Joanna couldn''t believe that Natalie, the woman she had always looked down on, could be so aplished.


    The array of diplomas was dazzling.


    She had always called Natalie useless, but now, faced with these achievements, her cheeks burned with humiliation.


    Natalie watched Joanna''s crumbling disbelief and contorted expression. She was on the verge of a breakdown. Natalie smiled and said, "Joanna, you pride yourself on your noble birth and prestigious education. Surely you can read a diploma, can''t you? Or is it just that hard to admit someone else is brilliant?"


    In the game of power, Joanna saw everyone as her pawn, never realizing she was a pawn herself.


    The sound of Natalie''s cool voice snapped Joanna back to reality. She met Natalie''s clear, bright eyes, which were sharp and discerning, and she instinctively took a few steps back.


    She refused to ept this version of Natalie.


    This was the woman she had kept stuck in the mud, a mere piece in her power games.


    But this pawn had just be a queen.


    Joanna saw the confident, dazzling glint in Natalie''s eyes and asked in disbelief, "Natalie, if you have such an impressive academic record, why didn''t you tell us? What are you trying to achieve by hiding all this?"


    Natalie chuckled, her voice calm and steady. If it hadn''t been for Sebastian''s sudden move, she would have never revealed her hand.


    "I''m not trying to achieve anything, and I had no reason to hide it. The world has no shortage of geniuses, Joanna. I just happen to be the one you were foolish enough to underestimate."


    "It''s you who are shortsighted, only able to see what''s on the surface. And now you''re ming me for hiding it?"


    Joanna was speechless.


    Tears streamed down her face. The person she despised most, Natalie, was actually this brilliant.


    She couldn''t ept it. Every time she had called Natalie useless, the memory now stung her face in light of these aplishments.


    Before Natalie returned, she had


    been trapped in her own head, obsessing over the words


    ''illegitimate daughter,'' a shackle tied


    to her bloodline that she could never escape.


    She had desperately tried to run from those three words, but in the end, the truth


    that she was an illegitimate daughter had been exposed.


    The daughter of Nathan''s affair.


    "Luna, let''s move on to thepany''s new projects. Shall we have these two irrelevant individuals escorted out?"


    Luna looked at the security guards nearby and ordered, "Throw them both out of the building. And don''t let them set foot in here again."


    "Natalie, how dare you! Who do you think you''re throwing out?" Timothy''s furious voice boomed from the doorway.


    When Maxwell Griffith saw his father, a flicker of joy crossed his face. This was great. His father was here and he held shares. With the support of the shareholders he was allied with, they could block Natalie. There was no way she would be the new president of thepany today.


    Natalie looked at thete-arriving Timothy and let out a cold, defiantugh. "Throw him out too."


    Timothy, Maxwell, and Joanna were all stunned.


    Timothy stormed over, his face red with anger. "Natalie, thispany''s name is Griffith. You don''t get to do whatever you want. I''m a


    Shareholder here too y oly


    "With that handful of shares you own? What say do you really have?"


    Natalie smirked at him.


    Meeting her smiling eyes, Timothy was filled with rage. "Natalie, I really underestimated you. You actually schemed to take my family''s fortune."


    "Your family''s? Can''t you and your son handle a loss? If you can''t afford to lose, why did you sign the agreement?"


    "All the agreements are legally binding. If you don''t understand thew, I can have mywyers exin it to you."


    "You..." Timothy sputtered.


    Natalie said, "Please leave. I have to discuss future developments with the shareholders."