Gianna's voice was soft yet resolute, causing both people in the room to freeze in shock.

Vince’s body shuddered slightly, and his gaze toward her was filled with malicious mockery.

"That act you put on last time was pretty convincing. I almost believed you. Are you trying to use the same trick today?"

Michelle shot him a glare and then, feeling sorry for Gianna, stepped forward to embrace her gently. "Gia, it's my fault. I forced you to marry Vince all those years ago and couldn't get rid of that woman from the Chandler family..."

She shot another angry glance at Vince. "I’m giving you one day. End all ties with that woman, or don’t come back to this house!"

As though he had seen through their actions, Vince straightened his back, his eyes full of disappointment as he looked at Gianna. "The only people who know Roxan’s family background and her parents' contact details, apart from her and me, are you. Gianna, can you guarantee you didn’t orchestrate this mess?"

Gianna let out a light laugh.

Back in college, Roxan had framed her countless times, and Vince never believed her. Even if she swore in her life, she was always treated like a clown in his eyes.

Trust, once broken, was thinner than paper.

She had stopped defending herself after that, but today, she refused to stay silent. "Since all three of us could have done it, why is it that you’re certain it’s me? You have no evidence. What are you basing these accusations on?"

Vince narrowed his eyes, trying to detect even the slightest trace of guilt in her, but he found none.

"You’re talking nonsense. It can’t be Rox. She..."

Michelle, unable to listen any longer, interrupted his words. "Enough! It’s obvious that you’re so captivated by that woman from the Chandler family that you’re doubting Gia. Have you forgotten Evelyn's kindness to you?"

Mentioning "kindness" made Vince react like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. His eyes darkened, and his voice turned as cold as ice. "Yes, I owe Aunt Evelyn a debt. But who exactly I owe it to, and what it was for, you know best."

Michelle, struggling to control her emotions, released Gianna and stepped forward to slap him across the face with all her strength. "Enough! You have no right to speak of her!"

The slap hit Vince’s left cheek with a loud crack, causing it to swell immediately. But he didn’t utter a word. He just stood up and walked out of the room.

Michelle, furious and distressed, sat down and took a long time to recover.

She grasped Gianna’s hand, apologizing for her son’s behavior and explaining why Vince had always been antagonistic toward them since college.

It turned out that Evelyn had once been Antonio’s first love.

They had been in love during college, but due to family reasons, they had separated. Years later, Evelyn and Michelle had both given birth at the same hospital. Due to a nurse’s mistake, their babies had been swapped, and the mix-up lasted for three years.

It was only because little Gianna fell ill and the blood types didn’t match that they discovered the error.

After the children were swapped back, Evelyn couldn’t bear to part with Vince. After her husband passed away, she decided to settle with Gianna in New York, and she and Antonio put their past behind them. Since then, Evelyn and Michelle had grown closer.

For a time, both families lived harmoniously.

But during the summer of their senior year in high school, Vince accidentally found out about his father’s past with Evelyn. He believed she was just a mistress his father had brought back, and he began to target Evelyn. As a result, his relationship with Gianna also grew distant.

Then came the assassination attempt where Evelyn saved Vince’s life, but he turned the baseless hatred onto Gianna. He believed she had used her mother’s death to manipulate him, ruining his freedom and marriage. This misunderstanding eventually led to the consequences they were facing today.

"I've talked to Vince about this more than once, but every time he hears about it, he starts avoiding the topic. He even suspects that you might be complaining to me and intentionally targeting you. After several attempts, I was afraid that it would backfire, so I stopped talking about it, thinking that one day he would come to his senses..."

At this point, Michelle sighed and looked at Gianna. "Gia, have you really made up your mind about divorcing Vince?"

Gianna nodded.

She poured out all the grievances she had endured over the years, both big and small. When she finished speaking, she felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her body.

Just as she had let go of her love for Vince.

When she stopped caring, there was no more burden.

Upon hearing about her miscarriage, Michelle’s expression softened with deep sorrow. She couldn’t help but pull Gianna into a tight hug, gently caressing her pale cheek. "I'm so sorry, my dear. It’s because of us that you’ve suffered so much."

Gianna lowered her gaze. Her mother had told her about the child swap incident, but never about her past with Antonio.

She had never understood why Vince suddenly started to despise her, or why he constantly hurt her for Roxan’s sake.

Now that she understood the cause and effect, she realized: everything was fated, and very little was within one’s control.

She believed in fate; some things were destined to happen, and there was no escaping them.

Vince might probably regret his actions, but she had no energy to wait for him to grow up and repent.

Now, all she felt for Vince was a deep physical aversion.

Before leaving the old house, Gianna placed the pocket watch into Michelle’s hand and sincerely thanked her. "Thank you, Auntie."

Michelle gripped her hand tightly but couldn’t bring herself to ask her to stay.

When Gianna returned home, Vince was, as expected, not there.

That was fine.

She had no energy to argue with him.

