Susan, seeing this tactic worked, flashed a gleam of triumph in her eyes. She knew she had grabbed Giselle's only weak spot.

Gasping for breath, she pushed forward in one go, cruelly revealing the secret buried for over twenty years in front of everyone.

"You really think I gave birth to you? Dream on. You're just some bastard child that your deadbeat father picked up off the street back then." Susan's voice was sharp and mean, full of vengeful satisfaction. "I've been disgusted by you for ages. If you weren't useful, able to make money to support Stella's education, I would have thrown you out long ago."

Giselle slowly turned around, her face deathly pale without a trace of color.