Chapter 4

I had James drop me off in the underground parking garage. I alighted and carried the bags upstairs to my apartment.

When I opened the door, Lori was the first to turn toward me. “Stefani, what took you so long? Billy is about to jump!”

I had no patience for her shrill voice, so I slapped her.

“Shut your mouth! This is my family. You have no business butting in!”

Lori’s eyes widened at my words.

I kicked her aside. Then, I picked up the bags and dabbed at the corners of my eyes with a tissue soaked in onion juice. I began my performance.

“Billy, please don’t jump! Come down! What have I ever done to deserve these lies? You said you wanted a gaming console, a phone, and a tablet, so I bought them all for you! These are the things you wanted. Look!”

I held up the bags in front of him to make sure everyone watching the livestream could see them clearly.

“Stay away from me! Get out! I don’t want those things! I don’t need your fake concern!” Billy’s resolve wavered as he stared at the electronics he had always dreamed of, but he gritted his teeth and held his ground against me.

After shouting those words, he edged another half inch out of the window, but his hands remained tightly clamped around the frame.

[Oh my God! If my mom bought me all that, I’d gladly let her beat me any day!]

[I’d love to have all of that. Ma’am, are you looking for another son?]

[What’s wrong with you people? That woman has AIDS. Do you really want someone like that as your mother?]

I pulled a bottle of soda from the bag. “Billy, you must be exhausted. You’re probably thirsty too. This is your favorite. Why don’t you have a sip?”

Perched on the windowsill with every nerve stretched tight, Billy was indeed parched. At the sight of the ice-cold bottle beaded with condensation, he could not help swallowing.

“I won’t touch you. I’ll just leave it here. You can take it yourself.” I carefully held the bottle out to him.

The moment he reached for it, I flicked my wrist and splashed the drink all over him.

I had secretly mixed some makeup remover into it. Lori had applied Billy’s makeup sloppily. So as soon as the liquid hit him, the fake blood and bruises began to run.

“Oh, Billy! I’m so sorry. I lost my balance. But why are all your wounds coming off?”

Everyone in the livestream could see the painted marks on his arm streaking and dissolving. They realized that his injuries were fake.

“What are you doing, Stefani? Can’t you just leave Billy alone? Are you really not going to stop until he’s dead?”

Realizing their story was starting to fall apart, Greg quickly tried to divert everyone’s attention. “I can forgive you for having an affair. I can even overlook the fact that you’re sick. But Billy is your son!”

That was exactly the moment I had been waiting for. I strode over and slapped him several times, leaving him dazed and reeling.

I pulled out the medical report I had prepared in advance. “Open your darn eyes and read it! I’m perfectly healthy!”

Then, I turned to Billy. “I don’t even know this Mr. Scott you keep talking about. Billy, what have I ever done to deserve this? How could you spread such vicious lies about your own mother?”

I let the tears flow and began to play the victim. “I nearly bled to death giving birth to you. All these years, have I ever denied you anything you wanted? I give you tens of thousands in allowance every month. Haven’t I been good enough to you?”

Getting Billy down from the window was no longer the priority. What mattered was using the livestream to expose every one of their lies.

I pulled out my phone and opened my chat history with him. I scrolled up to reveal more than a dozen large transfers.

The livestream chat went wild when everyone saw the transfers.

[This is way above my tax bracket.]

[Say no more. I want to be her son. Mommy!]

[This kid has clearly been spoiled rotten. Cut off his allowance and make him work for a month. That attitude will disappear fast.]

“I don’t care about your stupid money! I don’t want more money. I want more love! Why can’t you understand that?” Billy immediately shouted.

He had seen the comments pouring in and knew that the audience was turning against him. Growing agitated, he began waving his arms wildly.

“You don’t love me at all! All you ever care about is work. You didn’t even come home for my birthday, and you’ve been sleeping with another man behind Dad’s back!”

His attention was so completely fixed on me that he forgot about the five-story drop beneath him.

A sudden gust of wind swept past and sent him lurching outward.

“Ah!”

He lost his balance and tumbled out of the window.