Chapter 3

Selena's POV

In an instant, an overwhelming wave of public criticism erupted overnight. There were countless people accusing the Gunn family of total neglect, pointing out that despite knowing their birth daughter was out there on her own, they never bothered searching for her and kept living their lives as usual.

Christian burst into my office in a rage and lashed out at me. "Is this your doing, Selena? Did you spread the news?"

He glared at me with pure disgust. "I knew you were just pretending! You were reborn too, weren't you? You claimed you didn't want to return to the Gunn family, but then you turn around and use cheap tricks like this to force us to take you back!"

He closed the distance before I could even utter a word. "How many times do I have to say this for it to sink in? Mom and Dad don't need another daughter, and the family is doing just fine without you. Acting like this is only going to make us detest you more, Selena."

I clenched my fists so tightly my fingernails nearly cut into my palms.

Just as I was about to speak, someone rushed through the door and stepped in front of me.

Professor Leigh spread his arms, shielding me behind him. "Selena is my mentee, Mr. Gunn. I know her well enough to know that she would never pull a stunt like this."

Christian scoffed and sized Professor Leigh up with pure contempt. "You're her mentor, huh? You're probably a piece of work yourself, or you wouldn't have brought up someone as ill-mannered as—"

I slapped Christian hard across the face before he could even finish his sentence. His head snapped to the side, a red handprint quickly appearing on his cheek. He stared at me in disbelief.

"You can say whatever you want about me," I said, my chest heaving, "but leave Professor Leigh out of it."

In that instant, the atmosphere grew tense.

Just then, someone knocked twice on the office door, and my assistant, Daisy Smith, peeked inside. "Ms. Lister, we finished reviewing the surveillance footage you asked us to look into. Someone unfamiliar definitely came into the institute two days ago."

She shot Christian a look and continued, "That person walked in right behind your group."

Christian's expression faltered. He took the visitor log from Daisy and finally realized that the Gunn family's rival was behind the leak of my identity. He looked conflicted for a moment before he finally said, "I'm sorry."

He avoided my gaze. "I'm sorry for misunderstanding you…"

I stated flatly, "Now that the misunderstanding is cleared up, please show yourself out, Mr. Gunn."

Christian looked at me with a complicated expression, as though he had made a difficult decision. "You should just return home with me since everyone is aware of your identity now. You can stay with us as long as you behave yourself."

I looked at Christian, who was acting like he was doing me a huge favor, and found the whole thing absurd. "I don't want to. I want to stay at the research institute."

Christian frowned, clearly not expecting me to refuse. "You're just doing menial work here. What kind of future could you possibly have? Why stay here and make a fool of yourself, Selena?"

I was slightly taken aback. In my previous life, after I resigned and returned to the Gunn family, they had asked me about my work at the research institute. Since the project was confidential, I had kept my response brief and vague. I never expected them to think I had only been doing menial work.

Daisy's voice cut through the silence. "Did you just say Ms. Lister does menial work?"

She was so enraged that her face flushed red. "Ms. Lister is the youngest researcher in the research institute! She graduated from Imperial University and won first place in an international physics competition while she was still an undergraduate.

"Ms. Lister published extensively in top journals during graduate school and won the Young Pioneer of Science and Technology Award last year. Who are you saying is making a fool of themselves?"

Daisy rattled it all off, then glared at Christian.

Christian stared at me in disbelief. "You did all of that? How could that be?"

I didn't bother explaining. I simply returned to my seat, opened the file in front of me, and said, "I need to get back to work, so please leave, Mr. Gunn."

Christian refused to leave and stayed at the research institute instead. He still didn't believe what Daisy had said and insisted on seeing what we were working on.

He finally realized the truth when he saw me working in the laboratory all day, watched everyone address me respectfully as "Professor Lister", and saw other researchers gather around me to discuss technical problems.

He left without saying a word, but the way he looked at me had changed.

The following day, he returned to my office and sat across from me. He was silent for a long time before saying, "I went home and looked into your background with Mom and Dad…"

His voice sounded strained. "We had no idea about all those papers you published, the awards you took home, and the fact that you're a senior research fellow. Mom and Dad were so proud when they found out. They really want you to return to the Gunn family, Selena."

He stopped for a moment before adding, "We've talked about it. We'll transfer ownership of a separate villa to you. Freya will live at home while you live there. That way, there won't be any friction between you two. It's the fairest outcome for everyone."

I looked up at him. "You think that's fair? Why don't you ask Freya to move out instead, then?"