After a few previous run-ins with Anneliese, Gianna had already realized she was not someone easy to corner. The two questions could easily hide a deeper trap—she couldn't afford to answer blindly.
Tears gathered in her eyes as she forced herself to speak. "Anneliese... I admit I was wrong. I'm sorry, I really..."
To Gianna, an apology was the safest escape route. Saying it cost her nothing, and it spared her from having to respond to anything else.
It was just a single word of regret. She doubted it would ever reach beyond this room anyway. For the Malone family's image, Steven would likely ensure it stayed contained.
Since no one else would know about it, she assumed it wouldn't matter either way.
But Anneliese's gaze cooled immediately. Gianna's half-hearted apology, so obviously insincere, only made her lips curl with faint disdain.
"That's your apology?" Anneliese said flatly. "It sounds like something a child would throw out. I've only wanted to ask you two simple questions, and you're already trembling?"
Gianna's opinion of Anneliese as sharp and merciless only deepened. Even after she had apologized, Anneliese still refused to ease up.
Before she could respond, a familiar female voice came from the doorway.
"Anne, just ask her."
Gianna spun around immediately. The moment she saw Wendy step inside, hope lit up in her eyes.
Wendy had been with Adrian when Gianna spoke to him earlier in the car. If Wendy were here now, that meant Adrian must be close behind.
Her father was here.
She was finally not alone.
Almost instinctively, Gianna looked past Wendy—and as expected, Adrian appeared at the entrance with Pepper, both of them rushing in after her.
Her emotions collapsed in an instant. Eyes turning red, she rushed forward as if she had been wronged terribly.
"Dad! I already apologized, but Anneliese still refuses to accept it. I just acted on impulse..."
Gianna believed Adrian had come because he was concerned for her, worried she might be mistreated by the Fullbuster family.
To her, Adrian had always been her strongest protection—someone who had indulged her since childhood and never truly denied her anything.



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Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: When His Perfect Mask Shattered I Awoke (Anneliese and Zacharias)
Thank you for the new chapters....
Please update the rest of the book. It's been over a month without a resolution....
Next chapters please...
No new chapters...
Wow.. one chapter a day now. Sad...
COME ON!!! Really, just one chapter?! What is really going on? Please just upload the chapters and stop playing with us readers. These inconsistencies really ruin the reading experience and cause people to become disinterested....
It's been two days without any updates. Please update as soon as possible with more than 10 chapters please. I'm having withdrawal not being able to continue the story. Why is some on the story in blue with scratches through it, and why does is captcha required to unlock the end of the each chapter now?...