Chapter 172 The Truth on Record
The hall buzzed with harsh whispers, every one of them aimed squarely at Anneliese.
Sonya nearly burst out laughing, rolling her eyes at Anneliese with open mockery and provocation.
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Selina stood quietly at Melanie’s side, head lowered in an air of calm elegance that only made Anneliese seem more isolated, irrational, and abandoned.
Zacharias, watching Anneliese stand alone, felt a pang of pity. His eyes softened, and with a sudden motion, he pulled her into his arms, his gaze sweeping the hall like a blade. “Enough!”
The hall fell silent in an instant, guests turning their eyes away.
Zacharias lowered his head toward her. “Anne, you don’t have any proof. Don’t speak rashly anymore. Let me take you out of here.”
He meant well. By now, her words had been doubted and dismissed; even if she revealed the truth, it would only make her look like a liar, pitiful and laughable.
But Anneliese hadn’t been prepared for his sudden embrace. That once–familiar masculine scent wrapping around her felt utterly foreign now. Disgust twisted inside her. She pulled back two steps, forcing distance between them, her lips curling in a cold smile. “Why should I leave when I’ve done nothing wrong?”
Her eyes flicked over Zacharias‘ handsome but hypocritical face, then fixed on Melanie’s sorrowful expression. As her biological mother, Melanie’s pained look alone was enough to condemn her. And Melanie knew it–yet she still chose to cast dirt on her own daughter, just to preserve the spotless image of the adopted one.
Anneliese had long since given up hope for family love, yet the chill spreading through her was undeniable. She gave a short, bitter laugh. “You’re really my mother? You really love me? What kind of mother rushes to condemn her own daughter?”
Melanie couldn’t meet her sharp gaze. Her heart twisted painfully, but seeing Selina trembling at her side, ready to collapse, she steeled herself. Selina was proud, too proud to endure slander. And that night’s chaos had been stirred entirely by Anneliese–she deserved to be taught a lesson.
“Anne, I-”
But before Melanie could continue, Anneliese’s lips curved into a cutting smile. She raised her voice. “I have a recording here. Why don’t we all listen together?”
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Chapter 172 The Truth on Record
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Before the Whites could react, she swiftly pressed play on her phone. The hall went still as a taunting, careless male voice echoed through the speakers.
“Of course. Back then, Selina hired people to rough her up. Anneliese took two knives and nearly lost her womb. Everyone in Oceaton knows she can’t have children now.”
“Anneliese!” Christopher’s eyes nearly split with rage. He recognized his own words from that day in Zacharias‘ office. With a roar, he lunged forward to snatch the phone.
But Anneliese had been ready. She dodged aside, the recording still playing.
“If it weren’t for you taking care of her–proposing on your knees, taking her abroad to calm her down- how would we have had time to clean up Selina’s mess? If she had gone to prison because of it, her life would’ve been over, and you—”
Zacharias‘ handsome face drained of color. He rushed in from the other side, seizing Anneliese’s phone and forcing the recording off. His hands trembled as he killed the sound just before his own voice emerged.
Christopher snatched the phone from him and deleted the file at once. But when he looked up, Anneliese was smiling at him with mocking amusement, her eyes saying clearly: Fool.
And indeed, if he hadn’t jumped up in panic, many people might not have recognized his voice. But his desperate scrambling only made it obvious–like a confession without words.
The silence broke into a wave of stifled, fevered whispers.
“That was Christopher’s voice, wasn’t it? With a reaction like that, it must’ve been true. God!”
“So, Anneliese’s accident was Selina’s doing all along? Just like something out of a drama!”
“Looking at the Whites‘ guilty faces, it’s highly likely true. Didn’t expect to feast on such juicy gossip tonight.”
“The fake daughter hired thugs against the real one, and the Whites still protected her without a shred of guilt for their own blood. What a disgrace.”
“How shameless can Selina be, hiring someone to maim her sister? I never thought she was that kind of person.”
The whispers swelled until every once–hostile eye that had been fixed on Anneliese turned instead to Selina.
Amid the clamor, Anneliese caught a voice she almost recognized–Jessica’s, twice disguised in tone. It was all she could do not to laugh outright.
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Chapter 172 The Truth on Record
Selina, meanwhile, felt her heart seize in her chest. Her face went deathly pale.
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