A Life Debt Repaid

Chapter 1231

Every guest was staring at Cordy, convinced that she was going to declare her love for Jay because her affection for him was all too visible.

And given Zoe's personality, she would want nothing less than to announce it to the whole world.

And yet, when she began, she said, "There are two people I want to thank. The first is Clara Gooding, my mother."

Clara was sitting below stage, her body obviously stiffening when Zoe suddenly mentioned her.

She was holding Yelena in her arms after she got off the stage.

"Yes, she's my mother," Zoe said. "But I never called her that, because there was a time I hated her. If not for her, I wouldn't have gone through the worst moment of my life-1 mean, who would've thought that an heiress of the great Levine family would turn out to be just a maid's daughter?"

Her words were calm, but everyone could empathize with her pain and despair of the time.

acknowledge her. I really wanted to disown her..." she continued even as she

her eyes

certainly knew that Zoe held considerable grievances against her, but Zoe was too

Zoe finished. "If I had done that back then. I'd regret it

head—she was the one who had been regretting her actions all this

in the heat of

in this world who has given me all her love in a way that no one else could accept," Zoe said, looking at Clara

first time Zoe called her that, and Clara's tears

used her little hands to dry her tears. "It's alright, Grandma. I'm here, and I

done to deserve

have given birth to such an angel if not for her, and Jay and I would have gone on living our separate lives. I know you've been quietly sacrificing yourself for all our sake, telling me to rest while Yelena was sick while you stayed overnight with

wanted to bridge the gap between us, but in the end, I chose to walk away because it's what you're obliged to do, to atone for the years I was

her tears, offering her silent