Chapter 34
A néighbor spoke up, “Just the necklaces alone, there are four or five of them. If each one is worth about 40 thousand dollars, that’s 200 thousand dollars. And the price of gold has been increasing over the years, so it looks like Emily gave her at least 300 thousand dollars worth of jewelry back
then.”
“It’s more than that. Didn’t you hear? There were rings too.”
Margaret was flustered, and her voice rose, “Those were gifts from Emily for helping her out. Gifts
you hear me? Are you suggesting I should return things people gave me out of gratitude?”
“Margaret, don’t be in a hurry. It’s good that you admitted it. I just don’t understand why, despite not having any pressing financial difficulties, you accepted 50 thousand dollars to sell me off to that man…
Margaret’s face turned pale. “What nonsense are you spouting? Stop this and come upstairs with me!”
Her outburst only fueled the growing murmurs around us.
“Don’t listen to this brat! She’s just upset because I didn’t give her enough money! I’ve been paying for her living expenses, but now, she’s biting the hand that feeds her. How could someone be so ungrateful?”
I chuckled softly and took out my phone. Opening a recording, I played the conversation between Benjamin and the man from the last time. The voices were clear, mentioning Benjamin by name. The recording also included talks about taking nudes of me and ruining my education.
At one point, a name–Mr. Jackman–was mentioned, but I had lowered the volume to obscure it. It wasn’t about protecting Samuel.
The reason was Kevin was standing behind me. Though he belonged to the Foster family, he was also closely tied to Gideon. If he learned about my connection to Samuel, he would never hire me. Worse, Gideon would immediately figure out why I had approached him.
The murmurs around us grew louder.
“That voice… It sounds like Bob Fry.”
“It does. Isn’t Bob good friends with Ben? I heard the police came by recently and took Bob away.”
“Two men in their 50s scheming to do something sevile to a young woman in her 20s? That’s despicable!”
“Ben’s family really has no morals!”
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Margaret was on the verge of losing it. “No! That’s not true! It’s all lies! That little wench is making
it up!”
I smiled again. “I’m not lying. And by the way, the house you’re living in right now? My parents
paid for it. Back then, it cost three million dollars!”
A neighbor interjected, “This is the best and biggest u
in the whole complex–over 1,500 square
feet I always wondered how they could afford it on their salaries. Turns out they had relatives
willing to buy it for them!”
Margaret’s face turned beet red, and she shouted, her voice strained with anger, “What nonsense! This house is ours! We bought it ourselves!”
“When my parents attended your housewarming party, they recorded a video. In it, Benjamin thanked my parents profusely, even kneeling before them. He said he was grateful they had provided your family with a place to live and promised to repay the money once you could afford it.”
Originally, Benjamin and Margaret borrowed the money, and my parents lent it to them out of kindness. But as years went by, they refused to pay it back and started claiming the money was a gift.
All of our relatives had long since assumed that my parents would never get that money back. There wasn’t even a written agreement at the time, so everyone just let it slide.
Eventually, everyone in the family believed Benjamin and Margaret’s version of the story, leading them to resent my parents for giving Benjamin and Margaret a house while giving nothing to anyone else.
Margaret’s panic was palpable. “That was years ago What video could you possibly have?”
I smiled knowingly. “So, you’re admitting it now.”
Margaret didn’t deny taking my parent’s money. Instead, she tried to deny the existence of the video, inadvertently confirming the truth in the process. She had trapped herself.
The murmurs among the crowd grew louder, tinged with outrage.
“A relative buys them a house, and in return, they exploit that relative’s child by wanting to take her nudes and selling her to a rich man? How can such people even exist?”
