The statent shocked everyone present.
Only Justin Kane and Nina Thorne remained impassive, their expressions cold.
Nina, in particular, watched her with a cold smirk.
’Just getting kicked out of the Kane family. That’s letting her off easy.’
But for Serena Kane, it was as if her world had co crashing down. A chill ran through her, and she nearly collapsed.
"No, Grandfather, you can’t do this to ..."
She snapped back to her senses and grabbed Old Master Kane’s arm, pleading.
But Old Master Kane had never been fond of her, and after this incident, he ruthlessly pulled his arm away and turned his back, refusing to look at her again.
With no other choice, Serena Kane turned to Cole Kane for help.
But Cole’s face was filled with disappointnt. His gaze made her panic. Helpless, she then turned to Ethan Kane, but the result was the sa.
Finally, with no options left, she dropped to her knees and begged, "Grandfather, the Kane family is my ho. You raised . If you change my surna, will we still be a family?"
She grabbed Felicia Yates’s hand, snot and tears streaming down her face. "Mother, do you rember when you brought ho when I was nine? You told you would always cherish and love , even more than my birth mother would. Do you rember saying that?"
Her racking sobs and pitiful appearance were enough to make anyone’s heart ache.
Felicia truly did see her as her own daughter. Her heart softened, and she was about to plead on her behalf when Justin Kane cut her off with an icy voice:
"The evidence is irrefutable. Are you still going to indulge her, Mother?"
His cold voice was laced with sarcasm.
Felicia’s hand, reaching out to help her up, froze in midair. Then, she yanked her hand away from Serena’s grasp.
"Old Master Kane makes the decisions in this family. Besides, after what you’ve done, I can’t protect you."
Serena Kane slumped to the floor, her face tilted up in despair. She looked like she had gone mad, laughing and crying at the sa ti.
Suddenly, she glared at Nina Thorne, her eyes red with fury, as if she wanted to kill her. "Nina Thorne, I will hate you for the rest of my life for what happened today!"
"I won’t let you get away with this! One day, I’ll expose your affair and prove that I did nothing wrong! I did nothing wrong!"
Serena Kane scrambled up from the floor, her expression wild and twisted.
Nina Thorne watched her, frowning slightly, but showed no fear.
Just as she was about to speak, Justin Kane, who was beside her, pulled her behind him. With a stern expression, he ordered, "Soone, take the household register and change Serena Kane’s surna imdiately. And while you’re at it, remove her na from the Kane Family Tree."
An assistant and a security guard entered swiftly and moved to take her away.
Serena Kane struggled and cried, looking back at the family for help, but all she saw was indifference and anger.
Her strength to resist vanished in an instant, and she allowed the guard to lead her away.
Before she left, her bloodshot eyes were fixed on Nina Thorne, her gaze radiating a murderous intent. She clearly despised her to the core.
Nina Thorne’s expression was cold; she acted as if she hadn’t seen a thing.
’She got what she deserved.’
The hall fell silent for a mont.
Ethan Kane’s brows were deeply furrowed. He looked at Felicia Yates with displeasure and scolded, "Look at you! Look at what you’ve done!"
"At your age, you were completely fooled by Serena Kane! I can’t believe she would dare to do sothing so shaless."
Ethan was furious. When he was angry, Felicia was always a bit wary. She said defensively, "Isn’t it because of Nina Thorne? Serena must have been afraid of losing us. She just loves our Kane family too much!"
"And you," Ethan’s fury was now at its peak as he turned to bla Cole Kane, "You were drugged and you didn’t even know it? And you were deceived for so many years!"
Felicia couldn’t bear to see him scolded, but she also felt guilty, so she held her tongue, feeling both angry and helpless.
It took Cole Kane a long ti to process the fact that he had been drugged. Ignoring Justin Kane, he strode over to Nina Thorne.
"Why? Why did you know all along but never tell ?" Cole’s mouth twitched, his heart filled with endless regret.
