"Too bad. From the looks of it, Mom and Dad didn't seem to care much for you, did they?"

Seraphina’s grip on the documents tightened. She looked at her coldly:

"So what? No matter what happens, nothing changes the fact that you are an illegitimate child."

Watching Sienna’s face instantly turn ashen, Seraphina felt a surge of satisfaction. She moved to walk past her.

Unexpectedly, Sienna lunged forward and snatched the folder from her hand.

"What did you take? Did you steal from the Vance family—"

Sienna’s words cut off abruptly as her eyes landed on the contents of the contract. The next second, she looked up in disbelief, nearly screaming.

"What kind of tricks did you use to get Dad to give you half the estate?"

"None of your business!"

Seraphina reached out with a cold face to grab it back, but Sienna suddenly seized her by the hair.

Immediately following that, a sharp slap landed on her face.

"You bitch! These things belong to me! What right do you have to take them? Give them back!"

Sienna’s shrill voice echoed through the living room.

The blow left Seraphina’s ears ringing and half her face numb.

A surge of fury erupted within her. She grabbed Sienna’s wrist, swung her arm with force, and slammed her hard onto the floor.

She then pinned Sienna down, gripping her throat, her eyes swirling with rage:

"Sienna, do you think that because I was fooled by you for three years, I’ve become a soft target for you to push around?"

With that, she held Sienna firmly against the floor and began to strike back—left and right—returning the slap she had just received ten times, a hundred times over.

She deliberately avoided the conspicuous parts of Sienna’s face, landing the blows mostly behind her ears and on her neck. It was satisfying, and it wouldn't make it easy for Sienna to play the victim in front of others.

Sienna was beaten until she saw stars, her lip split and bleeding.

"You dare treat me like this? I’ll kill you!"

She clawed and thrashed, trying to counterattack, but in terms of build and strength, she was no match for Seraphina. She could only be pinned to the ground, powerless to resist.

Just then, a sudden force came from behind. Seraphina was thrown to the ground, the back of her head hitting the steps with a heavy thud. A sharp pain bloomed, and her vision went dark in waves.

As she struggled to get up, she heard Xavier’s voice, filled with frantic concern:

"Sienna, are you alright?"

Chapter 4

Sienna threw herself into Xavier’s arms, tears streaming down her face:

"Xavier, I just saw my sister come back and wanted to check on her... I had no idea she would suddenly attack..."

She tilted her head slightly, intentionally exposing the red swelling behind her ear to Xavier’s view. A teardrop hung from her lashes, making her look fragile and heart-wrenching.

Seraphina sat up, clutching the back of her head. Warm blood seeped through her fingers into her hair.

She looked up, meeting Xavier’s gaze, which was as sharp as an icy blade.

There wasn't a hint of concern in his eyes—only a fierce protectiveness for Sienna and a deep disgust for her.

"Seraphina Vance, wasn't it enough that you used your status as the Vance heiress to bully Sienna in the past? What kind of madness is this now?"

His voice was laced with frost. "With a temperament so arrogant and vengeful, it’s no wonder everyone has turned their backs on you. No one could ever truly care for you!"

Seraphina’s face went deathly pale.

The blood in her body seemed to freeze at that moment.

The scars she had exposed to him in the vulnerability of the night, the grievances and loneliness she had endured within the Vance family—now, they had all become the knives he used to stab her.

The throbbing pain at the back of her head pulsed in waves. She forced a cold laugh:

"The one who starts it is the one who's pathetic."

"Since you know I’m vengeful, you’d better keep a leash on your fiancée and tell her not to provoke me."

"Otherwise, next time, it won't be as simple as a few slaps."

"I didn't..." Sienna shook her head in Xavier’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably. "Xavier, I really was just worried about my sister..."

Xavier’s eyes darkened, his gaze toward Seraphina turning even colder.

He suddenly reached out and grabbed the wrist of Seraphina, who was trying to leave:

"You think you can just leave after hitting her?"

