Chapter 2

I had just returned to the Smith residence with an excited Michael Smith when Elizabeth sent someone to bring me to her.

After whispering with the messenger assistant, Michael earned the opportunity to drive me to the club entrance.

He stood at the door, shouting at me: "Grace! Dad will be waiting here to take you home!"

I really liked this feeling.

I made up my mind—I won't run anymore. I'll save him.

When I entered the private club, the assistant who came to get me was very excited.

It wasn't until I saw Elizabeth for the first time that I realized—

I really did look like my birth mother, which meant I also resembled Elizabeth when she was young.

In my previous life, when I attended banquets with my honorary title, the head seat was already occupied by Mrs. Lewis, wife of the new chairman Damian Lewis, so this was my first time seeing Elizabeth.

Elizabeth tenderly held my hand, looking me up and down, saying how wonderful this was, how good.

She even asked my name.

I thought for a moment and told her my name was Grace Smith.

Elizabeth got even more excited and pulled out a blank check on the spot, offering me a hundred million dollars.

I was stunned.

So the sisterly bond between them really was as legendary as rumored.

Even blank checks could be casually given to a sister's daughter.

Then why did she suddenly go bankrupt?

Carrying this question, I clutched the check and was escorted out by a crowd of people.

Michael looked satisfied at the long line of people following me and the gift boxes in their hands, then waved his hand grandly.

"Let's go home. Dad will add a bit more to your personal fund."

Our procession was quite the spectacle. On the way back, we passed by the Prosecutor's house and even disturbed Isabella. I heard she secretly fumed for quite a while.

Oh right, Isabella had already changed her name to Isabella Carter.

The moment I got that hundred million, her "socialite" title was stripped from her social circle.

Knowing her as I did, she definitely couldn't eat for three days.

But I was different.

Top-tier Japanese cuisine, French food, and private kitchen dishes were all brought to the table.

Time to dig in.

Michael kept chattering beside me, serving me fish with his chopsticks, worried I wouldn't have enough.

While eating, I chatted with him, casually probing to see if I could find any trace of the bankruptcy and seizure.

After half a day together, calling him "Dad" came very smoothly.

"Dad, all these years, you really haven't had any other women?"

Michael got anxious and quickly raised his hand to swear.

"My devotion to Mary is witnessed by heaven and earth. Ask anyone at the company—don't I light incense for her morning and evening?"

"I believe you, I believe you. Just curious."

He huffed, and before I could even coax him, he'd already soothed himself, even saying he'd make me supervise him thinking of Mary a hundred times a day.

"Dad, I heard you and Mr. Lewis recently had some disagreements?"

"Nonsense! It's not disagreements, just different viewpoints."

"Dad, I heard Gould Corporation wants to acquire shares from you?"

"Ridiculous! My businesses are all in manufacturing. I'd never leave them in capital markets for speculation."

"Dad, I heard that you..."

Michael suddenly slapped the table.

"Grace, stop with all this 'I heard' business. If you want to know something, just ask me directly. I'm definitely more reliable than those financial bloggers out there."

Too direct! I suddenly didn't know what to say!

Could I really just ask outright whether he'd committed tax evasion or bribery?

For such a large corporation to be seized, I could only think of these two major crimes.

In my previous life, Smith Corporation was dealt with secretly. The circle didn't allow discussion of it, and even my nouveau riche fiancé kept his mouth shut.

In the end, the Smith family was left with just Isabella, who went to work as a...

Right, Isabella—she was reborn too.

I needed to find an opportunity to meet with her.