Chapter 3

In my past life, I agreed to sell the apartment, so this scene never happened at all.

I certainly never imagined she would come pounding on my door to make a scene.

Horace was thrown by the whole spectacle.

He'd met my aunt before, so he asked before he could stop himself.

"Aunt Christine, is there some kind of misunderstanding?"

"What happened to Clive? Why is he in the hospital?"

Christine gave him a cold look.

"I've got nothing to say to you. You're not family."

The awkwardness sat right on Horace's face.

He stood in the doorway, not sure how to respond.

This was exactly what she'd done in my past life.

She was the one who wrecked things between Horace and me.

I knew she was saying all this on purpose today.

She'd come for no reason but to make our lives miserable.

This woman was capable of anything.

Before she could open her mouth again, I stepped forward.

I put myself in front of Horace.

"Aunt Christine, I made myself perfectly clear in the group chat."

"There's no way I'm selling this apartment."

"If the surgery really is short of money, I'll help you set up a Joe Hanna fundraiser right now."

The second she heard that, she whipped her head around and shouted to the crowd behind her.

"You all heard that, didn't you?"

"This girl is deliberately trying to upset me!"

"She's got the means, and she'd rather waste time on all this nonsense."

"How badly does she want her cousin to die?"

As she went on, her eyes went red.

My aunt by marriage and my youngest aunt looked at me like I was in the wrong.

I raised an eyebrow.

Then, without missing a beat, I answered.

"Your own son is gravely ill, and you won't sell your apartment to save him."

"But somehow your whole mind is set on squeezing money out of someone else."

"Does that seem normal to you?"

The moment I said it, the relatives at the door froze one by one.

A few leaned together, muttering under their breath.

"She's right. If your own son is sick, why not sell your own place?"

"Why does it have to be your niece who sells?"

Christine's face shifted for a second.

But my aunt by marriage was right there to back her up.

"If they sell the apartment, where are the three of them supposed to live?"

"Out on the street, living on air?"

I laughed.

"Since you're so noble about it, they can just live with you."

"Your place is a two-story house anyway. Three more people won't crowd it."

Her face went a shade of green at that.

She glared at me like I'd done her some terrible wrong.

I turned back to Christine and pressed on.

"Don't you still have two shops over on University Row?"

"Sell just one of them, and the problem's solved, isn't it?"

"What, afraid of losing a few thousand in a breach-of-contract penalty?"

She'd clearly come prepared. She answered me without a flicker of panic.

"University Row? Do you have any idea what one shop there costs?"

"If I actually had that, would I be groveling to people, begging to borrow money?"

Her voice cracked as she spoke.

Like she'd been wronged beyond all reason.

"Nina, you know in your heart how good I've been to you since you were little, don't you?"

"Spreading lies like this, you're going to be the death of me."

I looked her straight in the eyes and said it word by word.

"Do you need me to read out the exact address?"

Seeing how firm I was, and how detailed my claim sounded,

the relatives started to waver.

"If it's true, that's really heartless of her."

Christine paled for a moment, then put on a mournful face.

"Nina, you mean those two training centers on University Row, right?"

My stomach dropped.

I had a bad feeling.

Then I watched her reach into her coat.

She pulled out her phone.

In front of everyone, she dialed a number.

The contact label read plainly, two words.

The Boss.

The phone rang twice, then connected.

Christine instantly switched to a meek, deferential tone.

"Sir, I'm so sorry to bother you this late."

"It's like this. My niece keeps insisting those two training centers are my shops."

"No matter how I explain, she won't believe me."

"And she's spreading lies in front of all our relatives."

"I really don't know what else to do. I'll have to trouble you to vouch for me."

She finished and pressed the speaker button.

A middle-aged man's voice came through.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"Both of those shops are clearly mine. What do they have to do with you?"