Orphan To Unbreakable Queen - Chapter 100: Chapter 100

In another chamber of the Wilson family residence, Alice clutched the photo in her hands, her heart torn between two worlds.
The photo showed an utterly adorable five-year-old girl with twin ponytails.
It was Aubree at age five.
Alice's vision blurred for a moment. She realized with a pang that she could barely recall what her daughter looked like as a child.
She thought, 'Somehow, all my memories of Aubree got replaced by Carmen. If we hadn't found Aubree, I would have already regarded Carmen as my biological daughter, as if I'd never lost a daughter at all.
'But why can't the two of them just get along peacefully? No matter what, I could never give up on Carmen. She's my daughter!'
Alice's phone buzzed. It was a message from Bryan about Aubree.
It detailed her recent achievements, every word brimming with his amazement at how far Aubree'd come.
[Mom, Aubree was closest to you when she lived at home. Now she refuses to come back. She can't stand us brothers. Could you try talking to her?]
[Mom, all those things we thought about Aubree were wrong. The truth is, she's a good person. You must see that too, right?]
A flood of messages poured in, all from Bryan, pressing her to convince Aubree to come back.
Not once did he mention Carmen, which left Alice feeling uncomfortable again. 'All Bryan cares about is bringing Aubree back,' she thought. 'Did it even occur to him what would happen to Carmen if Aubree returned?
As the adopted child, Carmen never truly felt belonged. Now that Aubree is so outstanding, if she comes back, won't Carmen be completely displaced?'
Alice fidgeted uneasily, her face cycling through shades of pale and ashen. 'Aubree has to return,' she decided, 'but it absolutely can't be at Carmen's expense.
'Now that she's so successful, she no longer needs the Wilson family's fortune.
If Aubree insists on returning to the Wilson family, she must relinquish her share of the family fortune to Carmen. And that matter must never come to light.'
"Aubree was taken from me when she was just five and has lived in an orphanage all these years," Alice muttered. "So, of course, we're not close. Carmen is my real daughter, the one I raised from infancy. I can't let my daughter feel wronged."
With winter break underway, Aubree finally had more control over her schedule.
She poured almost all her time into her company.
The Wilson family kept pushing their way into Aubree's life, but she wasn't some pushover. When she was still building her career in the past, she had no choice but to tolerate it. But now, her business had grown, not enough to take on the entire Wilson Group, but big enough to fight back.
The Wilson Group is huge,' Aubree thought, 'and no corporation that big stays completely clean in every corner.'
"Vincent, with a corporation as massive as the Wilson Group, surely there must be some dead weight, don't you think?" Aubree mused, recalling her past life. Back when Ronald was young, he was a visionary intellectual who recognized the potential of real estate with great foresight.
He had made his fortune in real estate, and when the market hit rock bottom, he pivoted the Wilson Group into other industries, laying the foundation for today's diversified conglomerate.
Now, despite the real estate market's recovery, Wilson Group, while still the industry leader, had seen its attention wane as it prioritized higher-growth sectors.
The head of Wilson Group's real estate division, a longtime associate of Ronald, brazenly traded on his close ties to Ronald and plundered company funds without restraint, even embezzling money earmarked for workers' safety equipment at the construction sites.
Vincent nodded in understanding. "I'll have someone keep tabs on them."
Aubree smiled faintly. "Focus your investigation on Rosepoly Group," she instructed.
Vincent looked genuinely surprised. 'Does Ms. Miller already know something?' he wondered.
As Rithol City's leading enterprise, Rosepoly Group served as the origin of Wilson Group.
"I'm on it," Vincent replied without hesitation. He thought, 'Since Ms. Miller is so certain, there must be something shady going on at Rosepoly Group.'
Aubree watched Vincent leave. According to her past-life memories, it was right around this time that a worker at a Rosepoly Group site fell to his death from a height due to substandard safety equipment.
The incident immediately drew intense media scrutiny, and the victim's family protested vehemently for quite some time.
To quell the scandal, Ronald threw Rosepoly Group's director under the bus and paid off the victim's family to hush up the matter.
Aubree couldn't recall exactly which construction site it had happened at, but if she could get ahead of this, even if she couldn't cripple the Wilson Group, she could at least give them a massive headache.
With that in mind, Aubree called Birgitte again. "Birgitte, contact the media and leak that Rosepoly Group, under the Wilson Group, disregards workers' lives. Their executives are embezzling funds for safety equipment and substituting shoddy materials."
Birgitte said something on the other end, and Aubree replied, "We don't have concrete proof yet, but it'll come."
In the end, Aubree said, "Good, make it happen."
No sooner had Aubree hung up than a WhatsApp message from Bowen popped up on her screen.
Bowen said: [Caesar just found something new.]
Aubree: [What is it?]
Bowen: [Last time, when your bid for independent status didn't go through, Caesar started digging for more on the Wilson family. And he found something.]
Bowen: [I think it's better to discuss this in person.]
Bowen: [I've arranged for Kelvin to pick you up.]
Aubree replied: [Okay.]
Even though she couldn't see Bowen's expression, just reading his messages gave her an inexplicable sense of heaviness.
She had a sinking feeling that this discovery might not be good news for her.
Aubree's heart sank even further, this nagging unease lingering until Kelvin escorted her to the Turner Group's reception lounge.
When she arrived, Bowen and Caesar were already there waiting for her.
Bowen sat with his brows furrowed, his expression unreadable. Caesar, as always, looked stern and unyielding.
"Miss Miller, please take a look at this photo first." As soon as she sat down, Caesar slid a photograph in front of her.
The background of the photo was the very orphanage where Aubree had grown up. She recognized it instantly. It was that group photo Ethel Yahya, the head of our orphanage, had arranged for a photographer to take of all the children.
But something was off. In this version, two extra figures were standing in the corner, their backs turned, quietly watching the group.
One was Grandma Ethel, and the other...' Aubree rubbed her temples. 'So familiar... Where have I seen this person before? Oh, right. She came to the orphanage once. But back then, she was wearing a mask and sunglasses, and I couldn't make out her face.'
Bowen looked at her, a trace of sympathy flickering in his eyes. "Aubree, you know this person."
He pointed at the figure in the photo.
Aubree's heart plummeted. 'I know who it is,' she realized.
Caesar produced another photo, a frontal shot of a woman wearing a mask and sunglasses.
In the past, Aubree might not have recognized her, but now, Aubree shut her eyes briefly and said, "She's Alice."
Caesar nodded and continued, "Miss Miller, you were abducted at age five, but no one knows what happened during the abduction. You ended up in an orphanage, which was not in Rithol City. It only relocated here later. In the third year after the orphanage moved to Rithol City, when you were ten, Alice had already found your whereabouts.
"But strangely, she kept this information to herself. Within the Wilson family, only she knew you were in Rithol City, and she visited you at the orphanage once."
Alice knew I was in the orphanage. She had known all along,' Aubree thought.
This news left Aubree with mixed emotions. Confusion flashed in her eyes. 'So... Was I just abandoned?'