The Contracted Ever After (Cordelia and Ronan) novel Chapter 536

The truth hit Cordelia like a freight train. Her mother was not called Allison and was, in fact, the real Alana all along.

Decades had passed when the emerald ring resurfaced, this time on the finger of a woman named Samantha. By then, Alana had climbed her way to the top of the business world, so dealing with a fledgling celebrity was child's play for her. But when she realized she had targeted the wrong person in her vendetta, she doubled down on her true niece, the real Alana’s daughter. She made sure the girl couldn’t return home for three years, separating her from her lover. Whatever pain Alana had endured, she was determined to inflict it tenfold on the girl.

Cordelia's eyes brimmed with tears as she sat silently in the diner, lost in her thoughts. "Who are you?" Cordelia finally asked the elderly man opposite her.

"I'm a friend of your grandfather, Seth. I visit him often. He can’t speak, but each visit, he slips me a note detailing all that has happened. I've always pretended not to know how he became paralyzed. I found you when I heard about Alana’s revenge against you, Miss Savannah."

"Savannah?" Cordelia echoed, surprised.

"Yes, that’s the name August and the imposter Alana had chosen for their child. Alana might have smiled, but inside, she was seething with jealousy. She had a good man who loved her sister, but not her. That only fueled her thirst for revenge."

Cordelia sat in silence once more, grappling with the surreal twist that she was the protagonist of this unbelievable story.

Resting her forehead against her hands, she took a moment before asking the old man, "Is she... alright?"

"Who?"

"Alana's sister. My..." She swallowed the last two words.

"Not good. She’s in a bad state, half-destroyed by Alana's torment and the loss of her child. If not for her hope of a reunion with her daughter, she might have given up long ago," the old man said, removing his glasses to wipe away tears.