Serena ignored her. Instead, she lifted her gaze and shot a faint, sidelong glance at Douglas. Slouching with his hands casually stuffed in his pockets, Douglas arched an eyebrow, an amused smirk tugging at his lips.
"Is my niece calling for backup again?" He strolled lazily until he stood between Anna and Isabella. Raising a brow, he looked at his parents. "Mom, Dad, let me correct the record."
He pointed a finger at his own chest. "The supposed mafia boss they're crying about? That would be me."
Holden and Kiera froze. What did that mean? Their son? A mafia boss? Wasn't their son running legitimate businesses? When did he become an underworld kingpin? They stared blankly at Douglas.
Douglas offered a carefree, unapologetic smile. "As for those scandalous photos they took... actually, that was my order."
The moment the words left his mouth, Isabella and Anna sobbed even louder.
Isabella clenched her hands tightly, humiliating tears rolling down her cheeks. She felt sure Serena had done this on purpose! Serena had brought Nicholas here just to watch her become a laughingstock, to make sure he knew she had taken those degrading photos. Her life was completely ruined!
Serena had summoned Douglas here just to mock her and trample her last shred of dignity into the dirt!
Anna, boiling with shame and fury, attempted one last desperate struggle. Lifting her tear-stained, ruined face, she wailed at Holden, "Grandpa, did you hear that?! Douglas admitted it! He did this to us on purpose just for Serena! He actually helped an outsider abuse his own niece!"
"Grandpa, Grandma, Isabella and I are the victims here! We're two helpless girls! Because of Douglas and Serena, we were forced to take those horrifying pictures! You have to seek justice for us!"
Holden frowned at his youngest son. "Douglas, what exactly is going on? Why would you do something like this? What's your reason?"
He refused to believe his son would ruthlessly target two young girls without cause. Especially since one was his niece, and the other his step-niece. Even if his son really was an underground boss and tended to be a bit reckless; he wasn't completely devoid of reason.
"My reason?" Douglas let out a low chuckle, leisurely pulling out his phone and tapping a video file. "Because your precious
granddaughters basically dug their own graves."
He effortlessly cast the security footage onto the smart TV in the suite, his tone dripping with sarcasm Mom Dad, take a good look for yourselves: These are the fine, upstanding granddaughters you raised."
The crystal-clear security footage began playing for everyone in the room. "Serena, since everyone claims you're so amazing, why don't we raise the stakes?" "The loser either chops off their own hand or runs three laps around the track naked!" That was Anna's voice ringing from the speakers.
Immediately after, Augus appeared on screen, pointing at Serena. He demanded she get on her knees before Anna, and even ordered her to lick Anna's car clean.
Isabella was shown pretending to play the peacemaker, but every sly word out of her mouth subtly pressured Serena to bow down to Anna.
Then came Anna's arrogant shriek: "If you don't have the guts to bet, then get on your knees!"
The security feed perfectly captured every second of Anna's vicious, power-tripping bullying, and Isabella's hypocritical, toxic instigation from the sidelines.
Their true colors were sickening and pathetic. The footage was a stark contrast to the innocent, weeping victims currently collapsed on the floor.