Chapter 580
Chapter 580:
Elliana’s eyes burned. “She may not have spelled out kindness, but that didn’t give you license to treat me like a caged animal p>
“You never earned anything better!” Darin shouted. “If you’d been softer, more agreeable—if you’d tried to win Kiara over—you wouldn’t have ended up in that shed. But no. You were a bitter, stupid little girl. Ugly. Unlovable. You got what you deserved p>
Before the venom in his words had fully left his tongue, Elliana grabbed the nearest glass and hurled its contents into his face. The cold water hit him like a slap, silencing him mid-rant.
The truth, however, was far more revolting than he dared admit. For fifteen long years, he’d held the power to shield Elliana—to put an end to Kiara and Paige’s cruelty with a single command. He could have given Elliana warmth, stability, even love. But he’d chosen silence, neglect, and vengeance.
He was a man poisoned by jealousy, bitter love, and long-festering spite. He had loathed Elliana’s father without ever meeting him because Rita had given him her heart. He had resented that Rita had never loved him. He had burned with rage that Rita’s formulas had bound him to raising another man’s child.
Therefore, he had let Kiara and Paige mistreat Elliana and strip her of dignity, day after day. It was his pitiful, vindictive way of striking back at Rita, the woman he could never possess.
In the early days, he’d felt the occasional flicker of guilt—but even those embers had long since turned to ash. Eventually, he’d joined in the torment against Elliana himself. And now? He didn’t feel the slightest trace of remorse.
And in that chilling stillness, Elliana saw everything with perfect clarity. She finally understood why her mother had forced her to shrink into the role of a dull, awkward girl—why she had to wear the mask of an ugly fool for so many years.
Rita had known her enemies weren’t gone—they were simply waiting and watching. If Elliana had revealed her true abilities too early, she would have been marked for destruction, just like her mother. So Rita had hidden Elliana in plain sight and let the world underestimate her. Rita had protected Elliana the only way she could: by forcing her to lie low until the time was right.
If Elliana wanted to lure those enemies into the open, she had to shed her disguise and reveal her mind, beauty, and strength. She had to become everything they never saw coming—and everything they feared. But even as resolve steeled inside her, a single question lingered: Could the hand behind the shadows, the one that had intended harm on her mother and now reached for her life, belong to her own biological father?
After Elliana hurled the cup, sending a wave of scalding coffee across Darin’s face, the study fell into stunned, echoing silence. Whatever fragile thread remained between them—some shadow of a father-daughter bond—snapped cleanly in that instant. Not a shred of affection remained.
Elliana had spent years nursing a lie: that Darin was the man who’d given her life. But now that illusion had shattered, and with it, her reason to care. She owed him nothing. He, on the other hand, owed her everything. Every luxury he flaunted, every ounce of power he claimed—it all traced back to her mother. The Joneses had ridden the coattails of the Marsh family for decades, parasites dressed in suits. Darin hadn’t raised her. He hadn’t protected her. She had clawed her way through life alone. Worse still, Darin had stood by while Kiara and Paige painted her as the villain behind the fire at the Jones estate, letting the blame and disgrace rot her name for years.
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Message from Noah: Have a nice afternoon dear ones. God loves you and Noah wishes you all the best. („• ֊ •„)੭