Chapter 3

Willa covered her face. Her eyes were filled with disbelief.

"You're a grown man. How could you hit me?" Willa asked.

I was trembling with rage, but I forced myself to stay calm as I argued.

"You brought over a dozen people to occupy my property and refused to leave. On top of that, you led wave after wave of verbal abuse against me and even encouraged others to lay their hands on me. I had no choice but to defend myself."

Sebastian's expression turned furious when he heard this. He lifted his foot and tried to kick me.

"Ryan, how dare you hurt my woman? You have a death wish!"

Since I dodged quickly, he missed and crashed hard onto the ground. He screamed in pain.

That completely set things off.

Meredith led her group of relatives and chased after me while trying to hit me.

"You filthy man! We're nobodies if we don't beat you to death today!"

To avoid getting cornered and outnumbered, I sprinted down the stairs as fast as I could while shouting in panic.

"Fire! Someone help! There's a fire!"

It worked. People who were out walking in the neighborhood quickly gathered around.

I immediately changed what I was saying.

"No, someone's trying to kill me! They're trying to take over my house and kill me!"

Right then, Meredith and the others came running down with kitchen knives and mops in hand. When they saw me hiding behind a group of neighbors, they grew even more furious.

"You filthy man! In the blink of an eye, you've already found more women to protect you? If you've got guts, come over here!"

The neighbors, both men and women, instantly got involved. They argued back and confronted them.

I lowered my voice and said, "Please call the police. They smashed my phone."

Just as I finished speaking, Willa arrived. She was supporting Sebastian. Seeing the situation, she immediately put on the act of a victim and explained to the neighbors, "Everyone, here's what happened. He owes me 290 grand. He used this house, worth 220 grand, to settle part of the debt. Now he's shamelessly trying to take it back.

"I have a written transfer agreement with his name, Ryan Harris, clearly on it."

With that, she pulled out a stack of documents and showed them to the crowd.

The neighbors stepped closer. After reading, they turned to me.

"Are you Ryan?"

A bad feeling crept over me.

"That agreement is definitely fake. I never signed anything."

The moment I said that, the way they looked at me changed. They seemed more wary of me.

Sebastian then shouted indignantly.

"He's a liar through and through. Stay away from him. Next thing you know, he'll seduce your wives.

"If I hadn't been home today, he would've stripped naked and thrown himself at my girlfriend. He's truly shameless!

"When that didn't work, he tried to set the house on fire to threaten us. Tell me, doesn't someone like him deserve a beating?"

Under his shameless slander, the neighbors instantly turned against me. They began hurling insults.

"We almost got fooled into defending the wrong person. He's despicable!"

One of Sebastian's relatives blended into the crowd and shouted, "Exactly! People like him need a good beating so he learns his lesson and never dares to seduce someone else's wife again!"

That single sentence stirred the crowd. With their fists clenched, they looked ready to attack me.

I quickly tried to explain, but before I could, Sebastian suddenly attacked me from behind with a kick.

"You were the one who tried starting a fire earlier. What if it actually happened? Do you have any idea how much property damage that would cause? It's not your stuff, so you don't care, do you?"

His tone sounded righteous. It was convincing to those who didn't know the truth, but the smugness in his eyes gave him away.

Willa chimed in, "My boyfriend is absolutely right. I've known this man since we were kids. He's a compulsive liar and addicted to gambling. For money, who knows how many old women he's been with. Everyone, you'd better watch out for losers like him."

She even put on a look of pain and disappointment, and that made me seem all the more disgusting.

Pain shot through me. Sweat formed on my forehead as I clutched my stomach and struggled to stand.

"Willa, you are legally responsible for everything you say.

"Someone please call property management. I've never made any ownership transfer. One check will prove everything."

Willa smiled when she heard this.

"Go ahead and make the call. I'm not scared. Only liars feel guilty," she said.