Chapter 736

No.1

She had cradled Victoria, had fed her, had soothed her nightmares. Isabella was the charity case, the child from the trash.

This couldn't be real.

Richard stood frozen beside her, his mouth agape, unable to form a single word. The truth was a physical blow.

“This can’t be true! Victoria would never write this! There must be some error… Look into it immediately!”

“But… I’ve already verified the handwriting. It’s unmistakably Victoria’s. The document even carries her fingerprints,” the attorney explained helplessly.

What more evidence could they possibly need?

Adrian entered at that precise moment. “There’s no need for further investigation. Isabella is your biological daughter. Years ago, Victoria’s birth mother and Eleanor gave birth in the same hospital. Her mother was dying after delivering Victoria. To secure a better future for her child, that woman secretly switched the babies. She took the true heiress, Isabella, and abandoned her in a trash bin. That’s how Victoria became the Montgomery heiress. This is why your heart ached when you found the baby in the bin. This is why you always treated that foundling better than Victoria.”

Eleanor felt as if struck by lightning. Her pupils dilated in shock.

It was true—her heart had wrenched at the sight of little Isabella in that bin. She had always favored the child she rescued over Victoria. But was that really enough to believe Isabella was her actual daughter?

It sounded absurd.

No.2

Everyone in the hospital room was stunned into silence.

Isabella—Eleanor’s real daughter? Victoria was just a swapped imposter? It was too dramatic to believe. It felt like a plot from a soap opera.

Adrian handed over a DNA report. “The day after you exiled Isabella five years ago, she asked me to collect strands of your hair for a DNA test outside Westchester. She tried calling everyone to come home, but all her calls were blocked.

“This new DNA test was conducted yesterday using Isabella and Benjamin’s blood. She always intended to show you, but never got the chance.”

Eleanor, Richard, Theodore, and the others crowded around to read the report. The results were clear: Isabella was undeniably the true Montgomery heiress. She and Benjamin shared the same mother.

The first test might have been done at a hospital outside Westchester, but Grace Memorial was owned by the Blackwood corporation. No matter how powerful Isabella was, she could never have bribed Blackwood staff…

“So… Isabella is actually my cousin?” Sophia murmured, still dazed.

“It does make sense, though,” Gregory added. “Victoria ran off with the money because she knew she wasn’t a real Montgomery. She wanted to destroy the entire family.”

Adrian laughed mockingly. “Oh, it’s much worse than that. Victoria discovered the truth when she was eight. First, she manipulated Benjamin and Isabella, rendering them useless. She planned to seize every share of the family fortune. Five years ago, during Isabella’s engagement party, she overheard Victoria conspiring with Alexander. That’s why they pushed her down the stairs! Victoria has been a demon lurking in the shadows since she was eight, plotting against all of you. And you treated her like royalty! How utterly hilarious.”

His scornful words echoed through the room.

No.3

Eleanor’s body jolted violently. Overwhelmed, her blood pressure spiked. She collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Richard quickly lifted her onto an empty bed. The room descended into chaos again.

Theodore trembled, urgently gesturing to Adrian. “Hurry, find Isabella… Bring her back…!”

“It’s too late, Father,” Richard muttered, his voice thick with regret. Each word felt like a punch to his gut.

Richard Montgomery’s expression darkened at his son’s words. “Why?”

“I… We believed Isabella was responsible for the destruction at the Kensington Estate yesterday. So we invoked your authority to revoke her shares and formally disowned her. We even gathered men to storm the Rosewood Manor and insulted her publicly. She… She may refuse to assist us now…” Richard hung his head, the shame of facing Isabella overwhelming him.

The elder Montgomery’s face flushed with rage. “You fools! How could you be so reckless? Did I not explicitly say we wait for Benjamin to regain consciousness? How dare you defy me—cough, cough!”

His coughing intensified with each furious word.

Adrian Sinclair rushed to his side. “Please, sir, remain calm. Let them rectify their errors—don’t sacrifice your health over their foolishness.”

“My health is irrelevant… Isabella is what matters. My true granddaughter all along! Richard, you will go to her and apologize immediately! I don’t care how you do it, but you will bring her back into this family. If you fail, I will disown you as my son!” Senior Montgomery’s voice trembled with fury.

No.4

Richard nodded grimly. “I understand, Father. Once Eleanor is conscious, we will go together. Please, try to calm yourself.”

He needed to steady his own emotions. The daughter he cherished for twenty-three years was not his biological child, while the one he rejected and mistreated was his actual flesh and blood.

The daughter he adored had been secretly scheming against the family all along.

The revelation felt like the ground had shattered beneath him.

