"Mr. Aiken..." Ivan Horne opened his mouth to say something, but Tom Aiken raised his hand to stop him. Tom looked at Lia Aiken with a bitter smile, a smile that was uglier than crying. He said, "Lia, I've told you everything you wanted to know."

"You are not my biological daughter. You should call me Uncle. Your real father and I are brothers."

Lia Aiken pressed her lips tightly together.

Tom Aiken continued, "However, I still owe you an apology. Regardless of whether you are my biological daughter or not, you are innocent. I should not have taken my anger out on you, retaliated against you all these years, made things difficult for you, even stood by while they bullied you, or tried to use you to help the Aiken Family through tough times. Lia, I'm sorry!"

Lia Aiken shook her head but couldn't say a word.

Anyone who has just gone through this would be in total disarray.

Her mind was so confused right now that she didn't know what to say.

"Please leave, I want some peace and quiet."

Tom Aiken issued an eviction order, and he also thanked Ivan Horne: "Mr. Horne, thank you for handling the online hot search."

"I did it for Lia. Mr. Aiken, have you ever thought that all this might be a conspiracy? Is the paternity test you did with Lia back then real? Should you do it again?" Ivan Horne seized the opportunity to say what he wanted to say.

Tom Aiken looked at Ivan Horne. Ivan thought that saying such things would surprise Tom or at least make him suspicious, but Tom was not. He said, "I know he's the one causing trouble. I've erased all traces of the events back then. The fact that those photos have surfaced now is my brother's doing. He's been missing for nineteen years, and I thought he was dead, but he turns out to be alive."

However, Tom Aiken didn't understand what his brother's purpose was. To retaliate against him, to embarrass him?

Did his brother ever consider Lia, who is his biological daughter? Lia is now in a relationship with Ivan Horne. His brother's retaliation against him and embarrassment will also bring embarrassment to Lia.

Tom Aiken believed that since Ivan had fallen in love with Lia, no matter who her parents were, it wouldn't affect his love for her. But what about the Horne Family? The Horne Family is the top wealthy family in T City. There are standards. Would they accept Lia?

"The paternity test back then was something I took Lia to do. I even asked a friend to help us with it. The result wasn't false." Tom Aiken sighed deeply. Once, more than anyone, he hoped the paternity test result was fake, but reality slapped him in the face. Lia really wasn't his daughter!

Ivan Horne frowned.

It seems they still need to wait for Jimmy to catch Tom Aiken's brother and find out the truth.

Based on Ivan Horne's intelligence, he thought Lia is Tom Aiken's biological daughter. The uncle is just taking revenge on Tom Aiken, making the father and daughter hate each other so he can be happy.

Otherwise, why would those photos appear right after he fell in love with Lia? Obviously, he didn't want Lia to find happiness.

If Lia were indeed his biological daughter, no matter what, she is still his daughter, and he wouldn't go too far.

But Tom Aiken believes the so-called truth from nineteen years ago, and Ivan has no evidence to prove anything, so he has to hold back from saying more.

"Mr. Horne, I haven't been good to Lia, but Lia is a good girl." Tom Aiken rarely spoke a good word for Lia, sincerely.

Ivan Horne held Lia's hand and looked at her deeply, "I know."

He was confident in his judgment.

Tom Aiken didn't want to continue talking to the two of them. His mood was worse than Lia's. Once the paper was pierced, the father and daughter lost the hostility they used to have.

After leaving Tom Aiken's room, Lia was taken out of the hotel by Ivan Horne. She initially wanted to return to her own room, but Ivan insisted on taking her away, worried about her.

"Ivan, if you're worried about me being in the hotel, can you take me to my female senior's place?"

"I'll stay with you."

Lia shook her head, "No, Ivan, I want some peace and quiet too."

Ivan wanted to say, would she really be quiet at her senior's house? But in the end, he didn't say it. Instead, he quietly took her to Charlotte Lewis's gallery.

After instructing Charlotte to look after Lia, Ivan left. He still had a lot of things to handle.

While Ivan was taking Lia to Charlotte's gallery, Grace Chandler accompanied by Victoria Kelly went to the Valence Group, only to be told that Ivan Horne hadn't returned to the company today.

Grace didn't know which hotel Lia was staying at, nor did she have her contact number. She didn't dare to call Ivan. Learning that Ivan wasn't there and unable to apologize to Lia through him, Grace's face turned pale again.

"Victoria, what should I do?"

Grace nervously grabbed her friend's hand, "The longer this drags on, the angrier Ivan will be with me."

Victoria Kelly said, "Call Mr. Horne. This is something you have to face. You're at his company's doorstep, are you afraid to call?"

Grace hesitated, thinking for several minutes, before bravely taking out her phone and making the call to Ivan Horne.

Ivan quickly answered her call.

"Ivan." Grace tried to make her voice sound normal, "Where are you, can I see you?"

"Even if you didn't come to see me, I was going to see you. Grace, you've truly disappointed me!"

Ivan's words were cold, stabbing Grace's heart like a knife, especially his last words, which brought tears to Grace's eyes.

She had worked hard for so many years to earn his respect. She knew it was because of her principles and professional ethics that he respected her. But now, she had done something to disappoint him.

He said she let him down.

"Ivan, I... I drank, and in a moment of impulse... I'm sorry." The last three words were said very softly by Grace.

Ivan said coldly, "The person you should apologize to is not me. It's Lia."

Grace fell silent. From his words, he clearly knew everything. After a moment, Grace painfully said, "I will apologize to Miss Aiken. Ivan, can we meet? Can we talk in person?"

"I'm busy now. We'll talk when I have time." Ivan said and hung up the call.

Settling the score is necessary, but for Ivan, finding Grace to settle the score is not the priority now. The priority is to find Lia's so-called biological father and get to the bottom of the so-called truth.

After hanging up the call, Ivan instead called his sister. When Lena Horne answered the phone, he requested, "Lena, your Sister Lia is at Charlotte Lewis's gallery now. Please go keep her company. She's in a bad mood and needs someone to talk to and comfort her."

"Brother, weren't you with Sister Lia?"

"She doesn't want me by her side right now." Ivan understood that the revelation of Lia's parentage hit her hard, and he respected her wish to not have him around at the moment.