Chapter 2

The rest of the relatives chimed in, murmuring their disgust.

I caught Jodie flashing me a smug smirk in Leroy's arms. It was the arrogant taunt of a winner.

Fine. She wanted to play it this way, huh?

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.

I was going to call for backup right then and there, but after tapping the screen twice, it went completely black.

Damn it. I had worked so late the night before that I'd forgotten to charge it, and the battery was completely dead.

Frowning, I tossed the phone back onto the table.

Jodie's sharp eyes caught the movement instantly. Adopting her best innocent-act voice, she gasped, "Isabelle, what were you trying to do with your phone just now?

"Were you trying to prove your innocence? Why won't you let everyone see? Then again, if your father saw the chat logs in the group chat, he'd probably have a heart attack."

Upon hearing that, Leroy looked at me with pure loathing. "Isabelle, you make me sick."

Rage boiled in my chest, but I forced myself to suppress it.

I was a cop. Even out of uniform, I was a cop.

I was going to make sure these people lost so spectacularly that they wouldn't even know what hit them.

"Give me that!"

Desperate to play the hero in front of Jodie, Leroy lunged forward and snatched my phone off the table.

My instincts kicked in to grab it back, but he was too fast.

"Since you're too chicken to look, I'll look for you!"

He mashed the power button a few times. When nothing happened, he sneered. "Ha! Faking a dead battery? Nice try. I bet you did this on purpose."

With a sneer, Leroy carelessly chucked my phone back onto the table.

He threw it with so much force that it left several deep scratches across the screen.

That wasn't just any phone.

It was the token of love, given to me by Ian Lowe.

I slowly raised my head, my gaze turning ice-cold.

Leroy was startled by my gaze and instinctively took a step back, then immediately flew into a rage. "What are you staring at? It's just a few scratches. I'll buy you a new one! Just admit you're a whore!"

Seizing the perfect moment, Jodie reached into her bag and pulled out a stack of printed A4 papers. "Leroy, don't be mad. It's fine if the phone is broken. I actually printed out backups of the chat logs."

She began handing out the fabricated transcripts to the surrounding relatives.

"See for yourselves, everyone. I really hoped I was wrong, but look at the profile picture and the username…"

I glanced at the paper Uncle Jacob was holding.

The profile picture was an exact copy of my WhatsApp profile picture, and the nickname "Isa" matched perfectly.

The text, however, was vile enough to make anyone gag.

"Hey, handsome! 200 dollars for a quickie. 500 dollars for overnight. No protection needed… Isabelle Huff! What do you have to say for yourself now?"

Uncle Jacob's wife, Sidney Smith, screamed out the disgusting lines, spit flying from her mouth.

"Good heavens! How can anyone utter such filth! Have you no shame?"

The room erupted into absolute chaos.

The looks the relatives were giving me now were dripping with sheer revulsion.

"What a disgrace!"

Aunt Andrea turned her fury on my mother, Marie Beasley. She pointed a finger directly at her face. "Is this the stellar daughter you raised? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

"I bet you weren't any cleaner back in the day. Who knows what kind of cheap tricks you used to worm your way into our family!"

"You…"

The sheer shock and malice hit Mom like a physical blow. Gasping for air, she clutched her chest and collapsed limply onto the couch.

"Mom!"

I rushed over to support her and pressed firmly on her acupressure points to help her relax.

Her face was deathly pale, her breathing shallow and ragged, with tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.

I looked up, my glare locking onto Leroy and Jodie. My words were forced out through clenched teeth. "Defamation carries criminal liability."

Leroy let out a dismissive scoff, looking down his nose at me. "Still talking tough? Who do you think you're scaring with the law at a time like this? Jodie is a rich heiress. Her family owns a multi-million-dollar company! She has no reason to be jealous of you. Why would she frame you?

"Take a good look in the mirror. Everything you're wearing combined wouldn't even cross 20 bucks!"

Jodie stepped forward, sighing with a grand display of magnanimity.

She reached down to grab my arm, but I violently slapped her hand away.

She didn't get angry. Instead, she adopted the look of a merciful saint. "Isabelle, I get it. We all do what we have to do to survive. How about this? As long as you promise to quit this line of work, get down on your knees in front of everyone, and apologize to me, I'll let it go."