Chapter 1651: I had to do it… to protect my child.

"You better have answers. I’m not in the mood to play nice either."

The woman trembled under their gaze. She could hear her own gulp echoing in her ears, and her throat drying up quickly. The tension in the room was so thick it felt like it had grown limbs, reaching out to choke her.

"Priscilla Reed," Mint called to get her attention, stressing each syllable. "Let’s have a nice chat, shall we?"

The woman, Priscilla, Nina’s biological mother, turned to Mint. She drew a deep, jagged breath as she clasped her hand on her lap. But before she could say anything, a painful throb struck her head.

"Aw—" Priscilla winced as she touched the side of her head where it throbbed painfully.

"Don’t be dramatic," Slater clicked his tongue in irritation. "You were hit in the head, but it’s nothing serious. Sleep it off and you’ll be fine."

Priscilla clenched her teeth and glared at him.

"What?" he asked dryly. "Why are you glaring at me? If anyone should be glaring here, it’s us—at you."

"Third Brother." Penny gently raised a hand and rested it on his chest. "It’s alright."

Slater gritted his teeth silently but held back the storm of words brewing inside him. Priscilla might have been around their parents’ age, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to unload every harsh word in his vocabulary—words he’d practically rehearsed for a moment like this.

Penny, by contrast, maintained her composure. Her gaze locked with Priscilla’s—cold, distant, unyielding.

"Priscilla Reed," she began, her voice low and tightly controlled. "You owe us an explanation. It’s time to repay that debt."

"You better start talking," Mint added, giving a casual nod. "Or would you prefer we spell out all the questions we already know the answers to?"

Priscilla heard Mint, but her eyes remained on Penny. She bit her inner lip, her head pounding, but she forced herself to ignore the pain.

"Where... where’s my daughter?" she asked at last, her voice shaky.

The room responded with silence.

"Please... just this once—"

"Do you even have the right to make a request like that?" Penny cut in, her voice unblinking and cold. "Even once?"

Priscilla said nothing.

Her chest tightened, her eyes beginning to redden as she met Penny’s icy stare. She knew she had no right. Not even to look at Nina from afar. The moment she did what she had done... she forfeited any claim to motherhood.

"Why?" Penny asked, breaking the silence again. Her voice cracked slightly at the edge, thick with restrained emotion. "Why did you do it?"

Priscilla gave a weak shrug, trying to force a smile—but failing. Her eyes flicked to Slater’s grim expression, then to Mint’s sharp, assessing gaze. Finally, she looked back at Penny.

"I had to," she whispered. "I had to do it... to protect my child."

"Protect your child?" Slater, barely holding himself back, scoffed. "By endangering someone else’s? That’s what you’re calling this?"

"Third Brother—"

"My sister was raised as someone else’s niece. Your daughter grew up believing she belonged to a family that never saw her as their own." His voice trembled with fury. "You didn’t just damage two families—you let your own daughter suffer alone."

His chest heaved with every breath. "How the hell is that protection?"

Penny pressed her lips into a tight line as she stared at his profile. Slater might be too emotional—but in truth, he was voicing the very things Penny refused to let herself say.

Mint remained silent—but not from emotion. She was watching Priscilla’s every move, every twitch, every flinch. She could tell—the woman was beginning to unravel.

Priscilla bowed her head slightly, guilt written all over her face. "I just wanted to save her," she whispered, her voice thin but clear in the silence. "I knew I had no right to be forgiven. But I couldn’t let them have her."

Tears brimmed at the corners of her eyes. "I had to act quickly. I had so little time. So even though I knew I had to leave her behind... even if it meant entrusting her to a stranger... I had no other choice."

"It was the only way," she added, voice cracking. "If I had another option, I never would have done it."

"But I did." Her voice dropped even lower. "And if I had to choose again... I would do it again."

"You—" Slater stepped forward, but Penny grabbed his arm and held him back.

His eyes burned with rage, jaw clenched so tightly it trembled. There was no remorse in this woman’s voice. Only resolve. And that made it worse.

In their previous life, Priscilla had already destroyed them. The baby swap was the match that lit the fuse. Penny’s later tragedy was only the explosion—but the damage had already begun long before.

Nina had spent her entire life fighting for a place that wasn’t hers—suffering for something she never asked for. And that pain bled into every corner of their lives.

How could he not be angry?

As the tension crackled like lightning, Mint’s voice cut through with calm precision.

"Who were you protecting her from?" she asked coolly.

Priscilla turned toward her, startled.

"If you truly loved your daughter, yet still chose to swap her with another child—what kind of danger forced your hand?" Mint tilted her head. "Because that’s the part that really matters."

Priscilla hesitated, pressing her lips into a tight line.

"We already have a few theories," Mint added with a hint of warning in her tone. "So your answer might not shock us. But I do have other questions too. For example—how did you convince the doctors to declare you dead?"

"It’s a long story—"

"And I’ve got plenty of time," Mint said flatly. "It’s still morning. I could go all day. Days, even. Doesn’t bother me."

Priscilla swallowed hard. She looked back at Penny. Then at Slater.

A long, defeated breath escaped her lips.

"You two might want to sit down," she murmured. "It’s a long story. But maybe it’ll make sense... if I start from the beginning."