Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom

Chapter 473

After Adah returned to her room, she flopped onto her bed, utterly dejected.

No. She couldn't—she wouldn't let the Tempest family take Claire away from her.

Sure, right now the Tempests were showering Claire with affection, but Adah hadn't forgotten what happened in her previous life. Back then, hadn't they eventually abandoned Claire, tossing her back into an orphanage as if she were nothing?

Claire had already suffered enough in that past life. This time, Adah, her real mother, wouldn't let her daughter go through that heartbreak again.

Yes, that's right.

She had to win Claire back. Claire was still young; if Adah took her time, building a real relationship, surely one day her daughter would understand everything she'd done was out of love.

Since Claire had scored so remarkably well on her exams, it was only a matter of time before the Tempest family threw her a big graduation party.

At that party, with all those people present, Adah would reveal the truth—she was Claire's birth mother. In front of everyone, the Tempests would be forced to hand Claire back, no matter how reluctant they were. Public pressure would leave them no other choice.

With a plan finally taking shape, Adah was able to drift off to sleep.

Days slipped by, and before she knew it, the start of the new school year was just around the corner.

Three days before classes began, the Tempest family hosted an extravagant graduation party for Claire.

This time, it wasn't at The Celestial Aerie, but at the Tempests' own lavish estate.

clustered in small groups, chatting and laughing as

and Mrs. Tempest entered with Claire between them, and at once,

gazes were warm and doting, others curious, a few even

and yet she'd been accepted to the National Defense

the Tempests. Now, after meeting Claire, they were even more eager to

Tempest faced the guests, beaming. "Today, we're here to

didn't get to

chaos erupted at

Do you even have a

stormed into the hall, rage burning in

of security guards rushed after him, trying to drag him out,

Claire, his gaze hungry and

little brat Claire, discarded

to be a prodigy, accepted into college at just five years

course she was his blood, after all. Cleverness ran

was a genius, would have abandoned

A child

at the

have brought unimaginable benefits to

Defense Academy-the combination made Claire worth more than