"You raised Isabella, you love her, I can understand that."
"But does loving her give you the right to hurt my biological daughter?"
"Does loving her give you the right to commit crimes?"
With every word Catherine spoke, Agnes's face grew paler.
Her lips quivered uncontrollably, but she was entirely unable to argue back.
Catherine turned to Isabella, her words sharp and deliberate. "Sign it, or... I call the cops."
"We have full evidence of everything you two have done. Neither of you is getting away with this."
"Either sign it, or both of you go to jail, and we sever the adoption legally from there."
Those icy words sent violent shivers down Isabella's spine.
She stared at the agreement, then looked up, her throat feeling incredibly tight. "Mom... do you really have to push me this far?"
Catherine didn't reply; she only glanced up at Edward. "Call the cops."
Isabella knew it then.
There was no room for negotiation left.
The Lancaster family was dead set on cutting ties with her.
Sign it, and the ties are severed now.
Don't sign it, go to prison, and the ties are still severed.
She had no way out.
Watching the man she had called 'Dad' for twenty years actually pick up his phone, fully prepared to dial the police.
Isabella grabbed the pen, trembling. "I'll sign... I'll sign!"
Through blurred, teary eyes, she stared at the agreement.
Under the guidance of the lawyer standing by, she signed her name.
Stroke by stroke.
It felt as if she were slicing off her own flesh, the pain so suffocating she could barely breathe.
The final stroke was drawn.
The pen slipped from Isabella's fingers and clattered onto the floor with a sharp click.
It was as if all the strength had been drained from her body as she collapsed onto the floor, her face deathly pale.
The lawyers and the notary staff stepped forward to inspect the signature.
The notary official stamped it, then looked at the Lancaster family members. "The agreement is valid. Effective immediately, all legalties between Miss Isabella and the
Lancaster family are terminated.
From this moment on.
Isabella and the Lancaster family, both personally and legally, had absolutely nothing to do with each other.
Isabella sat slumped on the floor like a withered flower, completely devoid of life.
She murmured under her breath, her tone choked with sobs. "Mom, Dad, you... you
really are throwing me away... you're really throwing me away..."
But the Lancaster family didn't give her any time to wallow in her sadness.
Edward called the cops anyway.
Listening to Edward calmly report the address of the Lancaster Estate to the police and hang up.
Isabella was so terrified her face turned ghostly white. She couldn't keep up her act of fragile murmuring anymore. She jerked her head
Edward in pure
disbelief. Dad, you said you wouldn't call the police..."
and locked Yone
She didn't want to go to jail!
Once she went to prison.
Her life would truly be over!
She would have a criminal record and become a convict in everyone's eyes.
She would never have a chance to turn her life around!
Edward stared at her coldly. "Now you know fear? Why didn't you think about the consequences when you were doing all those things?"
The tears Isabella had just managed to stop came cascading down once more.
Her pupils shrank in terror, her voice
trembling violently. "I-I already signed it don't want to go to jail! ē Dad I dont want to go to jail! Please, please don't let me go to jail... know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong."
Watching her cry in such a pathetic state.
Edward's gaze was dripping with sarcasm. "So someone like you can actually feel
fear."