The Boss Behind the Mask Was My Father Chapter 03

“Sir, please come quickly!” she panted. “Ms. Gibson… she says if Mrs. Payson keeps targeting her, she’ll do something reckless!”

Teddy’s face paled.

He rushed out of the room at once.

I pulled Mom into my arms, shaking violently.

Moments later, Teddy returned, holding a tearful Ivy in his arms.

My grandparents, Thomas Gibson and Riley Gibson, followed behind, their expressions cold and stern.

Teddy pushed the door open and tossed a smartphone onto the bed.

“Mabel Gibson, look what you’ve done!” he roared. “Ivy only filmed a movie with you, yet you hired people to attack her online? She’s your own sister—how could you treat her like this?”

I saw the screen of the fallen phone.

Footage of Mom and me trapped in the remote village had been posted online, and countless people were calling Ivy vicious and twisted.

Still, Teddy blamed everything on Mom without a second thought.

The two years of torment we’d endured were real, yet he refused to believe us.

All it took was a few manipulative words from Ivy to turn him against his own wife.

Teddy hadn’t always been like this.

Once, his whole world revolved around Mom.

Everything changed after Mom reunited with her birth family.

Devastated at losing her place in the family, Ivy ran away from home.

While searching for her, Teddy and the Gibsons were taken away.

To save them, Mom was severely injured and spent three months fighting for her life in the intensive care unit.

She later learned the incident had been arranged by Ivy.

On the day Mom was discharged from the hospital, Ivy knelt before her, sobbing bitterly.

She begged Mom not to reveal the truth and promised never to compete with her.

Mom chose to trust her, taking her in as a younger sister.

But Ivy wanted everything Mom had.

She constantly played the helpless innocent in front of Teddy, framing Mom as a cruel, jealous woman.

She would slap her own face, show Teddy the red marks, and insist Mom had threatened and abused her.

She even lied to Thomas and Riley, claiming Mom planned to steal their family fortune and had only reunited with them for money.

Rumors and lies piled up, until every member of the family looked at Mom with hatred.

Mom tried to defend herself time and again, but Ivy always sobbed and apologized, pretending regret.

She would even kneel on the floor and desperately beg for forgiveness.

Mom was never good at playing the victim, and her explanations fell on deaf ears.

Everyone sided with Ivy and accused Mom of being petty and spiteful.

Eventually, Mom stopped defending herself.

She grew quiet and withdrawn, trying her best to please everyone around her.

Time and again, I found her hiding away, breaking down in tears.

I wanted to ask Teddy and her parents for help, but Mom always held me back.

She said she did not want to trouble anyone.

She spent her whole life caring for others, never thinking of herself.

Yet the family she loved and trusted hurt her without hesitation.

Mom forced her eyes open, but said nothing in her own defense.

“Mabel, haven’t you hurt Ivy enough?” Riley snapped. “She’s suffered so much because of you. I regret ever bringing you back into this family.”

She looked at Mom with nothing but disgust.

My heart ached to see Mom’s gaze grow hollow with sorrow, yet a small part of me felt relieved. At least soon, she would escape all this misery.

Silence only made Riley angrier. “I should have known. A daughter raised away from home will never have proper manners.”

Thomas shook his head sadly. “The Gibson family has no daughter as cruel as you. From today on, you are no longer part of us. Ivy is our only daughter now.”

I caught the triumphant glint in Ivy’s eyes, and the overwhelming grief in Mom’s expression.

“Don’t speak to my mother like that!” I stepped in front of Mom, raising my voice.

“Grandpa, Grandma—do you even remember who your real daughter is? Mom was fading away! She has no strength to hurt Ivy. You choose to believe a liar over your own flesh and blood!”

I turned to Teddy.

“You once swore you would love Mom forever. What happened to that promise?”

Riley looked shocked, then furious.

“See? She’s corrupted Nadia too! This child has no respect, just like her mother.

Ivy would never act this way.”

Teddy’s eyes flickered with doubt—until Ivy suddenly slumped weakly against his chest.

Her voice soft and injured, she murmured.

“Teddy, don’t blame Nadia. She’s just a child, repeating what she hears. I know my sister dislikes me, but I only wanted to clear my name after all the online abuse…”

The doubt in Teddy’s eyes vanished, replaced by blazing anger.

He called for his bodyguards. “Set up a live stream right now.

Make her admit publicly that she agreed to reshoot the scenes with Ivy of her own free will.”

I stood in their way, but the guards moved me aside.

Mom pulled me tightly into her arms, her voice trembling with rage. “Touch her and I’ll stop you!”

Teddy sneered at her defiance. “If you refuse, then Nadia will take your place for the reshoots. Does that work for you?”