Do You Really Love Him?

Ye Luo hesitated. "Do you really want to use this method? Because it's not a very good one."

Sophia chuckled lightly. "You haven't even told me what it is yet, and you already think it's bad?"

"You know me, I always like things to be fast. This method might even feel like torture for you," Ye Luo explained.

"What kind of torture?" Sophia asked. "Tell me the method first, and I'll think about it."

"It's about the gene bank," Ye Luo said.

Sophia's face froze. "You mean putting my blood into the gene bank so my parents can find me easily? And so I can find them?"

"Yes," Ye Luo confirmed.

"That's actually a good idea," Sophia replied. "But what if I never get matched?"

"That's the painful part I was talking about. The matching process can take a very long time," Ye Luo looked at Sophia helplessly. "You might get matched right after entering the database, or it could take five or ten years, or even a lifetime..."

"Still, it's a way," Sophia's expression became dreamy and hopeful. "Having hope is always better than nothing."

"Yeah, maybe you'll get lucky and find a match soon," Ye Luo nodded. "But I think the most important thing right now is to get some hair or blood samples from your parents and siblings for DNA testing."

"Ava wouldn't lie to me," Sophia said confidently. "She hates me."

"Hate or not, solid evidence is the most important thing," Ye Luo told Sophia seriously. "If we don't find a match, we can use the test results to confront your mother and force her to tell the truth."

Sophia thought for a moment. "We can do the test first. But I know Abigail's personality well. If we confront her with the results and it doesn't benefit her, she won't say anything."

"Should I try to get information from her?" Ye Luo asked. "Your mother may not treat you well, but she's polite to outsiders. She wouldn’t want to look like a bad mother in front of others."

"No," Sophia refused. "I'll handle it. If I can't get any answers, we can discuss it again."

"Alright, I'll follow your lead," Ye Luo nodded.

That evening, after parting ways with Ye Luo, Sophia passed by a gift shop and picked out two small gifts before heading back to the company. Robert's car was already parked in front, but the window didn’t roll down. Sophia got in the car obediently and apologized, "I'm sorry, President Robert. I haven’t seen my friend in a long time, and it took longer than I expected."

Robert’s lips tightened as he stared out the window, completely ignoring Sophia.

"I'm really sorry," she apologized again.

Only then did Robert turn to look at her. "Who are you apologizing to?"

"I'm apologizing to you," Sophia said meekly.

"It's not me you should be apologizing to—it's yourself," Robert said coldly, his words carrying a deeper meaning.

Sophia was caught off guard. "I'm apologizing for neglecting my work. How is that apologizing to myself?"

"For your lack of communication," Robert replied indifferently.

"I..." Sophia was speechless. What did she say that made Robert feel like she wasn’t communicating with him?

Back at the mansion, Sophia held Anthony in her arms while watching Robert, who was surrounded by a cold aura.

"Baby, can you do me a favor?" She leaned close to Anthony's ear and handed him a gift. "Your dad is in a bad mood today. Can you give him this gift to cheer him up?"

Anthony nodded and walked over to Robert, tugging at his sleeve.

Robert turned and saw his son holding a shiny black obsidian bead in his tiny hand.

"What is this?" Robert asked.

Anthony didn’t say anything. He simply stretched out his small hand, offering the bead.

"Speak," Robert said, placing his hands on the table but not taking the bead.

Sophia felt guilty. Anthony used to talk more, but ever since Abigail scared him last time, he had been much quieter.

"It's a gift," Sophia explained for him. "Baby is giving it to you."

Robert didn’t even glance at Sophia, but after she finished speaking, he finally took the bead from Anthony’s hand.

"If you wanted to give it to me, then just say so. You always say one thing but mean another," he said coldly, but a flicker of joy flashed in his eyes.

Sophia felt embarrassed. "I wasn’t being insincere. I just felt guilty for upsetting you. I wanted to give you a gift to make you happy, but then I thought it might seem like I was trying to flatter you. So instead, I let Baby give it to you."

Robert played with the bead in his hand and said, "Let's eat."

Hearing the warmth in Robert’s tone, Sophia finally relaxed. He was actually easy to please, which surprised her.

The next day, after arranging Robert's schedule, Sophia asked for his permission to leave the Miller Family estate. She was heading back to her old suburban home to collect hair samples for the DNA test.

On the way, her phone rang. It was Abigail.

She answered.

