Chapter 2

The guests quickly stepped up to show their support for Mary.

“Ben, you men are just too easily fooled by women like her.

“Your mother is doing this for your sake.”

That came from one of Ben’s aunt.

“You’re out working all day. Who knows where your wife’s spending all your money?

“We’re all here to support you.

“If she runs off with your money and another man, you’ll be left with nothing.”

Another aunt chimed in.

Everyone was talking at once, all speaking with utter conviction.

Listening to his relatives, Ben’s face turned from pale to flush.

The whole thing was downright laughable.

Right at that moment, Chloe’s sharp eyes spotted my phone sitting on the shelf.

She snatched it right up.

“Mom, stop wasting time on her.

“The money was ours in the first place. Taking it back is only natural!”

With that, she smugly unlocked my phone to check my account balance.

The surrounding relatives crowded around to get a piece of the drama.

The second she caught glimpse of the balance, Chloe froze dead in her tracks.

She let out an incredulous shriek:

“Fifty cents?”

Mary could not believe what she heard.

She grabbed the phone and frantically searched through every single app on it.

Ultimately failing to find any trace of money, Mary turned to me in a fit of rage and demanded:

“Sylvia, where’s the money? There’s no way you haven’t saved a single penny after all these years!

“Where did you transfer all the money to?”

What was she screaming about?

What money did she imagine I had saved up? Ben only gave me one grand a month.

I had to pinch every penny of that one grand to cater to their household.

How could there possibly be any savings left?

A sudden, calculating glint flashed through Mary’s eyes.

“I knew it. You were plotting against us all along!

“Did you transfer all the money to your parents? Ha, we caught you!”

At that, Ben’s relatives looked at me with even deeper disdain.

“We gotta settle this mess of a situation today.

“Ben, call her parents. Tell them to come over at once.”

Ben stood rooted to the spot, caught in a terrible dilemma.

He was terrified that once they came, the situation would prove even harder to handle.

I stared intently at him.

“Ben, you know perfectly well this has nothing to do with my parents.

“Don’t you dare call them and drag them into this.”

I couldn’t let him make that call.

Not wanting to burden my parents with any concern, I’d been telling them how well his family was treating me.

The second that call went through, every single lie I had told my parents would be exposed.

My parents were in poor health. I couldn’t let them take that kind of shock.

Seeing my strong reaction, Mary became even more convinced of her theory.

As Ben was hesitating, she took matters into her own hands and dialed the number herself.

“Hi, it’s Mary. Been a while since you last saw Sylvia, no?

“We’re hosting New Year’s Eve at our place. Why don’t you come over and join us?

“The more, the merrier!”

Mary’s voice was dripping with warmth and hospitality, so my mother bought her act entirely.

The moment she hung up the phone, however, her expression flipped at once.

She glared at me darkly:

“Let’s see how your parents talk their way out of this once they get here.

“You’re paying back every cent you stole from us. That or not a single one of you gets to leave!”