Chapter 2

As if she had heard the funniest joke in the world, Scarlett doubled over with laughter. "Ha? His real mother? Couldn't you at least come up with a believable lie?

"Nathaniel already told me his mom is overseas, so busy she barely has time to breathe, and she won't be back for at least another year! Just to climb the social ladder, you're willing to tell a lie like this? How desperate are you for a man?"

The surrounding onlookers quickly joined in.

"Is this old lady crazy? She got caught and now she's spouting nonsense."

"Mistresses these days really are shameless. They can lie without even blinking."

It was true that I spent most of the year abroad managing the branch company's business.

I had only landed in Briarwood yesterday because I wanted to surprise my son. I never expected that surprise to turn into a shock.

Not wanting to waste any more time arguing with her, I took out my phone. "Since you don't believe me, I'll call Nathaniel right now and let him tell you himself."

I had just unlocked the screen and opened WhatsApp when Scarlett suddenly lunged forward and snatched the phone from my hand.

"You're feeling guilty and trying to call Nathaniel to back you up, aren't you?" she said mockingly. "Forget it, old lady. I don't know what tricks you used to get close to him. But Nathaniel said he only loves me. Even if he comes here, there's no way he'd take your side!"

As she spoke, she kept scrolling through my phone. The screen was still open to the chat history between my son and me.

I didn't know what she saw, but her expression darkened by the second, and her voice suddenly turned shrill. "Natty? Judy?"

"Natty" was my son's nickname. Only the people closest to him used it. And "Judy" was what he called me whenever he was teasing me or acting spoiled. But clearly, she interpreted it differently.

"You disgusting old pervert! At your age, you're still using pet names like some teenage girl? And you make him call you that too? And you expect me to believe you're his mother? What kind of mother talks to her son like this?"

What exactly was wrong with that? No matter how old the child I gave birth to became, wasn't he still my baby? She was the one with the filthy mind, twisting everything into something improper.

When she saw that I stayed silent, she mistook it for guilt. She raised her hand and slammed my phone onto the ground.

A sharp crack rang out as the screen shattered instantly.

My phone contained a great deal of important data, and now it was nothing more than a pile of scrap.

Rage surged through me. "Are you insane? That's my phone. Pay for it!"

"Pay for it?" Scarlett sneered and kicked the broken pieces aside. "This phone was bought with Nathaniel's money too, wasn't it? If something was bought with my fiancé's money, I can smash it whenever I want. What are you going to do about it? A parasite who lives off men has no right to ask me for compensation."

After a brief pause, she crossed her arms and adopted the smug posture of a lady of the house. "Let me make this clear. Stop daydreaming. Nathaniel will be here to pick me up soon. When he gets here, I'll have him blacklist you and make sure you can't survive in Briarwood! Then we'll see how long you can keep acting shameless!"

Looking at her arrogant expression, I became so angry that I laughed.

Blacklist me? In Briarwood, no one would dare claim they could blacklist me, Judith Foster.

Even Nathaniel's current company was a wholly owned subsidiary under my control. Every dollar he spent came from the empire I had built with my own hands.

And now, a woman living off my money wanted to blacklist me? How ridiculous!