The warm spring sunlight bathed the community garden in golden light.

Sophia carefully supported Grace Langley as they inched forward. Her adoptive mother's rehabilitation had lasted over half a year, and now she could finally manage short distances without her wheelchair.

"Let's...rest..." Grace panted heavily.

Sophia immediately helped her back into the wheelchair, gently wiping the sweat from her forehead.

Just then, footsteps approached from a distance.

Theodore Valentine strode toward them with several suited assistants. The wound on the back of his head hadn't fully healed, hidden beneath a black baseball cap.

"Sophia—" He barely spoke before bodyguards blocked him three meters away.

Grace looked at Sophia in confusion. "Your father?"

Sophia patted her hand. "Biologically, perhaps. Nothing more."

Theodore shouted past the guards, "Victoria Windsor seduced me back then! I never meant to betray your mother!"

Sophia scoffed. "Blaming the woman for your mistakes? You and Victoria deserve each other."

Theodore's face flushed, then twisted into pitiful pleading. "Who doesn't make mistakes when they're young? Can't you give your father a chance to make amends?"

Sophia ignored him, pushing the wheelchair forward.

"Wait!" Theodore desperately blocked their path. "If you acknowledge me, I'll revise my will to include you!"

"Who wants your dirty money?" Sophia's gaze turned icy. "Even if you owned the world, I'd never call you father!"

Suddenly, Grace stood up like a mother hen protecting her chick, arms outstretched. "Back! Back! Back!"

Sophia's heart swelled as she embraced her adoptive mother tightly.

Years of distance melted away in that moment.

After Theodore slunk away, Ethan Sullivan returned. Hearing what happened, he warmly took over pushing Grace's wheelchair, affectionately calling her "mother-in-law."

The next morning, Sophia studied bronze restoration techniques under Theodore Valentine's guidance at his antique shop. The elderly man personally taught her aging and welding secrets—a dying craft.

"Master, let's get lunch." Sophia helped the old man toward the entrance.

In the main hall stood Theodore holding a food container. "Sophia, I brought your favorite Buddha Jumps Over the Wall—"

The old man snorted coldly. "My granddaughter doesn't want to see you. Leave!"

"Dad! I'm your own son!"

"My son?" The old man raised his cane and struck. "If you'd controlled yourself, would my granddaughter have suffered twenty years apart from us? Would Evelyn have lost her mind? Would Alexander have turned out this way?"

The cane rained down as Theodore fled like a frightened rat.

After he escaped, Sophia sweetly called the old man "Grandfather," making him beam with joy.

Theodore scrambled into his car, suddenly wracked by violent coughs. He opened his palm—a pool of blood!

"To the hospital! Now!" His voice trembled.

The diagnosis hit like a thunderbolt—liver failure.

Doctors recommended immediate transplantation.

Theodore shakily dialed Isabella Valentine. "Isabella, I need you to donate half your liver—"

"What? Bad connection...click..."

The line went dead. Subsequent calls went straight to voicemail.

Three days passed with no word from Isabella.

In despair, Theodore remembered Sophia. His shaking fingers dialed again. "Sophia, I have liver failure—"

"Get lost!" Ethan's icy voice answered before slamming down the phone.