Zoey watched the 'victim' in slight confusion.
It wasn't until she saw two familiar faces pop into her room that she realized this was nothing but a set-up.
However, she was also impressed.
Kate was putting on such a show, even shedding real tears. Had she not been the one being painted as the villain here, she might've fallen for the waterworks herself.
But seriously, someone this talented couldn't pass the audition this morning? What a waste of talent.
While she thought this, Gina rushed forward to hold Kate, hugging her tightly to herself, while Henry's eyes scanned the room, his face dark and angry.
"I… Mom, I brought the juice like you asked me to. When I saw Sister playing on her PC, I tried to give it to her, telling her you said we should drink it before studying." Kate began, amidst sobs. .
"She got angry and said I was controlling. That I was nothing but a fake. That even if I studied for the rest of my life, I would never measure up to her—the original."
"I was hurt, so I asked her to apologize. But she pushed me. And in doing so, I fell and spilled the juice on her."
"I pleaded with her not to hit me. I even offered to pick out the shards with my hands, but she still hit me."
"I'm so sorry I made your biological daughter so resentful. Bahah! I deserve every bit of what she did to me. I really do."
She was crying so hard she started hiccuping.
Gina's heart ached. She had been so focused on this biological daughter she hadn't seen since the few minutes after she was born that she'd neglected the one she personally raised.
She'd coddled Zoey so much, she felt it was only right for her to bully her sister just because she didn't birth her.
She raised her eyes, shifting her gaze to Zoey who stood watching them without an ounce of remorse and snapped angrily.
"Your sister has done nothing but be nice to you since you arrived, yet you still bully her. It seems I've been too lenient with you. If you don't apologize to her this minute, I'll send you back to the countryside!"
Zoey didn't know when she smiled. "You will?"
Henry was infuriated, thinking she was daring them on purpose.
Trembling with rage, he pointed at her nose. "You… you have no conscience! I should've known better when your mother said to bring you back from the countryside!"
Zoey turned to him, the urge to retort rudely eating away at her.
What? As if bringing her back from the countryside—where she was living like an empress—to live in a dump like this was something to brag about?
She had only come because her mother felt guilty for keeping her all these years. And he had only come for her because he didn't want his precious daughter to marry a cripple.
What was there to be proud of?
The words hovered on the tip of her tongue before she swallowed them down and lowered her eyes to Kate, who was now whimpering.
Inhaling sharply, she stated stoically, "I didn't do anything to her."
"Kate has never told a single lie in her life. Do you think I'd believe you, who left school to meet a man you saved as 'Wealthy Mister' in your contacts?" Henry sneered.
Zoey's lips twitched and she raised her eyes to meet his.
"I don't lie."
Gina couldn't take it any longer and scoffed irritably.
"That's enough lying, Zoey. No matter what bad habits you've picked up, you're still my daughter, and I don't want you to keep making a fool of yourself."
"We've all seen how nice Kate has been to you ever since you returned. You're the only one who's been giving her the cold shoulder."
"And just like your father said, she's never told a single lie in her life. Why would she suddenly lie now against a sister she's been trying so hard to win over?"
Kate sniffled at this moment and rubbed Gina's arm affectionately, "Don't be so hard on Sister. She only reacted the way any normal person whose life had been stolen by another would."
Gina's heart ached even more and she glowered at Zoey, "Despite everything you've done, she still defends you. How could you lie against a pure soul like her?"
"Hmph! I don't care what Kate says. You will apologize to her, right here and now!" Henry butted in with finality.
Zoey tilted her head, waiting for the joyous end to that sentence.
If they sent her back to the countryside under the pretext that she lied and bullied Kate, her mother would definitely know she'd been lied against and pull her out immediately.
So she lowered her eyes, impatiently tapping her foot against the floor, hoping to aggravate Henry into adding it.
However, her refusal pissed him off so much, he suddenly strutted toward her, raised his hand, and brought it down on her face.
Smack!