Seeing them, Beatrice and Gill immediately stiffened, their earlier arrogance completely gone.

Lana glanced toward them briefly before speaking in a calm, decisive tone.

"I am not your daughter," she said. "And you already know that."

Her gaze sharpened.

"If you push me any further, I will expose everything."

With that, she turned around and walked back toward the mansion without another glance.

Behind her, Beatrice and Gill clenched their fists tightly, their faces dark with frustration.

When they had come here, they had been full of expectations.

They had imagined walking away with at least a hundred million dollars.

But now... not only had Lana seen through them, they could not even dare to ask for forty thousand.

Taking a deep breath, they helped their stunned son to his feet.

Harold still looked dazed.

Back in their cramped apartment,the moment they entered, Harold threw himself onto the couch, frustration written all over his face.

"I told you she’s a tough one!" he snapped. "We’re not getting anything from her. What are we supposed to do now?"

Gill’s expression turned grim as he leaned against the wall.

"This is the worst situation," he muttered. "Brenda won’t listen to us. Lana knows we’re not her real parents. And we still haven’t found our actual daughter."

Beatrice fell silent for a moment, her brows knitting together as she thought deeply.

Then her eyes narrowed slightly.

"The strange part is..." she said slowly, "no matter how I think about it, something doesn’t add up."

She looked up, her voice lowering.

"I was the one who switched my daughter with Brenda... so how is it that Lana isn’t my real daughter either?"

Harold frowned, then pouted slightly.

"If we didn’t know better," he said, "I’d think my real sister was switched with Lana and is now living with Lana’s rich family and is controlling everything from behind the scenes."

His words made both Gill and Beatrice look at him sharply.

"What?" Harold asked defensively. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Gill straightened, his expression turning serious.

"That... might actually be possible," he said slowly.

He turned to Beatrice.

"Who told you to come here in the first place?"

Beatrice hesitated before answering, "Mr. and Mrs. Almond."

Gill let out a short, humorless laugh.

"That’s exactly the strange part," he said. "Logically speaking, why would they help us? After all, we abused the girl they raised for eighteen years."

Beatrice nodded slowly, unease creeping into her expression.

Harold scratched his head in frustration.

"Then what do we do now?" he asked. "We can’t blackmail the Almond. We can’t get anything from Brenda. Lana isn’t even related to us. And our real sister is nowhere to be found."

Silence filled the room again.

Then... Beatrice’s eyes lit up with a cold glint.

"Let’s focus on Lana," she said.

Gill frowned. "What do you mean?"

"She’s still the easiest target," Beatrice continued calmly. "She doesn’t seem to have a powerful family backing her. If we play our cards right, we can still get something out of her."

Gill immediately shook his head, his expression serious.

"Did you not see the security at that mansion?" he countered. "And she already warned us."

He paused, his voice lowering.

"Are you sure... she’s really someone we can afford to target?"

Beatrice slowly shook her head, her lips curling into a faint, calculating smile.

"We aren’t the only one who is going to offend her," she said, her voice low and thoughtful. "The Almond will too. They will back us."

Gill narrowed his eyes, suspicion rising in his gaze.

"How is that even possible?" he asked, his tone sharp. "Why would they help people like us?"

Beatrice let out a quiet breath.

"The Almond family is definitely acting under someone else’s command," she replied slowly. "If that’s the case... then they’re not the real players. They’re just pawns."

Her eyes darkened as an old memory surfaced.

Even though she now lived as a low-level civilian in a rundown suburban area, she had once been something entirely different.

’Once... I stood at the top,’ she thought bitterly.

She had been an illegitimate child of a wealthy family, raised in shadows yet sharp enough to scheme her way upward. For a time, she had almost reached the pinnacle.

But greed had consumed her.

She had harmed the real heiress.

And because she had revealed her ambitions too early... she had been cast out.

Destroyed. Her fingers clenched slightly.

’This time... I won’t make the same mistake.’

Meanwhile, Lana had thought she had already dealt with the Perry family.

She had assumed they would not dare to show their faces again.

But the very next day....

At the university entrance, she saw them again and not alone. Standing with them was Ashton.

The moment Lana spotted him, her expression shifted, her eyes narrowing slightly.

’So it turned out exactly how I expected,’ she thought, a trace of annoyance flashing through her mind.

Taking a slow breath, she stepped forward, hoping, just for a fleeting moment, that she was wrong.

But the instant she approached... Ashton stepped forward and blocked her path.

Lana stopped, her gaze turning cold as she looked at him with clear boredom.

"Move," she said flatly. "Good dogs don’t block their master’s path."

The insult landed heavily.

Ashton’s face flushed with anger, but he forced himself to hold back.

Taking a breath, he spoke.

"I understand you’re being rebellious and unfilial," he said, trying to sound patient, "but you shouldn’t ignore your own parents like this."

Before he could continue, Lana’s voice cut through the air sharply.

"They are not my parents," she said loudly.

Her voice carried across the entrance, drawing attention as nearby students slowed down, curiosity flickering in their eyes.

"They are not biologically related to me," she continued, her tone unwavering. "So why should I acknowledge them at all?"

A murmur spread through the crowd.

Ashton coughed lightly, trying to regain control of the situation.