CHAPTER 170: CHAPTER 170 INOCCENT

Meanwhile, Jessica sat silently in the living room, her sharp eyes fixed on the light pouring through the tall windows. A glass of untouched juice sat on the table in front of her, slowly sweating in the heat, but she didn’t move to drink it.

Her expression wasn’t good.

Her thoughts were darker than usual—frustrated, bitter.

Stella had come home from the Moretti building that day, shoulders slumped and confidence shattered. Jessica didn’t need to ask what had happened. She had raised that girl. She could read the defeat on her daughter’s face like it was written in bold letters.

And it made her furious.

Things weren’t going according to plan anymore.

Everything had started falling apart the moment that girl—that Bella—entered their lives like a silent parasite.

Jessica clenched her jaw, her perfectly manicured nails tapping against the glass table.

Stella was too innocent for this kind of plotting and maneuvering. Her heart was too soft. That was the problem. That’s why Tom had taken advantage of her. That man was smooth, charming, and cunning—he had used her daughter!

And now?

Now Stella, her beautiful, elegant daughter, was supposed to be living in luxury as the official Mrs. Moretti.

Instead, she was crying in her room over a man who barely looked at her.

Because of Isabella.

Jessica’s eyes darkened.

That girl had wormed her way into the marriage that was never meant for her. A nobody from nowhere. Abused and raised in filth. Uneducated. Malnourished. And now, she walked around wearing designer clothes, being called Moretti, eating gourmet meals, and smiling under chandeliers she never deserved to stand beneath.

All because she happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Jessica’s fists tightened.

Leonardo didn’t even know Bella’s true face.

She would make sure he did know. She would expose her. And her daughter would reclaim what was rightfully hers.

Because no matter how nice Bella pretended to be, Jessica knew the truth. That girl was just like her father and that woman—a mistake.

Jessica’s lips curled in disgust.

Bella may have her blood, but she wasn’t her child. Not really. She had never felt anything for her—not warmth, not guilt, not motherly affection. Because Bella was not born of her womb.

She was a surrogate child.

Born in secret. Conceived when Jessica and Jude White—her former husband were desperate to have a child but couldn’t. They had used a surrogate, hiding it from the world, and when the child was born, Jessica had looked at her and felt nothing.

No connection.

No joy.

Just... bitterness.

And when she divorced Jude, she left the child too. It was convenient. It was clean. After all, Bella wasn’t really hers. Not in the way that mattered.

Stella was.

Stella, born later, through natural pregnancy. She was the real daughter. The one worth fighting for.

And Jessica swore to herself—if it was the last thing she did, she would make sure Bella paid for taking what was never hers.

Even if she had to burn everything down to make it happen.

After Jessica stood up, she picked up her sleek black handbag and walked to the door, her heels clicking crisply against the marble floor. A luxury car was already waiting for her outside—dark and luxurious, just like she liked it. The driver opened the door for her without a word, and she slid inside, adjusting her silk scarf with practiced elegance.

As the car glided through the familiar streets, Jessica’s expression began to change.

The clean skyline gave way to narrower alleys and poorer homes. She looked out through the tinted window, her eyes narrowing with disgust as they passed a row of worn-down buildings with peeling paint and rusted gates. Her nose wrinkled in distaste as she took in the neighborhood that reeked of poverty and everything she had always run from.

Finally, the car slowed to a stop.

In front of her stood that house.

That miserable little house where Bella had spent most of her childhood..

Jessica’s lips curled.

How fitting, she thought coldly. For a girl born out of pity, raised in rot.

She stepped out of the car, her heels pressing into the cracked pavement. For a moment, she stood still, staring at the house—small and suffocating. Then she walked forward with quiet determination.Her expensive perfume clashed with the damp air as she stepped onto the porch and pushed open the broken gate.

Her eyes gleamed with cruel purpose. She had come to retrieve a weapon.

Jessica knew Bella’s weaknesses. That soft, trembling look in her eyes whenever the word Uncle was mentioned. That barely concealed panic. That was fear. That was trauma. And in Jessica’s book, that was leverage.

If she gets in the way again... if she tries to hold onto Leonardo any tighter... Jessica thought darkly, I’ll just remind her of where she came from. I’ll crush her from the inside.

Her red heels clicked inside the house, but something was wrong.

It was empty.

Completely empty.

Jessica frowned as her cold eyes swept the bare walls and dusty furniture. No sounds. No movement. Just stale silence.

She walked back out and spotted an old neighbor sweeping the narrow sidewalk across the street. With a forced polite smile, Jessica approached and asked, "The man who lived here—Viktor. Where is he now?"

The woman looked up and squinted. "Oh, him? Gone."

"Gone where?" Jessica asked, her voice sharp.

"Debtors took him," the old woman said with a shrug. "Big trouble. Said he owed too much. Dragged him out and took him somewhere."

Jessica’s jaw clenched.

Her well-manicured hand gripped her handbag tightly.

Of course. That disgusting man couldn’t even stay around long enough to be useful. Just like Jude. Just like every other failure in that cursed family.

Her plans were already slipping, and now this.

Jessica turned back toward her car, her heels striking the ground louder this time. Her mind was spinning with fury. Bella had taken everything—her daughter’s future, the Moretti name, and now even the one tool she had left to threaten her with.

Damn that girl.

Damn that entire wretched bloodline.

She would need a new plan.

And this time, it would be ruthless.