Chapter 5

I quickly dialed the police.

"Hello, I've spotted suspicious individuals from a wanted notice."

Seeing me, Linda lunged forward viciously, her nails scratching several bloody marks on my skin.

"You bitch! You knew that account had problems all along, didn't you?

You tricked us into taking out loans! How did our family end up with a daughter-in-law like you!"

I gripped her hands tightly, struggling to speak.

"I have... nothing to do with your family anymore!"

Just then, my parents suddenly appeared and kicked the thrashing Linda away.

"Let go of my daughter!"

Linda collapsed on the ground in pain, rolling around and wailing loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear, drawing a crowd of onlookers.

"Help! Someone's trying to kill me!"

"She said the account had no problems. Now something's happened, and she's working with the scammer!"

" You married into this family! You're one of us, whether you like it or not!"

"You have to pay our debts!"

Many neighbors stood around with folded arms, watching the show.

Some eyes darted between Linda and me, seemingly speculating about something.

"Mia, let's talk this through. Don't make such a scene in public.

Let's go inside and discuss this."

Nathan, who'd been silent the whole time, finally spoke.

His words seemed to give me an out, but he was actually desperate to pin the scam on me.

Waves of contemptuous voices rang out.

"Could what the old lady and her son are saying be true?"

"The Johnson family's daughter works at the Anti-Fraud Center.

If everything was fine, why would her mother-in-law get scammed out of so much money?"

"She's been staying at her parents' house lately. Who knows if it's out of guilt!"

I steadied myself with my parents' support and clenched my fists.

In my previous life, Linda had done the same thing---shamelessly slandering and spreading rumors, ultimately dragging me into the abyss.

This time, I would never repeat that mistake.

I looked at Linda still throwing her tantrum on the ground and sneered:

"Do you have any evidence for what you're saying?"

"I moved out simply because Nathan and I got divorced. That's all!"

Clearly not expecting such a firm, decisive response, Linda's face turned alternately pale and flushed, her neck stiff as she shouted: "I have evidence!"