Gianna kept thinking about calling Adrian, but every time she picked up the phone, she froze and never actually dialed the number.


    Everything that used to baffle her suddenly fell into ce. Wendy''s coldness finally made sense in that moment.


    So, it''s not that Mom only cares about her career after the divorce and doesn''t care about me. It''s that I''m not her biological daughter at all. Then, who am I?


    Gianna ended up calling Pepper after all.


    She just had this feeling that Pepper would know the truth.


    ...


    When Pepper got the call, she rushed to the bar, only to find a row of empty sses in front of Gianna.


    She was slumped over the counter, her hair spilling over her face like a curtain. Pepper''s heart twisted at the sight of her like that. She hurried over and gently lifted her. "Gianna? How did you drink all this? Didn''t I tell you to wait for me?"


    "Aunt Pepper..... am I really not Mom''s daughter?" Gianna clutched Pepper''s arm, her eyes red and raw.


    Pepper nced at the bartender behind the counter before helping Gianna to her feet. "Come with me. Whatever you want to know, I''ll tell you."


    She guided Gianna out of the bar and up to a hotel upstairs.


    Once inside a room, she wrung out a towel and wiped Gianna''s face before sitting down beside her. "Gianna, you really aren''t Wendy''s biological daughter."


    Gianna had already kind of epted it, but hearing it said out loud with that certainty still made her feel absurd and lost. She stared at Pepper. "So... I''m a b*stard?"


    it because Adrian cheated and has an illegitimate daughter that Wendy divorced him? Then, where did her own child go?


    Gianna had always carried herself with pride. She had grown up believing she was the Malones'' golden girl, the one everyone adored and protected.


    Steven, her full-blooded brother, had a future that looked limitless as the head of the Air Traffic Control Committee.


    Adrian and Wendy might have divorced, but each of them still ran publicly listedpanies of their own.


    Gianna was the textbook definition of a wealthy, beautiful heiress. The people she looked down on the most were illegitimate children. She had never imagined that one day, she would be told she was one herself. The thought was unbearable.


    As Pepper watched the confusion and pain wash over Gianna''s expression, her own eyes slowly filled with tears. Her throat,


    tightened Without thinking, she pulled Gianna into a hug. "Gianna, you''re not Adrian''s illegitimate child," she said, her voice trembling. "You''re my daughter."


    After saying it, she forced herself to steady the emotions surging in her chest and looked at Gianna with hopeful eyes. She had wanted to acknowledge Gianna as her child for so long.


    She had been waiting to see the same excitement and joy reflected in Gianna''s expression.


    Instead, Gianna stood frozen, as if it took her a long moment even to process what Pepper had said. Her expression changed instantly. She shoved Pepper away and frowned. "Aunt Pepper, what are you talking about?" she asked. "This is ridiculous."


    She stood up as she spoke, convinced she must have had too much to drink to be hearing something this absurd.


    Seeing Gianna


    retreat like that made


    Pepper''s heart sink. She got up and grabbed Gianna''s arm. "Gianna, I


    really am your mother she sa


    urgently haven''t you said it yourself before? You said I was the only one who ever made you feel a mother''s love and warmth. You even said you wished I were your mom. You..."


    Pepper had heard Gianna say those words more than once.


    That was why she had told her the truth without hesitation. She had believed Gianna would be happy to learn they were mother and daughter.


    Instead, Gianna''s reaction was theplete opposite. "Don''t touch me." She snapped, shaking her head. "How could I possibly be your daughter?"


    She kept shaking her head, utterly unable to ept the reality in front of her.


    I do remember thinking, more than once, that I wished Pepper were my mother. But that was only because I had always believed Wendy was my real mom.


    Even if Wendy is distant and never particrly warm with me, I still would not trade her for a mother who cannot offer me anything beyondfort and emotional safety. Compared to having a mother who controls a business empire, I do not want someone who cannot support me in terms of status or material power.


    Next to a woman like Wendy, who has real name recognition in the international bridal and fashion industries, Pepper simply does not measure up. She relies on the Malones and runs a dozen or so chain clothing stores. The gap between them is


    enormous.


    And there is something even worse. If I am Pepper''s daughter, then what does that make her rtionship with Adrian? That would be incest. I would rather be nothing more than an illegitimate child than live with something like that.


    "You and my dad... How could you even..." Gianna shook her head, lookingpletely pale.


    Seeing the misunderstanding, Pepper rushed to exin. "No, Gianna. Your birth father is someone else. You are not Adrian''s daughter. Back then..." She was about to tell Gianna the truth about what had happened all those years ago. However, the moment Gianna realized she was never Adrian''s daughter at all, that she had nothing to do with the Malones, shepletely fell apart.