’So for these past three years, he had completely misunderstood her.’
’And to think he’d repeatedly blad her for driving Serena away, always treating her with coldness and impatience.’
’It turned out he was the one who was completely and utterly wrong!’
Nina Thorne raised her eyes, her expression even more indifferent than if she were looking at a stranger. "There’s no point in bringing this up now. But I do want to thank Grandfather for clearing my na."
Felicia still didn’t quite understand. "Dad, if this happened three years ago, why didn’t you say anything back then?"
’Letting it drag on for three years. It all happened so long ago, really. Since Serena ca back, she’s been well-behaved and hasn’t done anything untoward to Cole. She should have been given another chance. Did they really have to remove her from the Kane Family Tree? This... How could she explain this to Serena’s deceased mother? And how much would it hurt poor Serena’s heart!’
"Mother, you should be reflecting on how you brought such a disaster into this family," Justin Kane said, hitting the nail on the head. His handso face was glacial.
Felicia was speechless.
"Back then, you were the one who insisted on adopting her. I respected your wishes, but I never imagined she would dare to do sothing like that."
Old Master Kane turned around slowly, his authoritative eyes clouding over with mories, and he sighed deeply.
He finally explained the whole story from beginning to end.
It turned out that years ago, on Cole Kane’s birthday, Serena Kane had secretly drugged him. By a stroke of luck, Mr. Jones witnessed it and discreetly fild it.
He then inford Old Master Kane, who intervened just in ti, before things could cross the point of no return.
Furthermore, the video shown at the banquet wasn’t the full version; it was edited. If the entire video had been made public, the consequences would have been far more severe than just changing her na and removing her from the family tree.
Afterward, Serena Kane had begged tearfully in the study, promising she would never make the sa mistake again.
Old Master Kane, not wanting to blow the matter up and damage the Kane family’s reputation, decided to send her abroad.
Unexpectedly, Nina Thorne had been passing by the study at that mont and overheard the entire conversation.
Old Master Kane knew she had been wronged. He made a promise that he would never let anything happen between Cole and Serena, and asked Nina to keep the matter a secret.
The reason she had the videos was because Old Master Kane had given them to her back then as a sincere form of compensation.
He never expected that three years later, they would actually co in handy.
"..."
Upon learning the truth, the few who had been in the dark were shocked and dumbfounded.
"So that’s how it was."
Cole Kane swayed slightly, overco with pain. "Grandfather, why didn’t you tell back then?"
"If you had told , I wouldn’t have... I wouldn’t have..."
"Wouldn’t have what?"
Old Master Kane shot him a disdainful look. "It’s because you’re a blockhead. You actually believed that Serena Kane. For soone so young, her mind is so twisted. Now that I’ve kicked her out of the Kane family, she has only herself to bla."
"As for you, the fact that you and Nina Thorne broke off your engagent is your own damn fault! If you had trusted her in the slightest, you wouldn’t have been deceived by Serena Kane."
Old Master Kane had only recently found out that Cole had actually blad Nina for Serena being sent abroad.
If he had known, he wouldn’t have kept that absurd incident a secret for so long.
Cole Kane clutched his head in anguish, overwheld with regret.
Thinking about how he had treated Nina for all these years, his chest felt constricted, as if he were about to suffocate.
"I’m sorry, I truly had no idea..."
"You had better learn your lesson from today’s events. Keep your distance from Serena. Nominally, and in the eyes of outsiders, you two are still siblings!"
Nina Thorne didn’t want to listen, nor was she the least bit interested.
She then interrupted him with a cool expression, "Grandfather, since the matter has been resolved, I’ll be leaving now."
Nina gave Old Master Kane a polite smile and turned to leave.
Now that the truth was out, a great weight was lifted from Nina’s shoulders.
’After taking the bla for three years, she was finally vindicated.’
"Together."
Justin Kane tossed out the single word and followed Nina’s steps.
