Chapter 71
Renee continued speaking to Dorothea. “As Giselle’s aunt, I’ve always treated her like my own. I raised her with just as much care and love as I gave to Anne. There was never any bias.
“But Giselle I don’t know if she was just bom rebellious She was obedient until she was about eight. Then, during adolescence, she somehow leamed that I wasn’t her biological mother. After that, everything changed. Her personality flipped overnight.
“At that time, I was pregnant with my third child, and she pushed me down the stairs. I lost the baby. I had massive bleeding and nearly died.
“But even then, I reminded myself that she was my sister’s child. She had been young and clueless. Even after such a terrible mistake, I chose to forgive her. But Tony couldn’t accept it. He sent her overseas to study out of anger. We had already planned to send her abroad for the best education available. I just agreed under presure.
“She was only ten at the time, I was worried, so Larranged bodyguards and a nanny for her, even bought her a house overseas so she could settle safely. We kept tabs on her constantly.
“But raising her from afar was different. And with Tony and me constantly busy, she started mixing with kids from other countries and picked up some bad habits. When we realized it, it was too late to correct her. I’m not her biological mother, so I couldn’t discipline her. I could only let her have her way, which made it worse.
Seeing that Dorothea and the others from the Kane family were listening attentively, Renee took it even further. With a sigh full of forced grief, she continued, her toneheavy.
“After she returned to Valanthea and had nothing to do, I personally invested in opening a pet hospital for her. But that still wasn’t enough. She kept demanding more money and treated us with such hostility that I developed thyroid nodules from the stress. Of course, I endured all of it. But the worst was how she constantly targeted Anne.
“Even since they were young, she has always fought Arne for everything. She was aggressive and domineering. And now that Anne is finally getting married to someone as exceptional as Don, Giselle couldn’t stand it.
“We reported the video released at Anne’s engagement to the police. And they found out it was Giselle who did it.”
Dorothea looked visibly surprised, her brow furrowing. She was completely dumbfounded.
Renee sighed again. “We didn’t want to bring shame to the family, so Tony and I decided not to pursue legal action. We withdrew the case so she wouldn’t have a criminal record that might ruin her future.
“The truth is, the woman in that video was Giselle herself. When she was overseas, she was extremely rebellious. We don’t even know what kind of people she mixed with Her private life was a iness
“She made a video like that, and then used some Al face swapping tech to replace her face with Ane’s, just to sabotage us and damage your family’s reputation Honestly, I still feel guilty about it — “*
At this point, Renee’s voice broke. Her eyes reddened as tears welled up. She looked utterly grief–stricken, a perfect performance worthy of an Oscar,
“I had no idea,” Dorothea recalled briefly glimpsing the video at the engagement. She never examined it closely, so she accepted Renee’s version of the story.
Rence dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “It’s a family scandal. I even told Grace not to let the truth get out. I wanted to spare Giselle some dignity. She’s still young and will enter a marriage someday. If word spread, it would ruin her name. That’s why we’ve kept this hidden
“But today, seeing her show up here on her own and cause a scene, I couldn’t hold in anymore. So, Mrs. Kane Senior, I sincerely apologize. Tony and I failed to raise cur daughter properly”
“It’s alright,” Dorothea said with a sigh. “I had a decent impression of her before. At least as a vet, she seemed quite professional. I won’t comment on the rest” After hearing Renee’s carefully crafted story, Dorothea gradually let go of her suspicions about Anne and the video. She now believed Anne was innocent
Tony knew Renee was spinning lies, but he said nothing. The story helped preserve his reputation and the Holt family’s image and eased the Kanes‘ doubts. He saw no reason to stop her
Chame 72
