Heiress Unmasked: Shaking the World With Geomancy novel Chapter 43

Sheila couldn't resist chiming in, "Shannon, our family put in a lot of effort to raise you. You should say something."

She was putting Shannon on the spot.

After all, the Grays had taken her in and sheltered her. That made her no less indebted to them than to her birth parents for giving her life. Her reputation would be ruined if she dared to show any kind of callousness or disrespect to the Grays now.

Who would like someone who'd treat her adoptive parents so poorly just because she reunited with her birth father?

Rachel had been waiting for this precise moment.

She didn't expect Francis to beat her to it, but she quickly joined in and said with a pleading expression, "Shannon, Mom and Dad have always treated you like their own. You can't forget all about us just because you've found your birth father."

All the guests were staring at this scene. Sheila choked out, "I know you've found your real family, but Francis, Rachel, and I are still your family. Throughout all these years, have we ever mistreated you or made you suffer? Why are you acting like this now?"

Thanks to the Grays' comments, some of the guests started muttering among themselves.

The older, shrewder ones remained silent, but the younger ones, who were idealistic and easily impressionable, immediately lost the favorable image they initially had of Shannon. They couldn't resist rebuking her.

"Even if you've rejoined the Jensen family, the Grays did raise you. You shouldn't treat your adoptive parents like that!"

"The Grays look like decent, respectable people to me. There's no reason for you to avoid them like the plague."

Adam's expression turned grim. He wanted to refute these comments, but Shannon caught his arm and pulled him backward.

She stepped forward, her expression as indifferent as ever. She merely glanced at the ones who criticized her before staring at the Grays.

Everyone thought that Sheila probably had some kind of cognitive disorder that could compromise her basic common sense.

Meanwhile, Adam was incensed by what he heard. These were things that couldn't have been discovered through his investigations.

Alas, the next words that came out of Shannon's mouth completely floored everyone.

"When I was young, I didn't know why whenever something bad happened to Rachel, you'd make me experience the same thing—or you'd ask me to stay by her side at all times to take care of her.

"Later on, I found out it was because Rachel was born with a fragile fate. Due to her astrological house, she is doomed to constantly be dragged into disasters.

"Your family chose to raise me because you took a liking to the fate I had thanks to my astrological house. You wanted to use me to shield Rachel from her calamities."