Queena was the first to return. Her face was a mask of fury, and she immediately shut herself in her room.


    Later, Jeffrey and Teresa came back.


    Teresa had fainted from anger. After a few hours of observation at the hospital, she was cleared to go, so Jeffrey brought her home.


    When Teresa arrived, she found Yvonne and Joseph watching TV on the living room sofa. Joseph, usually a little tyrant who feared nothing, was as meek as a mouse in front of Yvonne.


    "Mom, you''re back!" Joseph jumped off the sofa upon seeing Teresa and Jeffrey and ran happily toward them.


    He was the only one in the house, a little kid who knew nothing, who could still manage a smile.


    "Yes." Teresa reached out and ruffled her younger son''s hair, her eyes still red. With one arm around Joseph, she looked up at Yvonne.


    Yvonne met her gaze, her expression as calm as if she were looking at a stranger.


    "Yvonne," Teresa''s voice was choked with emotion, unable to say more. Her eyes were filled with guilt.


    Her daughter... snatched away at birth by that witch Megan and that heartless man, George. She had suffered her whole life, and when she was finally returned, she was covered in bruises.


    And yet, Teresa had treated George and Megan''s bastard child like a precious treasure for over a decade. Even after her real daughter came home, she had still favored Queena.


    Thinking about her actions over the years, Teresa felt a pain like a knife to the heart. She wanted to p herself.


    "Yvonne, Mom is so sorry..."


    But before Teresa could finish, Yvonne stood up from the sofa. "I''m d you''re okay. I''m tired, I''m going to my room to rest."


    With that, Yvonne ignored Teresa and headed straight upstairs.


    Ate apology was meaningless. The original Yvonne might have been moved, but this Yvonne was not her.


    As Yvonne walked up the wooden staircase, she ran into Queenaing down from thending.


    Queena was struggling with arge, heavy suitcase, looking rather pathetic.


    "Yvonne, you must be feeling pretty smug right now, aren''t you!" Queena''s face was twisted in a sneer.


    Yvonne looked up at her, a hint of mockery ying on her lips.


    "Leaving, finally? We couldn''t get rid of you before, but now that your illegitimate status is out, you''ve finally lost the nerve to stick around: Queena, your mother called me a bastard my whole life, but it turns out, you''re the real bastard


    "I am not a bastard! My father and mother were truly in love. I''m the fruit of their love. Your mother is the whore who threw herself at my dad, foreing him and my mother apart! You..."


    Before Queena could finish, Teresa rushed up and pped her hard across the face.


    The p echoed with a sharp crack. Teresa had hit her with all her might.


    Queena was stunned, her cheek


    stinging and her ears ringing. It took her a moment to recover She clutched her face with one hand and pointed at Teresa with the other.


    "How dare you hit me!"


    "I''ll hit you all I want! A bastard who''s been mooching off my family for years! Where


    do you get the audacity!" Teresa yelled furiously.