Seraphina winced in pain, struggling with all her might, but he only gripped her tighter.

"What do you want?"

"I remember," Xavier’s voice was low and grim, "the Vance family has its own set of disciplinary rules."

Seraphina’s pupils shrank, a strong sense of unease rising in her heart: "What do you mean?"

"Sienna, bring the family whip."

Xavier didn't give her time to react. With a wave of his hand, two bodyguards in black suits entered from outside, pinning her down onto her knees on the floor!

Seraphina struggled desperately, her eyes red as she glared at him: "Xavier Sterling! You wouldn't dare!"

"Since you lack discipline, I’ll teach you some manners on behalf of Arthur!"

A moment later, Sienna walked out carrying a riding crop, the triumph in her eyes impossible to hide.

Seraphina’s body tensed, her voice raspy: "I am the legitimate daughter of the Vance family! You have no right to use private punishment on me!"

"Your parents will only thank me for disciplining their rebellious daughter."

Xavier let out a cold laugh and handed the crop to a bodyguard. "However many times she hit Sienna, give it back to her tenfold."

The bodyguard raised the whip—

"If you dare touch me today," Seraphina suddenly looked up, her words sharp and clear, "tomorrow’s headlines in all of North Shore will be 'Vance Heiress Framed, Illegitimate Daughter Colludes with Outsider to Forge DNA Test'!"

She stared into Xavier’s instantly darkened face and continued:

"My parents might not care about me, but they care about their reputation more than anything. If you use the Vance family whip on me, you’re slapping them in the face—do you think they’ll tolerate that?"

"Wait!"

Xavier snapped his hand up to stop the bodyguard, his eyes as sharp as knives. "What do you have in your hand?"

In the next second, a clear recording played from Seraphina’s pocket—

"...Xavier, you got Dr. Lee to forge the DNA test and swapped Seraphina’s sample with one from the orphanage just so I could take her place officially, didn't you?"

"Letting her stay with you for three years without a title... even if she finds out the truth, she won't be able to recover..."

In the recording, the voices of Xavier and Sienna intertwined, their schemes becoming clear step by step.

Xavier’s face turned ashen. He grabbed Seraphina by the jaw: "When did you record this?!"

"You’ve gone to such lengths to wash Sienna clean," Seraphina met his gaze without backing down, "surely you don't want her to carry the stigma of being an 'illegitimate child' for the rest of her life?"

"I have over a dozen backups of this recording. If anything happens to me, they will be sent automatically to every media outlet’s inbox."

Sienna turned ghostly pale, her fingers clutching Xavier’s sleeve as panic filled her eyes.

Her greatest fear was that her identity would forever remain in the shadows.

Xavier grit his teeth, the struggle visible in his eyes, before he finally forced the command through his teeth:

"...Let her go."

The bodyguards released her immediately.

Seraphina climbed up from the floor, rubbing her swollen wrist. Looking at the two of them, unable to vent their rage, the suffocating frustration in her chest finally eased a little.

She took two steps forward, hard-shouldering the two who were clinging together, and walked away without looking back.

Her back was straight, as if she had never been hurt.

Leaving the Vance mansion, Seraphina went straight to the hospital.

The wound on the back of her head was deep. The cleaning process was so painful it left her drenched in cold sweat, but she bit her lip and didn't make a sound.

In her heart, however, she marked down another blood debt against those two.

After being bandaged, she walked out of the consultation room and ran right into a familiar figure.

Xavier was standing at the end of the hallway. His gaze fell upon the thick gauze wrapped around her head, and he blurted out:

"...Is it serious?"

Chapter 5

Seraphina’s movements stiffened. She pressed her hand against the gauze on her head and stepped aside to avoid his reaching hand, her eyes flashing with undisguised loathing.

"Isn't this all thanks to you? Xavier, what’s with this act of being the 'good guy' now?"

In the past, even if she had just scraped her skin, she would have clung to him, acting spoiled and seeking comfort.