Chapter 4

Patricia's smile vanished.

"My mother-in-law is elderly and in frail health. She cannot travel easily."

"Frail health?"

I let out a soft laugh.

"Living on someone else's stolen life for thirty-two years, and she still has the nerve to have frail health."

Patricia's face darkened instantly.

"Mrs. Foster, I'm sitting here treating you with respect only because you're an elder."

"My mother-in-law is a renowned philanthropist in this country. She saved my father-in-law's life thirty years ago. The entire Sterling family reveres her. Do you honestly think you can slander her name with a few baseless, wild accusations?"

She glared at me, her eyes drilling into mine.

"Do you have any idea the legal price you'll pay for destroying an elderly woman's reputation?"

I looked right back at her, dead calm. "Do you have any idea the price you'll pay for stealing the credit for saving a dying man's life?"

Patricia let out a harsh sneer.

"Where is your evidence?"

"Mrs. Foster, I've seen plenty of cheap tricks in high society. If you don't want your daughter marrying Julian, just say so. There's no need to spin fairy tales from three decades ago."

"If your mother was truly the savior, why did no one ever hear of her?"

"Why did you wait thirty years while my mother-in-law was celebrated in the press, only to jump out now?"

She leaned back into the sofa, pure mockery dancing in her eyes.

"At the end of the day, you saw the Sterlings just secured the state's massive medical center bid, and you're greedy for a piece."

I took a sip of my lukewarm tea.

"Are you finished?"

She frowned.

I pushed the agreement right back across the table.

"Go back and tell Brenda Yates that everything she stole all those years ago... I am going to take back. Piece by piece."

Patricia rose sharply, her face livid.

"You are going to regret this, Mrs. Foster."

Her designer heels clicked heavily on the hardwood as she stormed out.

The moment the front door slammed, Pearl walked down the stairs.

She clutched her phone, her knuckles stark white.

"Mom... people are attacking you all over the internet."

I took the phone from her hand.

Predictably.

In under thirty minutes, several prominent gossip accounts had dropped coordinated articles on Twitter and TikTok.

The headlines were vile and inflammatory:

*Foster Group Chairman's Wife Sabotages Daughter's Romance, Demands Outrageous Dowry from Sterling Heir!*

*Billionaire Foster Heiress's Fairytale Romance on the Rocks After Mother Kicks Out Future In-Laws!*

*Mrs. Foster's Mysterious Origins Exposed: Gold-Digger Trophy Wife Looks Down on Historic Old Money!*

The comment sections were already ablaze:

[She married into the Foster empire and suddenly thinks she's the Queen?]

[The Sterlings are literally philanthropists! Old Mrs. Sterling risked her life to save Mr. Sterling back in the day, it's a legendary romance!]

[Women like this are the worst. They're terrified their daughters will marry well and overshadow them.]

[Run, Pearl Foster! A toxic mother like that will ruin your entire life!]

Pearl was trembling with fury, tears brimming in her eyes.

"How could they lie like this?!"

I handed the phone back to her calmly.

"Because someone paid them a lot of money to do it."

"What do we do now?"

I turned to look out the window.

The begonias in the courtyard were in full, vibrant bloom.

I remembered how much my mother loved begonias when she was alive.

She used to say they weren't showy, but they were resilient. When they bloomed, the branches hung heavy with life, reminding you that there was always something to hope for.

Yet her hope had been stolen in cold blood.

"Don't rush," I murmured.

"Let them perform."

"The higher they climb on their lies, the harder they shatter when they fall."