?Chapter 18:


    Joyce nced briefly towards the hospital room, then leaned closer to Katrina, lowering her voice.


    “Mom, push Caiden to cut all ties with Dani. Once he does, the Harper family will be within our reach.”


    Privately, Joyce never referred to Caiden as “Dad.”


    Her strategy was clear: im the Harper family’s wealth while Dani was sidelined, thus preventing any future entanglements should she return.


    As long as she wielded control over the Harper family fortune, the Bet family would overlook her modest origins.


    Then, securing a marriage with Alexander would be within reach.


    Katrina’s smile held a hint of smug assurance.


    “No need to worry. Caiden is fully wrapped around my finger.”


    The topic remained a hot issue online for over a week.


    Ultimately, Harper Group had no choice but to enlist a third-party PR firm to handle the fallout.


    However, merely an hourter, the controversy resurged, this time cementing its ce in the public eye for a whole month.


    Alexander, overwhelmed and exhausted, closed his eyes and demanded of the PR team, “What happened this time?”


    It seemed these pesky trending topics simply refused to fade away.


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    Thepany staff responded with candid transparency, “Mr. Bet, previously it was a technical glitch. This time, someone has deliberately brought it back.”


    Alexander’s frustration boiled over, his voice piercing as he barked, “Who’s behind it this time?”


    The answer came back clear and direct.


    “My boss, Cedric Phillips.” Consequently, the scandalous revtions about how Caiden had ousted his own daughter for a woman, and Alexander’s affair with his wife’s stepsister, swept across the nation.


    Within days, the stocks of both groups nosedived to an all-time low.


    Driven to desperation, both families scoured for Dani.


    Yet, she had disappeared, erased from the world as though she had never been part of it at all.


    “Where the hell did she disappear to?” Caiden bellowed, his voice thick with rage. Harper Group had endured catastrophic losses recently, unlike anything before.


    His eyes were bloodshot, a clear sign of his sleepless nights and boiling frustration.


    The situation was dire. If things didn’t turn around soon, he might have no choice but to dere bankruptcy.


    Approaching Caiden cautiously, Joyce tried to soothe him.


    “Dad, try to stay calm. Dani has always been stubborn.


    You know that.”


    Caiden’s face flushed a deeper shade of red.


    In a fit of fury, he sent Dani a stern message, warning her that if she didn’t address the chaos she’d caused online within three days, he would take the drastic step of disowning her publicly.


    Meanwhile, Alexander had taken matters into his own hands by hiring a private investigator to track down Dani.


    Yet, after two agonizing weeks, there was still no word from the investigator.


    Katrina reached out to awyer.


    On the same day, Harper Group made a bombshell announcement that rocked the inte. Caiden, acting as the president, officially disowned Dani.


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