Chapter 1

“You just said you were only teaching her a lesson?”

I stared into Enzo’s eyes, my voice cold enough to freeze.

Enzo frowned.

He stepped forward, still looking completely justified.

“Mom, Serena has been too well protected by you since she was a child. After joining the family corporation, she should experience some setbacks.”

“We were only watching from the side. We never intended to let anything truly happen to her.”

I looked at my daughter, still curled up in the corner.

Her whole body was trembling, both hands desperately clutching the torn front of her shirt.

Bloodied scratches stood out starkly against her pale arms.

Even when I had fought my way through the underworld with a knife at my throat, I had never allowed my own daughter to suffer such humiliation.

“You never intended to let anything happen?”

I laughed in fury and slowly walked toward Enzo.

“Does that mean it only counts as something happening after they’ve stripped her completely naked?”

Enzo’s expression changed slightly.

Matteo immediately stepped in front of him.

He adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, his tone still composed.

“Mom, please don’t lose your temper.”

“Isabella merely spilled coffee on our sister’s business proposal by accident, and Serena humiliated her in front of everyone. That was completely undignified.”

“As her brothers, we only wanted her to understand that in this corporation, she needs to know her limits before she speaks.”

Behind Matteo, Isabella stood there with reddened eyes.

She gently tugged at his sleeve.

“Please don’t blame the brothers. I’m just clumsy.”

“I can’t afford to compensate Miss Serena for a proposal worth tens of millions. It’s only natural that she would be angry.”

“If making her angry is my fault, I can kneel and beg her forgiveness.”

She lowered her head, her voice so soft it sounded as though she were about to cry.

The second brother, Lucas, immediately patted her shoulder and protectively pulled her behind him.

“Isabella, you don’t owe anyone an apology.”

Lucas turned toward me, his eyes carrying a hint of reproach.

“Mom, you heard her yourself.”

“She never once intended to target Serena.”

“If anything, Serena was the one relying on her status as the family’s eldest daughter to force Isabella into humiliation in front of the entire company. Is this really the daughter you raised?”

The fourth, Luca, had been leaning against the wall and smoking a cigar.

Now, he slowly exhaled a ring of smoke.

With a sharp snap, he tossed the half-smoked cigar onto the floor and gave a mocking laugh.

“Mom, you really can’t blame us this time.”

“Our sister has gotten used to throwing her weight around in the corporation just because she’s the heir. If we don’t teach her a lesson today, once she enters the business world, there will be plenty of ruthless men ready to teach her one for you.”

A lesson?

I stared at those familiar faces before me, almost convinced I had heard them wrong.

Four adopted sons.

Ten years of pouring my heart and soul into them.

I had used the family’s finest connections and brought in the best instructors to teach them negotiation, strategy, and ruthless decision-making.

I had brought them out of the slums.

I gave them identities and wealth, and turned them into the four sharpest blades in the family’s arsenal.

And now…

They were using the very skills I had taught them to join forces with an outsider and humiliate my biological daughter.

I walked past Matteo and went straight to Serena.

My daughter bit down hard on her bloodless lower lip, tears falling heavily from her eyes.

“Mom…”

Her voice was already hoarse.

She clenched the torn edge of her clothes, as if desperately trying to hold on to the last shred of her dignity.

I took off my designer coat and wrapped it completely around her.

“It’s all right now.”

I touched her icy cheek and pulled her into my arms.

Matteo watched the scene, his brows drawing tighter and tighter.

“Mom, protecting her like this will only make her more spoiled.”

He walked over and reached out to grab Serena.

“Serena, go apologize to Isabella.”

“We can pretend this never happened.”

Slap!

I swung my hand across his face.

The sharp sound exploded through the empty basement.

Matteo’s face snapped to the side from the force of the blow.

His gold-rimmed glasses fell to the floor, the lenses cracking instantly.

Lucas and Enzo’s expressions changed at the same time.

“Mom!”

Lucas stepped in front of Isabella.

“You actually hit Big Brother over something this trivial?”

Matteo raised a hand to stop him.

He slowly turned his face back.

Five distinct finger marks stood out against his cold, handsome cheek.

Yet he still maintained the same arrogant composure of a man accustomed to holding power.

“Mom, if taking that slap is enough to make you feel better, I’ll accept it.”

“But Serena still has to apologize to Isabella.”

“As long as she refuses to learn how to respect others, the four of us will never acknowledge her as our sister.”

Isabella hid behind Lucas, her eyes turning red.

“Brother Lucas… I’m scared.”

Alessandro let out a mocking laugh and pulled another cigar from inside his coat.

“Mom, you’ve really disappointed me today.”

“I thought you were someone who could tell right from wrong. I never expected you to be just like those ordinary parents who spoil their children and blindly take their side.”

I coldly swept my gaze over the four familiar faces before me.

Ten years.

Had I simply fed them too well?

Had I allowed them to forget who had given them everything they possessed today?

“Your disappointment means absolutely nothing to me.”

I helped Serena to her feet.

“Since you believe she has been throwing her family status around and acting tyrannically in the corporation…”

“Then starting today, the four of you won’t be allowed to touch a single cent of the corporation’s money.”

Enzo immediately sneered.

He folded his arms, his eyes filled with disdain.

“Mom, are you threatening us with that again?”

“We control several of the corporation’s most important business divisions. Without us, do you really think the corporation can keep operating normally?”

Matteo bent down and picked up his shattered glasses.

He took out a handkerchief and calmly wiped the dust from the cracked lenses.

“Mom, we’ve followed you for ten years.”

“You know exactly how many problems we’ve solved for the family.”

“Are you really going to take things this far over a spoiled Serena?”

I protected my daughter as we headed toward the exit.

When I passed Isabella, I stopped.

She instinctively stepped farther behind Lucas.

I looked at that pitiful face and found the whole thing deeply ironic.

“Since you all love teaching people the rules so much…”

I turned to Matteo.

My voice was as calm as if I were simply arranging an ordinary meeting.

“Tomorrow morning at nine.”

“Come to the corporation’s headquarters and hand over every business division, account, and project currently under your control.”

“I’d like to see what rules you’ll be teaching others once you no longer have the family behind you.”

With that, I no longer bothered looking at their ugly expressions.

I took Serena’s hand and walked straight out of the basement.

Soon, Alessandro’s contemptuous voice echoed from the corridor behind me.

“Big Brother, forget about her.”

“She’s only trying to scare us.”

“She won’t last three days before she comes begging us to come back herself.”