Chapter 3

3: 3

3, my brother's wife sat on the couch and would not move.

My so-called brother saw it and dug in too, and he actually tried to talk me into it.

"Sis, just hand over Mom and Dad's retirement money."

"I swear, once we've got the money, we'll never bother you again."

I almost laughed out loud.

Five years of retirement savings. Six, seven hundred grand at least.

Scrape a little more together and they could pay for the house in full.

And no, they really wouldn't need to bother me again.

But where that money was, I honestly had no idea.

I reminded them again. "The money isn't with me."

"If you want it, go find Mom and Dad."

What his wife said next left me stunned.

"Mom and Dad are the ones who sent us to you."

"They said the money's all with you!"

So the whole family treated me like an ATM now?

Before I could get a word out, my brother suddenly spoke up.

"Sis, forget about Mom and Dad's retirement money for a second."

"You're a VP at Lincoln Tech. Your salary must be pretty good every month, right?"

Greed showed plain in his eyes.

"You just pull out a little of your savings, and it's enough for me and Shanna to buy a house."

"We'll remember what you did for us."

"Once the baby's born, we'll sign him over to you."

On the surface it sounded like there was nothing wrong with the offer.

But I knew exactly what they were angling for.

Wasn't it just because I was pushing forty this year and still had no kids?

They figured I didn't want to have my own, so they'd dump the baby on me.

And later chip away at my assets.

I looked at him, and my eyes went cold.

"Even if my salary is high, what does that have to do with you?"

"Didn't I earn every cent of it myself?"

"And the baby is yours. Why would you sign it over for me to raise?"

His wife let out a sneer beside him.

"Oh, please."

"Like we're so desperate for your help."

"Everyone knows how you clawed your way up in the first place."

I threw it back at her. "Go on then. Tell me how I clawed my way up."

"By carrying on with your boss, all that murky business."

"It was even in the news back then. Really disgusting."

"You can't even keep yourself decent, and you expect to raise a kid right?"

My face went hard in an instant.

Everything from back then came rushing up at once.

Fresh into the company, the CEO took notice of me and promoted me to assistant.

Then within two years I made VP.

That kind of speed really was startling.

And it bred suspicion inside the company.

But who ever understood what went into it?

Two of the company's core patents came out of research I led.

The core business, I was the one who brought it in.

How many nights I stayed at the office until two, three in the morning.

How many client dinners I drank through until my stomach bled.

None of that they saw.

All they saw was a young woman rising fast.

Then they made up a pile of filth.

It really had been in the news back then.

Someone spread the malicious rumor that I was sleeping with the boss.

I chose to let the truth speak for itself and never explained.

I never imagined my own family would use it to stab me in the back.

This was my line, and I warned her outright.

"Watch your mouth."

She wouldn't listen. If anything, she got louder.

"What, you'll do it but won't own it?"

"You're not clean yourself, and here you are acting so high and mighty."

"Who knows how many strange men you've been to bed with."

Cold-faced, I walked right up to her.

She tipped her chin up, still mouthing off.

"What are you going to do?"

"Am I wrong? You're nothing but a—"

She didn't finish.

My hand came up, and I slapped her across the face.