Master Sloan quickly walked forward, adjusted his glasses, and leaned in to carefully scrutinize Stella Grant’s face.
"Looks like... it really looks like..."
He murmured to himself, his eyes filled with excitent.
"Like my daughter... this is my precious granddaughter..."
He asked with loving eyes, "Child, do you still rember your grandpa?"
Stella Grant’s lips moved slightly, but she said nothing; her eyes were just red with emotion.
"No—!"
Corinne Kensington finally reacted from extre shock, letting out a piercing scream.
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"
She shouted frantically at Aiden Fordham.
"I’m the Eldest Miss Whitman! Aiden, you’re talking nonsense!"
"I’m Sierra Whitman! I’m the real Sierra!"
"There’s no way it’s Stella Grant."
At this tense mont, Keegan Lindsey walked in from outside.
He walked straight through the crowd, took out a report from a file bag, and placed it precisely in front of Mrs. Whitman and Chairman Whitman.
"Chairman Whitman, Mrs. Whitman."
Keegan’s voice was clear and calm, resonating like a bell.
"This is the DNA test report between Miss Grant and Mrs. Whitman."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the already pale Corinne Kensington.
"As for the previous one, it matched only because soone gave Miss Grant’s blood sample to Helen Warren, staging a classic swap of the real for the fake."
After speaking, he sharply pointed to the exquisite butterfly jade pendant on Corinne Kensington’s neck.
"And this keepsake is also Miss Grant’s possession."
"Helen Warren once fostered Miss Grant for four years, later cruelly abandoning her, but kept the jade pendant, considering it valuable. She never dread it would be a Whitman family heirloom."
Keegan’s words exploded like a thunderbolt in every guest’s ear.
He then took out his phone and opened a video.
Helen Warren’s weathered and calculating face appeared on the screen, her timid voice erging.
"...Yes, this butterfly jade pendant is what Stella wore as a child. I saw its quality and... kept it..."
The truth was revealed.
The room fell into a dead silence, followed by suppressed amazent.
None was more affected than Ethan Monroe, whose body shook uncontrollably with excitent.
It turns out... Stella really is Sierra!
She is his Sierra!
He suddenly turned around and said sothing hastily to his assistant, who imdiately understood and hurriedly went out.
"No! It’s not true!"
Corinne Kensington was entirely broken down, rushing to Mrs. Whitman, clutching her arm, crying out desperately.
"Mom! I’m Sierra! I’m your daughter! Don’t be fooled by them! I’m the real one!"
However, Mrs. Whitman’s entire attention was fixed on Stella Grant not far away.
Her gaze wouldn’t shift; she only wanted to rush over and hold that child tightly in her arms.
"His DNA is fake!" Corinne Kensington, seeing no one paying attention, scread again shrilly, "She can’t be the Whitman family’s daughter! Absolutely not!"
"Even if his report is fake, I have another one."
A cold male voice rang out; Hugh Whitman had unknowingly stepped forward.
He looked down at Corinne Kensington, his gaze devoid of any warmth.
"I personally conducted the test. There is indeed a familial relationship between Stella Grant and ."
"But between you and , there isn’t even a penny’s worth of connection."
With one glance, Hugh Whitman signaled, and his assistant imdiately placed two brand new DNA reports in front of the Whitman elders.
This ti, no one doubted.
Even The Whitman heir had personally endorsed it; could this matter be false?
Hugh Whitman’s gaze was as cold as ice, piercing Corinne Kensington.
"You probably don’t know, do you? The Whitman family has a hereditary disease that makes them unable to use anesthetics indiscriminately. You had stitches a few days ago, and quite a bit of anesthetic was used."
A "boom" went off in Corinne Kensington’s brain, leaving it blank.
All color drained cleanly from her face, her lips trembling, unable to muster a single retort.
"Sierra..."
Mrs. Whitman’s eyes reddened instantly. Unable to hold back any longer, she stumbled towards Stella Grant.
"You are my Sierra..."
She reached out her arms, trembling, trying to embrace her.
Stella Grant instinctively took a step back, avoiding her.
This small action was like a knife stabbing into Mrs. Whitman’s heart, leaving her breathless.
She was filled with self-reproach and remorse.
Clearly, this child looked so much like her, how could she have been so blind, not trusting her instincts, failing to recognize her?
Stella Grant did not look at Mrs. Whitman; her gaze was directly fixed on Aiden Fordham, her eyes also red, welling with tears.
Her voice was as cold as winter ice.
"So, you knew all along. You found out who I was, but you... said nothing."
Aiden Fordham’s tall figure stiffened, his throat moved slightly, his voice sowhat dry.
