Chapter 4

She turned to look at me, one corner of her mouth curling into a cold smile. “The year you turned three, I snuck into the children's home to see you once.”

“I heard you crying, saying you'd take revenge on everyone who threw you away.”

“You couldn't find me, so you took it out on your foster mother, Sheila Whitney. Isn't that right?”

The moment those words left her mouth, the gallery boiled over.

“Holy hell! It's a real-life orphan horror story! Even her own birth mother's come out to nail her!”

“That fortune-teller was dead-on. That poor foster mother, ending up the sacrifice for some bad seed's revenge on society!”

Mrs. James slapped her thigh and wailed. “What did our family do to deserve this, bringing a jinx like her through our door!”

Jason grabbed her arm. “Mom—……”

“Don't you hold me back!” Mrs. James shook him off and turned to glare at me.

“A woman like this, the James family won't have her! You call off this engagement right now!”

Jason looked at me, his expression tangled. He opened his mouth, then in the end said nothing.

At the plaintiff's table, Sheila dabbed at fake tears. “Moira, don't say any more. Ivy was just confused for a moment……”

Moira gave a cold laugh. “Ms. Whitney, you're just too kind. You gave her your whole heart, and all she ever wanted was to rip your heart out!”

“A daughter like this, you're better off without her!”

Then she added one more thing. “Oh, and Judge, this girl's been trouble since she was little. I hear she's living in the city now, off men……”

“You're lying!” Bruce shot to his feet.

“Am I lying?” Moira pulled a photo out of her bag. “This is her working at a nightclub. Dressed like that, what is she if not selling herself?”

The photo went up on the big screen.

It was me in a gown, standing outside a hotel at a business reception, snapped by someone without my knowing.

But the angle was cruel, and yes, it was the kind of thing that could easily be misread.

“God, so that's what she does!”

“No wonder she looks down on her foster mother. She landed herself a rich man! So filthy!”

The filth came at me in waves.

Someone threw a half-finished iced drink and it splattered all over my face.

Something smug flickered in Sheila's eyes.

But she dropped her head at once, wiping her eyes with her sleeve, her voice choking up.

“Everyone, stop cursing at Ivy. Maybe she was just driven to it by hard times……”

The gallery cried out on her behalf.

“Ma'am, stop defending her! Bad seeds don't know gratitude!”

“Right! Make those four ungrateful animals cough up every cent of the estate! For your medical care and your old age!”

“That's not enough. Throw them in prison!”

I sat at the defendant's table and clenched my fists.

Allan patted my shoulder to steady me, then slowly rose to his feet and looked at Sheila.

“What are you so pleased about?”

Sheila froze. “You……what did you say?”

Allan gave a cold smile. “Watching the four of us get cursed at by people who don't know the truth—that makes you happy, doesn't it?”

Sheila shuddered all over. “I didn't……”

Allan turned to the judge. “Your Honor, I request permission to play a video.”

Sheila went tense all at once.

Bruce took a flash drive out of his bag and handed it to the bailiff.

“But before we play it,” Allan looked around the courtroom, his gaze sweeping over all those angry faces, “I'd like to ask you all something first.”

“Do you really believe that we four, brothers and sister, are ungrateful animals?”

Someone in the gallery roared. “Yes! Animals aren't as cold-blooded as you!”

Allan nodded. “Good.”

“I hope you can all hold on to that conviction after you've watched this video.”

“If, once you've seen it, you still think your insults were fair, then I, Allan Dickerson, will kneel and bow in this courtroom and admit I was wrong.”

“But if that's not how it is, then I want every one of you to apologize to the four of us!”

The video began to play.

But less than three seconds after the picture came up, Sheila's face changed. Broken leg or not, she lunged over, yanked out the flash drive, and threw it out the window.

Her whole body had started to shake.

“I'm dropping the case……I don't want anything……just let me go……”

The entire courtroom sat stunned.

Allan smiled.

“Afraid not.”

He turned to look at Bruce.

Bruce fished another flash drive out of his pocket and spun it once between his fingers.

“Forgot to mention. This kind of thing? I made a hundred backups.”