No Strings Attached

After she finished speaking, she immediately embraced Heidi, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her voice choked, "Heidi, how did you end up like this? It's all my fault. I've dragged you down with me." Heidi still refused to acknowledge Leonora as her mother. She pushed her away. "Get away, you're not my mother!"

"Heidi, whether you acknowledge it or not, I'm your mother. Don't worry, from now on, I'll take care of you. I won't let you suffer."

A few days later, lan received a call from the prison, saying Leonora wanted to speak with him.

His gaze darkened slightly. It seemed his tactic was effective. Heidi was indeed Leonora's Achilles' heel.

Leonora had always refused to tell the truth, but now she was finally ready to speak up for her daughter's sake.

lan and Anders drove to the prison together. The moment Leonora saw him, tears burst forth from her eyes. "Ian, I'll tell you everything you want to know. Please arrange a separate cell for me and Heidi. I'll take care of her. She's unable to take care of herself and has incontinence issues. Every time it happens, those women beat her. I can't stand to watch it anymore. Please, save her. After all, she's your sister." Hearing that last sentence, lan's expression turned grim. "You knew she was related to me by blood, but you still wanted us to marry. What exactly are you planning!"Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

Leonora shook her head. "I didn't want to. It was that person who insisted on it. He said if you married Heidi, he could help me secure a position within the Hayes family and also keep the Campbell and York families at bay. He's a devil and does not care if you two are siblings as long as it serves his purpose."

"Who is he, exactly?"

Leonora shook her head again. "Every time I saw him, he was in a wheelchair, wearing a black cloak. His hat covered half of his face, making it impossible to see clearly. But I know his aim is to take down the entire Hayes family, to have you dead."

Hearing this, lan clenched his fists tightly. He asked coldly, "Between you and Katherine, who is the real Leonora?"

Leonora wiped away her tears and

said, "She is the one who dated Teo.

I was just a bartender at a club, chosen by chance. They locked me in a room, and every day, they showed me videos of Katherine from different times, asking me to mimic her mannerisms, handwriting, and designs. Later, they even

performed plastic surgery on me to make me look like Katherine."

"They had me try to interact with Teo, and after several meetings, Teo didn't suspect a thing. So, a month after they got married, they switched me with Katherine.

"They locked Katherine up, tortured

her, made her lose her memory, and then, by chance, she escaped. Teo rescued her, thinking she was me, and even had a

ip with her.

"That's how Brodie came to be. I was worried Katherine would regain her memory, so I had someone set her on fire."

Leonora admitted to all her crimes. She confessed to her harm against Katherine, her pursuit of Katherine and her, son, and admitted she was merely a stand-in. It seemed as though all the questions had been answered, yet lan felt no

satisfaction.

Her confession was too flawless, making him uneasy. He couldn't pinpoint the issue but always felt the truth was far more complex.

The police gathered evidence based on Leonora's information. Everything she said was proven true.

However, someone leaked the story. The post was titled: [Hayes Corporation's CEO's mother was a stand-in.] It quickly spread across the internet.

lan was also branded as an illegitimate child. Shareholders of the Hayes Corporation collectively protested, demanding lan step down as CEO.

It was at this moment lan realized why he felt something was off with Leonora's confession.

The truth was right here.