A False Heiress's Guide to Love and Power

“Mom! Please, open the door!”

No matter how desperately Ileana pleaded, Karen stood her ground. She neither stepped forward nor retreated, her daughter’s cries drifting past her as if carried away by the wind.

Ileana’s lips trembled, and tears slipped down her cheeks.

“Mom, I miss you so much…”

Her voice wavered, just like when she was a little girl, trying to win Karen over with childish sweetness.

“Mom, my birth parents didn’t want me–I get it, really. They never raised me, so of course they don’t care. But you… you’re the one who brought me up. Are you going to turn your back on me too?”

Karen pressed her lips together. “You’re the one who left us. Why come back now?”

Panic flickered across Ileana’s face, but she tried to hide it. “I didn’t leave! I didn’t!”

nose, a nervous

me off from everyone. I… I didn’t have a choice,

Karen’s voice was flat, her disappointment long since worn into numbness. Still, she needed to ask, needed to hear it

to deserve this? After everything they’d given her, why would she break their hearts like this? And now, instead of facing her own mistakes, she was trying to drag Alessia down with

they done so wrong to raise a daughter so utterly ungrateful–a daughter who would turn on

felt neither sadness nor anger. She’d been through too much for that now. She only spoke because

in the dark, still clinging to her

1/2

00:55

Chapter 308

back, I came here to see you,” she said, forcing a smile as

Mom, just let me in. I’m so tired from standing out here. Look at me–my clothes, my hair… Can we just go inside and

gaze was empty, her eyes stripped of emotion. She shook her head slowly,

home. I don’t want strangers