Eleanor Kensington drifted in a troubled sleep, trapped in a lengthy nightmare. She dreamt of rescuing Isabella from a dumpster and raising her with affection until she turned eight, when the girl became defiant and unruly. Isabella repeatedly humiliated the Montgomery name. Eleanor’s scornful words echoed in the dream: “Get out of this family! I regret ever taking in a stray like you!” “Why are you so ungrateful? You’re just an adopted child! Nothing more!”

Young Isabella stared back with tear-filled eyes. “If you hate me so much, then cast me out!”

She turned and fled, sprinting toward a jagged cliff edge—a gaping chasm with no bottom.

Eleanor tried to chase her, but Isabella leaped into the void, her small form disappearing into the abyss.

“No!”

Eleanor jolted awake, her face wet with tears. Richard gripped her shoulders. “What’s wrong, Eleanor?”

No.5

“I… I dreamed of Isabella. She was running away…” Her voice shook with terror.

Her mind foggy, she clutched Richard’s arm. “Tell me it was just a dream. The lawyer hasn’t come, right? Victoria is still our real daughter, isn’t she?”

Richard frowned and sighed heavily after a long pause. He said nothing.

The hospital room grew thick with tension.

Eleanor’s grip on his arm slackened, her hand falling away.

His silence confirmed the truth. It was no nightmare. Victoria was not her biological daughter. Her real daughter was Isabella…

Isabella was the same daughter Eleanor had scolded and beaten as a child. She had despised this 'adopted daughter' so much she even removed her from the family registry. She had even brought men to attack her private manor! A tidal wave of guilt and regret crashed over her. She clutched Richard's arm desperately. "Oh, Richard, what do we do now? How can we possibly face Isabella? Will she ever forgive us? I'm too ashamed to even look at her!"

"I'm utterly ashamed as well," Richard sighed heavily.

At least Eleanor had been kind to Isabella when she first brought her home. Everyone else had fought against the decision, assuming Eleanor and Richard were just scheming for a larger share of the family fortune. It had caused a massive scandal back then. Because of that, Richard had never liked Isabella from the start. He had never shown her a single ounce of kindness.

Just then, Penelope approached Richard. "Brother, Father said no matter how ashamed you both feel, you must go and find Isabella."

No.6

"Look at the mess we're in," Gregory added, stepping out from behind Penelope. "We're fifty billion in debt. Bankruptcy is imminent, and there's no way we can find that kind of money. Only Isabella can save us now."

Eleanor was furious hearing this. "What right do you have to say that? When I first brought Isabella home, all of you thought I was just angling for a bigger share of the family assets! You all wanted her gone! For twenty-three years, have any of you ever stopped treating her with hostility? Have you ever stopped condemning her and hurling insults? Now that we're in trouble, you want her to use her own money to bail us out? Have you no shame?"

"Isn't Isabella the true heiress of this family? Saving the family is her duty!" Sophia declared, walking over.

It was true, Sophia did not like Isabella. But Isabella was the only one who could save them now. That was the only reason Sophia was joining in to persuade them to bring Isabella back. At least to save the family first.

Richard scoffed, "That's not what any of you said when she secured her share of the family trust. You're all well aware of how we treated her all these years! We looked down on her during our prosperous days, and now that we're drowning, we expect her to rescue us? I'm too ashamed to even ask! If you feel no shame, then you go find her yourselves!" His voice was firm and laced with fury. Since Theodore was on their side, Sophia and her parents shrank back under Richard's words.

Richard and Eleanor didn't care what the others thought. The moment they discovered Isabella was their biological daughter, their only desire was to see her, to apologize, to beg for her forgiveness. To ask her to come home and save the family's crumbling empire? They were far too ashamed for that.

Sophia pouted, slumping into a chair angrily. "Fine then! Let's all just live in this hospital forever! Let's survive on hospital meal boxes for the rest of our lives! This is our fate now!"

"The Montgomery family is so unlucky," Gregory muttered under his breath. "What's so difficult about keeping track of your own children? One daughter gets swapped and the real one isn't even willing to take responsibility…"

Richard exploded with rage. He slammed his palms on the table and shot to his feet. "Say that again! Who isn't willing to take responsibility?!"

"What I'm saying… what I mean is…" Gregory hastily hid behind Penelope, peeking out from behind her, "Whether she was the real daughter or the adopted one, they were both your daughters! Especially that Victoria. You raised her! Of course you have to take full responsibility for this mess!"

No.7

"That's not what you said when you were accepting gifts from Victoria worth tens of thousands of dollars!" Eleanor retorted angrily.

The scene was devolving into another family brawl.

Suddenly…

"Enough!"