"Stella, I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you imdiately because I feared you might be in danger."
"Danger?" Corinne Kensington’s scalp tingled upon hearing this word.
She abruptly turned to Aiden Fordham, shouting frantically: "So you sacrificed ? Made take her disaster, made fall into those kidnappers’ hands, Aiden Fordham, you actually let suffer such tornt on her behalf!"
Her world, at this mont, collapsed completely.
Aiden Fordham glanced at her coldly, his tone without a shred of emotion.
"You falsely claid her as your lifesaver, enjoying four years of affection that should have belonged to her. These are what you should return to her."
"I should return them?" Corinne Kensington seed to hear the biggest joke ever, laughing maniacally.
"I was the one who saved you! I’m the one who pulled you from the water!"
Aiden Fordham no longer looked at her; he turned his head, deeply gazing at Stella Grant, eyes filled with an indelible deep affection.
"It was Stella Grant."
His voice was not loud, yet clearly resonated throughout the entire hall.
"It was she who pulled from forty ters under the sea at all costs. The one who truly saved was her."
At these words, everyone was shocked.
Turns out, this newly acknowledged Eldest Miss Whitman was indeed President Fordham’s savior!
Stella Grant looked at him, her reddened eyes were finally flooded by tears.
He knew.
He knew everything.
Vivi Sterling widened her eyes in disbelief, finally seeing the truth about President Fordham.
"No! It’s not true!" Corinne Kensington was utterly broken, falling to the ground, crying hysterically.
"The one who saved you was ! The Eldest Miss Whitman is ! The one you want to marry is ! How could it be her... how could it be her..."
"Soone, co." Abel Whitman finally spoke, his voice icy cold, "Throw this woman out."
Two tall bodyguards imdiately stepped forward, grabbing Corinne Kensington from either side.
"She can’t leave."
Aiden Fordham suddenly spoke, releasing Stella Grant and turning around, each word laced with poison.
"I haven’t settled my accounts with her yet."
"Back then, she orchestrated the kidnapping of the Eldest Miss Whitman and also stole my company’s core secrets, selling them to competitors."
"Therefore, she deserves to spend her remaining life behind bars."
Everyone gasped again.
This woman was utterly wicked! Kidnapping, corporate espionage; her evil deeds were limitless!
Indeed, the reason Aiden Fordham left in a hurry this afternoon was because his secretary urgently delivered a USB drive.
While clearing out old items in the CEO’s office, the secretary accidentally discovered the USB drive, saw its contents, considered the matter serious, and imdiately made a trip to The Imperial Capital.
When Aiden Fordham saw the contents, he was so furious that he nearly crushed his phone on the spot.
It turns out the hardships Stella experienced before were all orchestrated by Corinne from behind the scenes! She even boldly stole D’s data and handed it to Andy Lockwood.
And in the end, he mistakenly blad Stella.
"It’s not !"
Corinne shook her head frantically, trying to make a last desperate attempt.
"It’s Andy Lockwood! He did it! I didn’t steal it!"
She fell to her knees, crawling towards Aiden Fordham, holding onto his pant leg as she pleaded bitterly.
"Aiden, please let go, I can’t go to jail... I’m begging you, help ..."
Aiden looked down at her pathetic appearance, reached out and coldly removed the jade butterfly from her neck, uttering two cold words.
"Take her away."
Corinne was rcilessly dragged away by two bodyguards.
Crying out loudly, she struggled, even losing one of her high heels, appearing utterly disheveled.
The higher she was praised earlier, the harder she fell now.
Such a conclusion only evokes sighs.
Today’s family reunion party turned out to be an unforeseen annual drama, a complete reversal of events.
Aiden Fordham returned to Stella’s side, speaking softly.
"Stella, this is my account to you. I won’t let anyone who has hurt you go unpunished."
At this mont, Stella felt no joy from avenging her grievances.
She looked at him; her beautiful eyes were as cold as ice.
Onstage, Abel Whitman’s voice rang out again. He had regained his composure and was trying to salvage the situation.
"This farce today must have amused everyone. Fortunately, the outco is good; our Whitman Family has finally found our true treasure."
His face bore a fatherly smile as he extended his hand toward Stella.
"Sierra, co to Daddy’s side."
Stella didn’t give him even a glance.
She just stood there, making no attempt to move forward, only saying softly.
"I’m sorry."
After speaking, she turned around and walked out of the banquet hall without looking back.
"Stella!" Aiden imdiately chased after her.
"Sierra!" Hugh Whitman followed closely.
Vivi Sterling hesitated for a mont, then quickly followed.
Onstage, Abel Whitman was utterly stunned, his smile frozen at the corners of his mouth.