In the following days, Gianna continued packing her belongings, removing all traces of her life in this house.

Occasionally, she would catch the latest news on the TV, which still reported on the situation with TerraLink Group.

Vince was a man of means. Within just a few days, he managed to silence the board members. Roxan’s parents had apparently been paid off and, before surrendering themselves to the authorities, they made a public statement clarifying that they had no relationship with Roxan. They claimed that their previous actions were motivated by someone else’s money, which they used to tarnish TerraLink Group’s reputation.

As for who that person was, they didn’t say, and the police didn’t release any details. It was left to the public to speculate.

TerraLink Group’s PR team worked overtime, attempting to salvage the company’s image by spreading posts about business conspiracies and engaging in online battles. They bought traffic and hired trolls to manipulate the opinions of the uninformed masses.

They worked tirelessly to clear the dirt off both TerraLink Group and Roxan.

It seemed Vince had spent quite a lot of money for Roxan.

But none of this concerned Gianna.

After handling some personal affairs, she went to the industry and commerce bureau to cancel her sole proprietorship business of a children’s painting store.

Just as she was leaving the bureau, she was called by the vet hospital.

"Hello, Miss Cole, is it convenient for you to come by now? Ginger's condition is not looking good."

Gianna’s heart skipped a beat, and the panic of potentially losing something once again surged through her.

Without a second thought, she rushed to the pet hospital.

When she arrived, out of breath, Ginger, her orange tabby cat, was lying on the examination table, hooked up to an IV. Its breathing was weak, and it appeared to be in a semi-conscious state.

Ginger seemed to sense Gianna’s presence and made a feeble attempt to lift its head to look at her. Even this small action was too much for it to handle.

Gianna walked up slowly and gently pressed on its paw, trying to hold back the tears in her throat. "Don’t be afraid, Ginger. I’m here. I’ll stay with you."

Outside the emergency room, the doctor looked serious and said, "Ginger is 18 years old, which is about 90 in human years. For an orange tabby, that’s quite old. Unfortunately, its organs are failing, and it could go at any time. Miss Cole, you need to prepare yourself."

Gianna crossed her arms tightly, her nails digging deeply into her flesh, but it still couldn’t diminish the ache in her heart.

Ginger, the stray cat, was something she and Vince had found together when they were in elementary school. From the weak, timid kitten it once was, they had raised it into a healthy, lively, and affectionate cat, putting in so much effort along the way.

But because Michelle was afraid of cats, they had to secretly keep it in the southwest corner of the garden.

Ginger was an affectionate and clingy orange tabby. Vince had asked Gianna to give it a nice name. She thought long and hard, but nothing she suggested seemed to satisfy him. Finally, he clasped his hands together, decisively declaring, “Let’s call it Ginger. It’s part of both of us.”

Hearing his childish but domineering tone, Gianna's heart skipped a beat for the first time.

Later, they got married.

But Vince, due to Roxan’s allergy to cat fur, wanted to send Ginger away despite the cat being sixteen years old.

Wasn’t that the same as abandoning it?

Gianna couldn’t accept this, so she immediately insisted on moving out with Ginger.

Vince didn’t say much, and just left.

But before he left, that cold, indifferent look in his eyes chilled her heart.

That night, Gianna hugged Ginger, holding back her tears as she comforted it. “Ginger, don’t worry. He doesn’t want you, but I do. I won’t abandon you.”

Ginger nuzzled her cheek, meowing softly twice.

Perhaps sensing the disdain from its owner, that night it relapsed, unable to eat and struggling to breathe, tears around its eyes.

Gianna panicked. She rushed it to the pet hospital for treatment.

Ginger’s condition was much worse than she had imagined. It had been sick since it was twelve, having undergone two surgeries, and had barely stabilized for the past six months.

This time, the doctor said it would need long-term hospitalization to manage its condition—a form of treatment that only delayed its life.

The doctor even suggested giving up, but Gianna couldn’t bring herself to. To her, Ginger was not just a pet, but a family.

Over the past two years, she had regularly visited the hospital to check on Ginger. On the good days, she would take it out for walks, watching the sunset together as they drifted off to sleep.

But after the miscarriage and the procedures, she hadn’t been able to visit for a long time. She hadn’t expected that Ginger might leave her now...

After the conversation, Gianna thought for a few minutes, then decided to take Vince off her blacklist and send him a message.

She only hoped he would come to see Ginger one last time, as a way of closing the chapter on their past.

She waited for a long time, but he didn’t respond.

Just as she was about to give up, the message came through.

[Gianna, the average lifespan of an orange cat is around fifteen years, and Ginger has lived its full life. It also has many underlying health issues. Even if it stays alive, it’s only going to suffer. You should just let it go. People are like this, and so are cats. Isn’t it exhausting, clinging on like this?]

It was Roxan’s tone.

The final line carried a double meaning.

She was reminding Gianna to take the hint and leave Vince, that clinging to him would lead to nothing.