Chapter 168 They Are Biological Mother and Daughter
At the time, Alexander had assumed it was just Isabella cutting ties with Caroline. But looking back now, it was preparation for asset transfer.
"That document renouncing her inheritance... it was a smokescreen, wasn't it?" Alexander's voice was cold and controlled.
"Isabella was already moving assets. And you—" He stepped closer, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Damon, don't tell me you knew nothing. You're the chairman of the Neville Group, the largest shareholder. Billions of dollars don't just vanish without the CEO noticing."
Facing Alexander's relentless interrogation, Damon didn't get angry. He just shook his head heavily.
"I only learned the exact amount from the CFO just now. These past years..." He raised his hand, rubbing his face hard. "After Edith died, my health deteriorated. I didn't have the energy. I was in so much pain, all I wanted was to escape. I handed most of the company's day-to-day operations over to Isabella. I trusted her. She was my wife, Edith and Caroline's mother. I thought she'd at least protect this family, protect the Neville legacy."
He let out a bitter laugh. "I was wrong. Dead wrong."
Alexander stared at him coldly. He had zero interest in how the Neville family had fallen apart. He only wanted to know one thing.
"That day you said you 'failed to raise your daughter properly'—what did you mean? Were you really talking about Caroline?"
Damon's body gave an almost imperceptible tremor. He slowly lifted his head, and in his eyes was something like relief.
"You finally asked," Damon said. "I knew it. With your intelligence and resources, you'd figure it out eventually. You were just blinded by hatred. That day, I wasn't talking about Caroline."
He took a deep breath and carefully extracted a thin folder from the innermost compartment of his briefcase, sliding it across to Alexander. "Take a look. It might answer some of your questions."
Alexander's gaze fell heavily on the folder. He paused for two seconds before reaching out to open it.
Inside was a single document—a paternity test. Subjects: Isabella and Celeste. Conclusion: results support that Isabella is Celeste's biological mother.
It was black and white, clear as day.
Alexander's fingers tightened around the paper. He slowly raised his head to look at Damon, his eyes churning like a storm.
Celeste was Isabella's biological daughter too?
No wonder Isabella's affection for Celeste over the years had seemed to surpass even her love for her dead daughter Edith.
No—it had surpassed it.
Because Celeste had been her biological daughter all along.
Damon watched Alexander's face transform, then closed his eyes wearily.
"Actually, from the moment Caroline and Edith were born, Isabella favored Edith. They were her first pregnancy, twins. The delivery was difficult—Caroline came first, a hard birth. Edith came after, tiny and weak, crying like a kitten. She spent weeks in an incubator. Nearly didn't make it."
"From that moment on, Isabella became fixated on the idea that Caroline had stolen Edith's nutrients in the womb, that she'd caused Edith's fragile health. She favored Edith, spoiled her rotten, while Caroline... she ignored her. Sometimes worse than ignored. There was real contempt there."
"I consulted doctors, therapists. They all said it was postpartum depression. I thought—she'd given me children, it hadn't been easy. So I indulged her, tried to make up for it by giving Caroline extra attention, trying to fill the gap where her mother's love should have been. I thought once the girls grew up, Isabella would come around."
Damon opened his eyes, and they were filled with bottomless pain.
"Then, when Edith and Caroline were about ten, the Neville Group ran into serious problems with our overseas expansion. I had to go to Euravell personally. I was gone nearly a year. When I came back, Isabella seemed radiant, emotionally stable. Her attitude toward Caroline had even softened somewhat."
"I thought she'd finally come out of her depression. I was relieved. Now, looking back... it's almost funny. That year, she wasn't healing. She had a lover. And their daughter, Celeste."
"She kept that secret for over a decade. Perfectly hidden. It wasn't until recently—after you came to the house and tore into us over Caroline—that I couldn't sleep one night. I was drinking in my study, and I overheard Isabella and Celeste talking in the garden pavilion."
Damon's voice began to shake.
"That's when I learned the truth. Celeste is her biological daughter. Born from an affair during our marriage, with some man I still don't know. She kept Celeste in an orphanage all those years, waiting until Edith and Caroline were older. Then after Edith's accident, she formally adopted Celeste... the whole thing, start to finish, might have been orchestrated."
"Whether Edith's death was part of her plan, I don't know." Damon shook his head in anguish. "I want to believe it wasn't. After all, she loved Edith so much once. She loved her so much that she came to hate the other daughter who had supposedly stolen her nutrients from birth."
"What about Caroline? How did she treat her?"
Damon was struck silent, his face turning ashen. He looked up at Alexander. Then suddenly said, "What about you, Alexander? All these years, how have you treated Caroline? Did you ever suspect, even for a moment, that she might be innocent? Or did you ever consider that in chaos like that, self-preservation is instinct—even if she did push Edith, it might have been an accident?"
Alexander's head snapped down, avoiding Damon's accusation. After a moment, he took a deep breath.
"I'm asking because I'm starting to doubt myself."
Damon smiled bitterly. "So you do suspect something." He looked back down at his clasped hands. "Edith has been gone for years. There are things I haven't looked into, but that doesn't mean I haven't wondered."