Chapter 3

I fully covered her university tuition and living expenses. She often complained that she never had enough money, yet those complaints coincided with a sharp rise in nightclub visits. She could spend one or two thousand dollars in a single night.

I told her to stop going to those places and put more effort into her studies. She did not listen at all and even accused me of being old-fashioned and meddlesome. She said she was already an adult and asked what was wrong with having a drink or two.

She was not entirely wrong. Having some fun was part of adulthood, so I did not press the issue further. I only reminded her to protect herself and avoid questionable characters.

The problem was her good-girl pretenses in front of Mom. She hid all her crazy nightlife from Mom on Instagram.

“Jessie, take out your phone and show it to everyone. My daughter would never do something like that!” Mom shot me a glare and demanded that Jessie hand over her phone.

Jessie did not respond after a long wait. Mom finally noticed something off.

To my surprise, Mom still did not blame Jessie. Instead, she turned all her anger toward me.

“You really have to ruin my day, do you? Do you even respect me as your mother anymore? Look, Jessie got up at seven this morning just to make me a birthday cake. And you? What have you done?”

The baseless accusations ignited my rage. Even though I had known since childhood that Mom favored Jessie because she was younger, and that taking more care of her was to be expected, this was no longer mere favoritism. This was emotional abuse.

“I got up at five. For the entire month, I’ve been working while also organizing your birthday party. Who do you think invited all these guests?”

“Stop claiming all the credit. You only made a few phone calls. What else did you actually do? You didn’t go into the kitchen to cook, did you? Why would you be tired?”

So in her eyes, all my effort to please her had amounted to nothing more than a few phone calls.

“If Jessie hadn’t known the hotel owner, you wouldn’t even have been able to book this place,” Mom added smugly. Pride was plain on her face.

I stood right across them and felt chills run down my spine. I had been reduced to an outsider.

Since that was the case, there was no point continuing the conversation. I turned around and walked out.

Mom scoffed behind me. She assumed I had retreated in fear.

But no, I was not afraid at all. I was already working out new plans in my mind.

After leaving the private dining hall, I went straight to the manager’s office. The hotel manager, Liam Kennedy, immediately stood up when he saw me.

“Miss Radley, is there anything wrong with the party?”

My company had worked with this hotel many times. Our business dinners were often held there. Initially, the venue had been fully booked, but Liam had rearranged things and freed up a hall as a favor for me.

I shook my head. “No. Everything’s fine.”

I sat down and calmly instructed him to handle a few matters.