Seeing Sophia Shaw, Cedric Grant called out, "Mom."

"Oh, Cedric’s here!" his great-grandmother responded warmly, waving him over.

Cedric grunted in acknowledgment and walked toward his great-grandmother, holding a flower basket. "Great-grandma, I heard you were sick. Are you feeling any better now?"

"Yes, much better." The old woman’s deeply wrinkled face bloomed into a smile. She caressed Cedric’s face, unwilling to let go. "Now that I’ve seen you, Cedric, all my sickness has gone away."

"Really?" Cedric asked.

Sophia Shaw watched Cedric in silence.

’If I hadn’t seen him visit Yvonne Sherman first, I would have been happy too.’

Cedric had naturally put Yvonne Sherman first; this visit to his great-grandmother was just an afterthought.

Cedric handed the flower basket to his great-grandmother. "Great-grandma, I bought this for you. I hope you get well soon."

Her grandmother had lived a simple life and couldn’t stand extravagance.

Sophia always avoided giving impractical gifts like flowers.

She had told Cedric this many times, yet he still chose a flower basket. It was clear he hadn’t put any thought into the gift.

Sophia didn’t want to make a scene in front of her grandmother, so instead of scolding Cedric, she took the flower basket, planning to exchange it for something else.

As she stepped out of the room, she saw Chad Jennings standing at the end of the hallway.

He was wearing a white shirt and tie, his hair slicked back immaculately. He looked deceptively dapper.

When he was young, Chad had used his handsome face to capture her mother’s attention. He became a kept man in his own home, letting her mother work herself to the bone day and night to support him.

Although he was over fifty, he was well-maintained and exuded the air of a mature, middle-aged man, attracting the glances of many women who passed by.

Sophia couldn’t be bothered to spare him a glance and walked straight toward the elevator.

Chad followed her and stepped between her and the elevator, blocking her way.

"I’m telling you, Sophia, you’ve caused enough trouble."

"Because of you, Vincent was locked up by the Grants, and Jack Holloway was fired. Now the Grant Group is leaderless, and its stock has dropped several points."

"You and Vincent are husband and wife; if the Grant Group suffers, you’ll suffer a huge loss too. Be smart about this. Go to the Grant family home and bring Vincent back to take charge."

Jack Holloway’s firing was a surprise to Sophia.

However, she had agreed to leave the marriage with nothing in the divorce settlement. The Grant Group’s stock price had nothing to do with her.

Sophia sneered. "Telling him to take charge is just an excuse. Your real goal is to have him bail out Joanna Sherman for you, isn’t it?"

His intentions exposed, Chad wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. The man was utterly shameless.

"Of course Joanna needs to be bailed out. Vincent and Joanna were meant to be a couple. You’re the one who stuck your nose in and broke them up."

"If you could actually hold on to Vincent’s heart, I wouldn’t say a thing. But right now, his heart belongs entirely to Joanna. No matter how much of a fuss you make, he’ll never fall in love with you. You might as well give him back to her."

"Use this as an opportunity to do Vincent a favor, and he’ll think more fondly of you in the future."

"See? I’m thinking all this through for you."

Chad wore a disgusting expression that screamed, ’I knew you weren’t bright, so I have to do your thinking for you.’

Sophia suppressed the nausea and hatred rising in her chest and spat, "Good dogs don’t block the path."

Chad’s face flushed with anger. "You... I’m your father, and you’re calling me a dog?"

"Considering all the disgusting things you’ve done, calling you a dog is me being polite!"

Sophia glanced around.

"If you dare try to boss me around again, I’ll expose all the vile things you’ve done in public!"

Chad glanced around warily.

Quite a few people had noticed them and were looking in their direction.

Chad knew Sophia hated him. If she was willing to call him a dog, she certainly wouldn’t be polite about anything else.

Though he was seething internally, he didn’t dare block Sophia’s path any longer.

Sophia went down to the florist in the lobby and found the young shop assistant. "Excuse me, my son bought this flower basket, but it might not be suitable for the elderly woman I’m visiting. Could I exchange it for another gift?"

She made sure to describe Cedric’s features.

Cedric hadn’t bought the flowers long ago, and given his good looks, the assistant remembered him clearly. "I asked him who the flower basket was for," she said. "He told me it was for his grandmother. I suggested that older people prefer practical gifts and that he should buy some health supplements instead. But he said his grandmother loves beauty and flowers, so he insisted on taking it."

The one who loved beauty and flowers was certainly not her grandmother.

Besides, Cedric didn’t call her grandmother "Grandma."

Sophia had seen him carrying this exact flower basket when he entered Yvonne Sherman’s room earlier.

Later, when he went to see her grandmother, it was the same one.

For a moment, she’d thought he might have gone downstairs and bought a new one.

But now it was clear he hadn’t!

Sophia asked one more question, just to be sure. "He only bought one flower basket and nothing else?"

"That’s right." The assistant shook her head. "He was in a real hurry. He said his grandmother had been terribly upset by someone and he had to go see her right away."

"He bought the basket, paid, and left!"

Her suspicions confirmed, Sophia drew in a sharp, cold breath.

’Cedric, how could you be so careless with the elderly woman who put so much effort into raising you!’

’Does my grandmother only deserve the flowers that Yvonne Sherman didn’t want?’

’Does she only deserve the Shermans’ leftovers?’

This was more than just neglecting his great-grandmother; this was an absolute humiliation!

"Mom."

When Sophia returned to the hospital room, Cedric was already outside the door.

He had his backpack on, clearly about to leave.

He called out to Sophia softly, his eyes holding a cautious glimmer.

"Dad isn’t home, and I’m all by myself. Can you come home and stay with me?"

Sophia looked at him, the disappointment in her eyes deeper than ever before.

"Come with me!"

Sophia led Cedric to a spot far away from her grandmother’s room before she stopped.

She looked down at him. "Cedric Grant, tell me, what was the real reason you came here today?"

"It was... it was to see Great-grandma," Cedric said, forcing the words out despite his guilt.

Sophia threw the flower basket down in front of him with a THUD. "You knew perfectly well that Great-grandma doesn’t like impractical things like this, yet you still gave it to her! That proves you didn’t sincerely come to see her!"

Cedric was taken aback.

He’d only just remembered that!

"I... I was just in a hurry. I wasn’t thinking."

Cedric’s excuse was utterly pathetic.

Sophia took a deep breath.

"Cedric Grant, I saw you when you arrived. I even called out to you, but you didn’t hear me."

"Because you were in such a rush to see your ’grandmother’!"

"This flower basket was really a gift for her, wasn’t it? She didn’t want it, so you just turned around and gave it to Great-grandma?"

"Great-grandma has been so good to you, and she only deserves something that someone else rejected?"

Cedric stared at Sophia, dumbfounded.

Sophia’s reminder made him vaguely recall hearing someone call his name when he was on his way to see his grandmother.

At the time, his mind was so full of Yvonne Sherman that he’d dismissed it as just hearing things.

Panic finally appeared on Cedric’s face. He stammered, "Mom, it’s not like that, it’s not... like that."

"If it’s not like that, then what is it like?" Sophia retorted.

Cedric opened his mouth, but he couldn’t come up with another lie.