Bye-bye Trash! Hello Queen! novel Chapter 1202

Joanna truly believed that her mother had loved her unconditionally back then, and she had loved her mother just as fiercely.

She pushed herself to her limits, striving to be the most exceptional out of Wendy's five children.

But she couldn't risk exposing her true identity. Her four worthless brothers had to be punished; it was what they owed her and her mother. Every time Wendy smiled with genuine happiness, Joanna thought of her own mother's tears, and the hatred festering in her chest for Wendy only deepened.

Deep down, she knew the truth. She was the product of Nathan's affair. It was her father's mistake and her mother's greed.

Yet, even knowing all of this, she recklessly fought to legitimize her mother's place in the world.

It was this exact conviction that had driven her to where she was today.

She knew how to run an empire, how to ruthlessly scheme for everything she desired, and she certainly didn't need a man to save her. She truly believed she was on the verge of claiming her perfect new life.

She didn't need Wendy's charity. She had envisioned the four of them living happily ever after as a real family.

She had clawed her way up, step by agonizing step, fueled by that very dream.

Now, she had the power to give herself everything she ever wanted, but her mother had lost her mind, her father was paralyzed in a nursing home, and her brother was dead at the bottom of the ocean. She was entirely alone.

Looking into her mother's vacant eyes, Joanna loathed herself. Why did she have to lose everything before realizing how horribly wrong she had been?

She had fought so hard to reach the top. Why was she cursed with this tragic ending?

She wanted to make it up to her mother. The cruel things she had said were just out of anger.

As for Alexander, it was his own incompetence. He had walked into that casino and gambled his own life away.

In that moment, Joanna finally tasted true, unadulterated despair.

She thought of Natalie back then—isolated, bullied, and entirely alone, enduring it all in silence.

If Natalie hadn't struck back before Sebastian's eyes healed, Joanna wouldn't have had the leverage to manipulate Wendy so flawlessly.

Her confidence had been built entirely on the blind trust and affection Sebastian and Wendy had showered upon her.

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