Felicia stared blankly at his retreating back, about to call out to him, but Ethan grabbed her arm. "Are you going to keep making a scene?"
"Even if Nina was innocent in that matter, she and Justin are definitely too close. It’s not right," Felicia said, stating her point.
’When she learned the truth, she had been thoroughly shocked by Serena’s character. But that didn’t an she could tolerate the ambiguous relationship between Nina and Justin. No matter what, she would absolutely not allow them to be together. Otherwise, the secret from ten years ago would be exposed!’
Sitting in the car, Nina felt a sense of relief she had never experienced before.
The huge boulder that had been weighing on her heart for three years had finally been lifted.
’It felt so good to be exonerated.’
’The only imperfection was that she still owed Cole Kane her life.’
Seeing her small face downturned in thought, Justin patted her head. "You got your revenge, but you’re still not happy? What are you thinking about?"
Nina turned her head to glance at him and smiled. "I was just wondering why you suddenly showed up tonight."
"Mr. Jones was worried you wouldn’t be able to handle them, so he contacted ."
Justin’s eyes were as deep as obsidian. He was still wearing that starry-sky watch on his wrist.
Nina noticed the watch, and a faint shadow crossed her eyes. She nodded in understanding. "Oh, I see."
Then she added gratefully, "In any case, thank you for coming to find tonight."
’If Justin hadn’t shown up in ti, she really didn’t know how they would have bluffed their way through the suspicions about their identities.’
Justin furrowed his brow slightly and ruffled her hair again. "Still being so polite with ? Have you ever seen a married couple thank each other all the ti, hmm?"
He brought his handso face close, his warm breath ghosting over Nina’s skin. The faint scent of cedarwood wafted into her nose—it was pleasant and alluring.
The atmosphere in the car instantly turned intimate.
Nina tensed up. Even though she was used to it, her cheeks couldn’t help but flush, and her heart began to race...
’He’s managed to fluster again.’
She couldn’t help but start to worry if she would end up falling in love with him in the days to co.
’But he’s in love with soone else.’
Nina thought with self-deprecation, ’I’m really caught up with these two brothers. After breaking up with my ex, I turned around and beca his sister-in-law. His older brother’s wife...’
Nina didn’t respond. Justin watched her for a mont with his deep gaze and said in a low voice, "Nina, if sothing like this happens again, don’t choose to hide it from . I’ll worry."
"Like tonight. If you get bullied, it ans I’m failing as your husband."
His voice was gentle, yet full of affection.
Knowing she was in the wrong, Nina lowered her head slightly, looking obedient and gentle. "Tonight was a special situation. I’ll be more mindful in the future."
"Alright, I’ll trust you for now."
The corners of Justin’s lips curved up. He affectionately tapped her upturned nose, then let his hand fall, lacing his fingers through hers, their hands tightly clasped.
"Then from now on, just focus on being my wife."
Nina recalled what he had said right after they registered their marriage: ’We should do what married couples do...’
For a mont, her mind started to race.
’Maybe... we should?’
She thought about everything that had happened recently—Justin’s protection, affection, and tenderness toward her.
Nina’s heart stirred. Looking at their intertwined fingers, she suddenly gave his hand a little squeeze in response.
The events of the past few days had exhausted her. Now, she could finally relax.
Nina tilted her head and rested it on his shoulder, her voice soft and languid. "Then you have to protect well. Be a good husband to , and don’t treat like Cole did."
What she was really thinking about was the fact that he was in love with soone else.
An obscure emotion flickered in the bottomless depths of Justin’s dark eyes.
He lowered his gaze to her face for a mont, then said in a husky voice, "The most important thing I should do is protect you. Both ten years ago, and now."
His dark eyes focused on her as the lights from outside cast a soft glow on her face.
Her palm-sized face was peaceful, eyelids lowered, with slightly curled lashes. She rested quietly on his shoulder, her breathing light.
Just like the girl by the lake that sumr, ten years ago.
Nina frowned and murmured, "What about ten years ago?"
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