Chapter 54

Chapter 54:

At his words, the woman beside him, twirling a lollipop in her mouth, landed a punch on his shoulder. “Watch your mouth! How dare you call her a little puppet!”

The man with glasses rubbed his shoulder. “Ever since Janice returned to the Edwards family, she’s been striving for their approval. And when that adopted daughter hurled false accusations and her parents berated her, she bore it in silence. It tore me apart to see her suffer.”

A shadow of anger crossed the woman’s features.

Meanwhile, the driver’s hands clenched the steering wheel tighter, his veins standing out as he simmered with barely contained fury.

“It’s all behind us now,” Janice declared with a dismissive wave of her hand, prompting a hushed silence from the other three.

They were keenly aware of the trials she had faced over the last year. Despite their shared grief, they knew that any real change had to come from Janice herself.

Her expression softened into a gentle smile as she made eye contact with each of them. “Prescott, Leah, Costello, I’m back.” Those words struck a chord, and the three of them found their eyes brimming with heartfelt tears.

“Janice, the Edwards family truly doesn’t realize what they’re missing. They have no idea just how gifted and remarkable their daughter truly is,” Prescott Collins remarked, removing his glasses and wiping his eyes. “If they only knew you owned JE Consortium, and that giants like Routique Fashion and Freak Design, celebrated around the globe, fell under your leadership, they’d deeply regret their blindness.”

“Absolutely,” Leah Sugden chimed in with a disdainful snort, twirling her lollipop. “Janice is a powerhouse in medicine, design, hacking, and countless other areas. Yet, they discarded her like she was nothing. They’re pathetic idiots, too blind to see what’s right in front of them.”

Janice merely shook her head, a sad smile touching her lips. She was aware that revealing her true stature might lure the Edwards family back.

But what she had yearned for was genuine familial love. On her return to the Edwards family, she had dimmed her brilliance, adopting the guise of an ordinary girl, hoping they would love her.

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Sadly, she had given them too much credit.

“While you might be laying it on a bit thick, there’s no denying the Edwards are truly pathetic idiots,” said Janice.

“Janice!” Costello Barker called out. “Should I step in and make them wish they hadn’t crossed you?”

“Don’t even think about it, Costello!” Janice exclaimed, her hand slicing through the air for emphasis. “If you take action, the whole of Efrery might be turned upside down. In a way, I owe the Edwards family my thanks. They’ve stripped away the last shreds of hope I clung to for my family. From this moment, I’m living for myself.”

A heavy silence settled over the car.

Her friends all knew how deeply Janice had once longed for familial warmth—a longing that had initially drawn the trio together, spurring them on to their current successes. But now, with Janice’s hopes dashed, it was evident that the Edwards family had inflicted deep wounds on her heart.

“Prescott, look into Aiden Green’s car accident three years ago. I want to expose the conspiracy behind it,” Janice suddenly said.

“Huh?” Prescott, bewildered, raked a hand through his unkempt hair. “Janice, why are you digging into Aiden’s past?”

With a smile, Janice turned to face him. “Because Aiden is my husband now. If anyone thinks they can mess with my husband, I have to set them straight, right?”

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