She pulled the door open and saw Joanna standing outside.


    Natalie''s brows furrowed slightly.


    Joanna sneered, her smile filled with malice. Now that it was just the two of them, she didn''t need to pretend to be kind and revealed her true colors. "Natalie, surprised to see me?"


    Natalie shook her head. "No. Just disgusted."


    "Natalie, you..." Joanna''sposure, so carefully maintained, shattered with that one sentence.


    "Are you here to see the housekeeper? I''m sorry to disappoint you, but she and her son are at the police station. You can go look for them there."


    Joanna''s eyes zed with fury. "Natalie, why would I be looking for them? What they did has nothing to do with me. The holidays areing up, and I''m here to see Grandma."


    Natalie nced down at the gift in her hand and mocked, "What did you bring this time? Not another slow-acting poison, I hope?"


    Joanna snapped, lunging forward to p Natalie.


    But Natalie was faster.


    She struck first,nding a sharp p across Joanna''s face.


    A sharp crack echoed through the air.


    "Ah!" Joanna cried out in pain, ring at Natalie in disbelief. “Natalie, you dare hit me?"


    Natalie scoffed at the cliché. "I already did, didn''t I? Stop asking stupid questions. Joanna, you''re getting more pathetic by the day."


    "Where''s Sebastian? I want to see Sebastian!" Joanna tried to push her way inside, but Natalie blocked her path.


    Natalie smiled sweetly at her. "Going to tattle to your dear Sebastian? Joanna, you''ve already shown your true colors Do you really think beII still help you? How long are you going to keep deceiving yourself?"


    From Sebastian''s attitude toward Joanna at the hospital to what happened with Sean, it was clear he now knew how vicious she was.


    It was good, in a way. Some things didn''t require her to do anything; Joanna''s own actions would eventually expose her to Sebastian.


    But Joanna just smiled confidently. "Natalie, do you honestly believe it matters what


    I be? Sebastian will always love me, no matter what."


    Natalie didn''t believe it. Sebastian wasn''t an idiot. He had fought tooth and nail for the Griffith family.


    She knew him, at least to some extent.


    "Joanna, I believe you. I believe that no matter what you do, he''ll stand by your side. But I told you before: crocodile tears will never earn you real sympathy.


    Your false sincerity is just like those tears—a trick to confuse people and achieve your own hidden agenda. But lies are eventually exposed, and disguises are always seen through.


    Don''t think a few fake tears can keep you afloat forever. From this moment on, you''ll learn that your crocodile tears are worthless. They will only drag you deeper into contempt and betrayal."


    “Joanna, on the surface, you act so gentle and kind, as if you''ve pinned all your hopes on one man."


    "But you''re not that person. You don''t want to rely on anyone. You just want to use them as stepping stopes to climb higher And have to congratte you That step you tried to take using Wendy''s? You slipped."


    It took her a whole new life to understand that simple truth.


    Sometimes, she would wake up in the middle of the night and curse herself for being so stupid—so stupid that it took a second chance at life to see Joanna for who she really was.


    Joanna flinched, her thoughtsid bare by Natalie''s words. She forced a cold smile. "Natalie, what''s wrong with climbing higher? Luse my own methods to get what I want What wrong with that?"