"Sophia, get your ass back here! Someone’s looking for you!" Abigail ordered in a domineering tone. "You’ll be interested in this person. And if you don’t come back today, I’ll call a reporter to interview me. I’ll tell them you’re an unfilial daughter. Don’t forget what happened last time!"

Sophia frowned.

She hadn't even spoken yet, but Abigail had already hung up.

She was curious about who could make her interested.

When she arrived at her suburban home, Ava was waiting for her at the door. "Oh... you came back so quickly. I thought you had some backbone and wouldn’t come back," Ava said with disgust, dragging out her words. "A wild child picked up from the trash can."

"You can mock me, but it won’t change the fact that you're involved in illegal transactions," Sophia said with a bright smile, reminding Ava, "There are still many photos of you exposed online."

Ava sneered, and her face turned pale. "Sophia, you dirty woman."

"You're even dirtier," Sophia said as she walked towards the door.

"This is my house, get out!" Ava grabbed Sophia’s arm.

Sophia shook off Ava’s grip and pulled her hair. "With such a bad temper, no wonder you have white hair before you're old. And on top of that, you're a cripple. If you don’t control your temper, not only will Joseph not want you, but no man will marry you."

Ava’s eyes widened in panic. She looked in the mirror and saw white hair on her head. She frantically tried to fix it.

Sophia smirked and put the hair she pulled from Ava’s head into her bag as she walked into the courtyard.

"Welcome back, Sophia," Abigail smiled at Sophia in the living room, showing no sign of the threatening demeanor she had on the phone.

"Sophia..." Steven looked happy to see her. "Sorry for disturbing you at work and asking you to come home."

"If you knew it was inconvenient, you wouldn’t have asked me to come on a workday," Sophia smiled politely.

"My younger sister’s ex-boyfriend, Zhen, opened a Chinese medicine clinic abroad and is very wealthy," Ava walked in with a gentle smile, sending a secret message to Steven. "Zhen, thank you for coming to visit my sister."

Steven’s face turned red after Sophia mocked him, but he was relieved that Ava gave him an excuse. "Your sister speaks so nicely," he said with a smile.

Sophia felt disgusted by the scene.

"Is there something you need?" she asked Steven.

"Can’t I come if there’s nothing?" Abigail quickly intervened to give Steven an excuse. "Zhen is your classmate. He mentioned that you used to be a couple. He brought many valuable gifts, and Mom likes them very much. He’s a thoughtful kid."

"That’s very kind of you," Sophia replied casually.

Abigail gave Ava a suggestive look and said to Sophia, "Sophia, could you help me with cooking?"

Ava quickly took Steven’s hand and said in a soft voice, "My sister cooked for you herself, so please eat more for lunch. I’ll take you for a walk outside."

Sophia watched as Ava led Steven away and sneered.

"I already investigated Steven’s family background before. Although not as wealthy as Joseph’s family, they are still well-off. The most important thing is that he doesn’t mind your sister," Abigail warned Sophia with a serious expression. "Sophia, you better not cause any trouble this time, or I won’t spare you."

"It all depends on whether Ava can get rid of Steven’s girlfriend," Sophia mocked. "But Ava is skilled at being a mistress. Maybe she can seduce Steven."

Abigail glared at Sophia but suddenly changed her expression to a gentle one.

"Sophia, I understand that we’ve had a lot of unpleasantness because of Joseph, which made you hate us," Abigail said.

"But your sister is handicapped, and it’s difficult for her to marry into a wealthy family. Now that Steven has taken the initiative, as long as you help your sister seize this opportunity, Steven’s girlfriend will be out of the picture."

Sophia sneered. No wonder Abigail contacted her. She wanted Sophia to be a stepping stone for Ava to marry Steven.

"You want me to help? No way!" Sophia refused.

Abigail’s eyes flashed with anger, but she seemed to think of something and forced a smile. "Sophia, look at all these luxurious gifts. You can’t let this golden opportunity slip away for your sister."

Sophia had already seen these gifts. She didn’t expect Steven, who seemed stingy, to be so generous. These gifts were probably all paid for by his girlfriend’s money. Sophia saw through his lies, but Abigail and Ava were fooled into thinking he was wealthy and generous.

Steven had deceived her in the same way years ago, taking advantage of her naivety.

She thought of the past and murmured with a bitter heart, "It really hurts."

"Hurts? What hurts?" Abigail asked, confused.