Chapter 4

One month later, the Ginger family held a charity gala.

Millie was unusually quiet. She stopped picking fights with me, and she no longer secretly cried. She even personally pinned the commemorative brooch for winning the design competition on my collar. "Joey, it was my fault."

She smiled sincerely. "I won't fight you for anything anymore."

Cole saw this and quietly reminded me, "The more normal she acts, the more I feel something is off."

I could not agree more.

However, nothing happened until the dinner was halfway through.

My father announced that the foundation had raised $5 million in donations tonight, and the entire venue erupted in thunderous applause.

Ten minutes later, the financial director rushed into the banquet hall with a ghastly pale face. "The money is gone!"

The $5 million had been transferred from the foundation's account, and I was the recipient.

The banquet hall fell silent instantly.

This time, my father did not scold me. Instead, he immediately sealed the exits, pulled the security footage, checked the accounts, and ran fingerprint tests.

They had finally learned to check, but everything they found pointed to me.

The surveillance footage showed someone wearing my dress entering the finance room at 7:40 PM.

The transfer key was tucked into a hidden compartment in my handbag, and only my fingerprint was on it. Even the $5 million sat untouched in my newly opened account.

Greyson grimly examined the video. "It shows no signs of editing."

Cole checked every entrance and exit to the banquet hall. "Joey was indeed not in the hall between 7:35 and 7:50 PM. The person in the surveillance footage matches her height and even the way she walks."

My father had someone verify the dress.

It was a one-of-a-kind piece, personally altered by Norma. No one else had one like it.

I left the banquet hall because Millie told me an elderly staff member had fallen in the storage room and needed my help. When I arrived, no one was there, and the hallway surveillance cameras were under maintenance.

She had calculated even this 15-minute gap with flawless precision.

They did not jump to conclusions or listen to one side of the story like they used to.

On the contrary, they had investigated everything they possibly could, only to become even more convinced that I was the thief.

My mother looked at me, the anticipation in her eyes fading away. "Joey, you could have just told me if you needed money. Why did you have to take the charity funds?"

I did not answer and simply looked at Millie.

This time, instead of rushing to accuse me, she stepped in front of me. "There must be something that hasn't been checked yet. Joey wouldn't do something like this."

Just then, her phone rang suddenly. As she read the message, her face instantly turned deathly pale.

My father snatched the phone away.

The screen showed a chat log between me and a money-laundering agent.

[Money received. I'm leaving tonight.]

A plane ticket for that very night was conveniently found upstairs in my suitcase.

Bank accounts, surveillance footage, fingerprints, chat logs, and a plane ticket…

Every chance I had to overturn past accusations had been taken away.

Greyson gripped the phone tightly. For the first time, his eyes held no anger, only disappointment. "I had just started to trust you."

My father suddenly looked as though he had aged several years. "Return the money, and I might still be able to have a lawyer argue your case."

The gala guests began to whisper.

Some remarked that children raised in orphanages were bound to be short-sighted.

Others suggested that even their own biological daughter would never be loyal to the Ginger family. Perhaps they should have just kept raising Millie instead.

With reddened eyes, Millie spoke up to defend me. However, she smirked ever so slightly when no one could see her.

She slid the fingerprint analysis report toward me, her voice soft and steady. "Joey, everyone has taken the time to investigate this thoroughly. With both eyewitness testimony and physical evidence, surely this is enough to convict you."

The entire hall waited for my confession.

I finished flipping through the stack of so-called irrefutable evidence and sighed. "I can certainly prove my innocence, but the price you'll have to pay this time could be rather steep."