Chapter 4

My cheeks swelled up from the beating.

Five clear finger marks appeared on my face.

Looking closely at the woman before me, I realized I didn't recognize her at all.

With a cold expression, I covered my injured cheek and warned her.

"I don't know you at all! If you don't apologize and compensate me immediately, I'll have my legal team sue you!"

But the woman wailed dramatically.

"God help me! How did I give birth to such a troublemaker!"

"To deceive people, she won't even acknowledge her own mother!"

"Miss Harper, Mr. Kane, I apologize to you. I failed to raise my daughter properly."

"However you want to punish her this time, go ahead. I won't stop you anymore, to prevent her from continuing to swindle people everywhere!"

The woman's words caused an uproar. Many people gasped.

"This girl is actually a professional con artist?"

"Even her own mother is saying this, it must be true!"

"Thank goodness she showed up in time, or we'd all have been fooled!"

Scarlett gritted her back teeth and asked me.

"Is it fun to play me for a fool?"

"Someone, lock her up with Shadow. I want her to have a really good time!"

Seeing the triumphant expressions flash in both the woman's and Marcus's eyes, I immediately called out loudly.

"I'm not lying! This woman isn't my mother! I'm not called Sophia Clark either."

"My name is Madison Smith. She doesn't even know my name, so how could she be my mom?"

Only then did Scarlett notice that the graduation certificate and degree in my hands indeed had the name Madison Smith written on them.

Seeing the wavering in her eyes, Marcus quickly stepped forward to cover.

"How could a mother possibly mistake her own daughter?"

"She is Sophia Clark!"

"To deceive you, she could even forge credentials."

"It's just a name. Who knows if she made it up randomly because she's swindled so many people and is afraid of being held accountable!"

I immediately demanded that Scarlett send someone to the police department's identity records to verify.

My name was Madison Smith, and the parents listed in my records were definitely not this woman in front of me!

Scarlett called the records department skeptically and soon received confirmation.

I was indeed called Madison Smith, and the woman before me was not my mother.

But facing Scarlett's sharp gaze, the woman insisted she was my biological mother.

"Sweetie, I divorced your abusive, cheating father when you were three years old, all for your sake, and raised you into adulthood by myself."

"You can't just stop acknowledging your mother because that bastard said he'd buy you a car and house if you took his surname!"

"He's lying to you! Only I truly love you!"

The woman spoke with tears streaming down her face and even pulled out a paternity test proving she was indeed my biological mother.

Only then did I remember that when I was young, my father did tell me that the woman living with us wasn't my biological mother.

My birth mother was a gambling addict who tried to bet me at the card table when she got desperate.

My father couldn't stand her being so despicable, so he divorced her immediately, moved overnight, and cut ties completely.

Our family hadn't kept a single photo of her all these years, no wonder I didn't recognize her.

But no one believed my explanation.

Even Nathaniel, who had been silent all along, stood up and said.

"Miss Smith, I want to believe you too."

"But your mother has been working at the Harper house for twenty years. I trust her character."

"I absolutely won't allow a woman who tries to destroy my daughter's marriage and lies constantly to continue living in this world."

With a wave of his hand, Nathaniel signaled the bodyguards to stuff me into the dog cage.

My gaze fell on Scarlett nearby, who had breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly thinking of something, I quickly grabbed Nathaniel's pant leg.

"Mr. Harper, I know who the woman having an affair with your son-in-law is! It's her!"