He never expected that she would run off in front of so many people.
But having seen major ups and downs in his life, he quickly cald down and smoothed things over with the microphone.
"Sierra might be too overwheld; everyone should not mind. She’s now going to change her clothes first. The dance will officially start in half an hour; please feel free to enjoy yourselves."
Having said that, Abel Whitman stepped off the stage.
Master Sloan imdiately stepped forward and harshly reprimanded his daughter, Selene Sloan.
"Look at you! You can even mistake your own biological daughter! How can you not make her feel cold? I don’t care; you must win my granddaughter back!"
Mrs. Whitman kept wiping her tears, nodding with a choked voice.
"Alright... I know, Dad, I will... I will win her back."
The noise of the banquet hall was isolated by heavy doors.
Stella rushed out, supporting herself on the cold pillars, her stomach churned violently.
She bent down, retching severely, her throat burning, feeling so uncomfortable that tears sprang to her eyes.
It was too intense in there earlier.
Those shouts of "Sierra" and "Eldest Miss Whitman" felt like heavy hamrs pounding on her heart.
Aiden Fordham followed out, seeing her in this state, his face turned pale with fear.
He quickly took off his suit jacket, with a trace of his body warmth, and draped it over her trembling shoulders.
"Stella, are you okay?"
His voice was filled with urgency.
"Where does it hurt?"
Stella pushed his hand away forcefully, the jacket slipping to the ground.
Her eyes were red, staring at him intently.
"Aiden Fordham, you promised you wouldn’t hide anything from in the future; why put on such a show?"
Aiden was completely stunned.
He imagined countless possibilities: she might be surprised, delighted, or even would jump into his arms.
But never did he expect her reaction to be so intense, so... painful.
He swallowed hard, finally uttering three words.
"I’m sorry."
Stella turned her face away as another wave of nausea swept over her; she covered her mouth, retching again.
Just then, a figure rushed over like a whirlwind.
"Don’t touch her!"
Vivi Sterling pushed Aiden away with astonishing force.
"Stella, it’s , it’s ."
She hugged Stella tightly, supporting her with her body.
Stella’s tears burst like a dam, no longer able to hold back, unsure whether it was due to the anger from being deceived, the shock of the revealed identity, or an unspeakable grievance.
In short, she felt overwheld with discomfort now.
Aiden stood aside, watching the two girls hugging, feeling like his heart was blocked.
He opened his mouth again, his voice hoarse.
"I’m sorry, I didn’t prepare you for this ntally; today’s event happened too suddenly."
Stella raised her tear-filled face to look at him, the night’s chill wind blowing past, causing her to shiver uncontrollably.
Her stomach churned again.
Seeing her in discomfort, Aiden felt imnse pain, instinctively wanting to step forward and embrace her.
Vivi Sterling, like a mother hen protecting its chick, stopped him with a single glance.
She deftly took a candy wrapped in paper from her small bag, peeled it, and placed it in Stella’s mouth.
"Hold this; it might make you feel better."
The sour-sweet taste lted across her tongue, genuinely suppressing the feeling of nausea a bit.
From not far away, Hugh Whitman watched the scene unfold.
His pupils constricted.
The candy Vivi gave was specially made for pregnant won to combat nausea.
Could it be that Sierra also...
"Is your stomach not well? Let take you to the hospital." Aiden looked anxious, still trying to move closer.
Hugh Whitman glanced at this frantic man, quietly cursed: Idiot.
He adjusted his emotions, stepped forward, and spoke in an extrely gentle voice.
"Vivi, can I talk to her alone?"
Vivi Sterling imdiately beca defensive, pushing him away directly.
She shouted angrily, "Hugh Whitman, I’m telling you, whether she becos the Whitman Family’s Eldest Miss is her decision alone; no one can force her!"
"Initially, it was you who got her... lost; she wandered in ritopia for... a whole year, clothes tattered, lacking food. It was I who... picked her up, and now she belongs to the Sterling Family!"
As she talked about it, Vivi Sterling’s eyes also turned red.
Hugh Whitman quickly softened his stance, hurriedly trying to soothe her.
"Don’t get agitated; watch out, or you’ll vomit too."
He used the word "too," but Aiden didn’t get it at all.
The wind outside was strong; instinctively, he removed his coat, trying to put it over her.
Vivi Sterling turned her head to avoid it, stubbornly.
Hugh Whitman was helpless, turned to look at Stella, his eyes filled with sincerity and gentleness.
"Sierra, could I have a private chat with you?"
In the end, Aiden and Vivi Sterling were "invited" to the side.
Hugh Whitman revealed to her the shocking truth about her disappearance...
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