?Chapter 1444:


    “Really?” Keira sniffled, her mood shifting in an instant. “You’re right… Sandra, never mind. I can dig myself out of this. Just a few more games, and I’ll get all my money back.”


    Sandra’s patience snapped. “Absolutely not! You’ve gambled away everything before, and now you think the casino’s going to just hand you a win?”


    “I need to hang up now. I’m off to see if I can get a loan,” Keira muttered, then ended the call without another word.<fn9c10> ???? ????s? ???????s ?? f?i?n?d?n?o?v?e?l?</fn9c10>


    Corinna said to her, “Your daughter’s just going to try and stop you, so turn your phone off. Give yourself a real chance to win big!”


    Deep down, Keira knew the odds were against her, but that tiny ember of hope kept burning. Maybe, just maybe, her luck was about to change.


    Sandra copsed onto the plush sofa, her spirit crushed under an unbearable weight. With her face cradled in her trembling hands, tears streamed down her cheeks in a silent torrent of despair.


    She couldn’t endure the sting of Keira squandering eleven million in mere hours. The loss was a gut punch, leaving her breathless and defeated. How could fate deal her such a cruel hand? To be tethered to a mother whose heart beat for the thrill of gambling was a burden too heavy to bear.


    Her soul ached with the misfortune of it all. Desperately, she dialed Keira’s number, her fingers shaking with each attempt, only to be met with the cold, robotic voice: “The number you have dialed is currently unavable…”


    Her calls went unanswered. She knew Keira was likely spiraling deeper into her reckless bets. The thought made her stomach churn.


    Keira might assume Sandra’s newfound ties to the affluent Harper family would cushion her losses. But Sandra knew better—the Harpers’ wealth wasn’t hers to im.


    The sting of having such an oblivious mother, one who traded a life of ease for the fleeting rush of the casino, cut deeply. In her darkest moments, Sandra wished she could erase Keira from her life entirely.


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    Fury bubbling over, Sandra fired off a scathing text to Keira: “If you’ve lost money, don’te to me. The Harper family hasn’t given me a single cent, nor have they epted me. Even if disaster struck, they wouldn’t lift a finger to help me. From this moment on, I no longer recognize you as my mother—so don’t evere looking for me again.”


    The more Sandra dwelled on it, the hotter her anger burned. She had just sold something for money, and Keira had lost a lot more.


    Having a mother like Keira felt like a life sentence to chaos. No matter how hard Sandra tried, her dreams of a better life seemed forever out of reach.


    To secure her ce among the Harper family and the promise of a brighter future, Sandra knew she had to cut Keira out of her life for good. It was the only way forward.


    Her fingers flew across the phone, sending a barrage of messages, each oneced with her pain. After the texts were sent, she broke down in tears. She felt she was so unlucky.


    Her n to ask Dalton for an autographed photo the next day now seemed trivial, her enthusiasm snuffed out by the weight of her troubles.


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