Chapter 3

So much for family. Blood ties didn't mean a thing when there was something to gain.

I pulled out my phone and, with an air of casual indifference, sent off a message.

Then, I looked up at Patrick and Kelsey, who were waiting for me to get down on my knees, and smirked.

"You want to jump?" I questioned with a scoff. "This is the second floor. The worst you'd get is a fracture. However…"

My gaze landed on Kelsey's suspiciously oversized chest, and my voice took on an eerie tone.

"If the impact is too hard and those implants really do burst, what leaks out won't just be silicone but also your—"

"Shut up!" Kelsey shrieked, her voice so rough that it cracked.

She seemed to realize she'd slipped up and immediately clamped a hand over her mouth, staring at me with sheer terror in her eyes.

Patrick, desperate to cover his embarrassment, jabbed a finger at me viciously.

"Jillian, I'm giving you ten minutes to think it over! Either sign the agreement or be utterly ruined! Your choice!"

With that, he grabbed Kelsey and stormed out the door, supposedly to calm her down. But it was more likely they were regrouping to figure out their next move.

All the other relatives trickled away too, leaving behind a mess of scattered chaos and my parents sighing in despair.

After they'd gone, Dad sat on the couch, chain-smoking one cigarette after another. Shrouded in swirling smoke, he seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.

"Jillian, maybe we should just pay our way out of this trouble. Is that video actually real?" he asked hoarsely.

Even my own father was starting to doubt me.

The saying of "a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes" couldn't be more true.

"Dad, do you trust me?" I walked over and crouched down in front of him. Then, I took hold of his rough, weathered hands before continuing, "I'm a doctor and obsessive about cleanliness—both physical and moral. That video is fake, and so is Kelsey."

Dad lifted his bleary eyes to look at me. His lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing.

Just then, there was a knock—no, a pounding at the door.

"Jillian, time's up! Open up!" Patrick's voice, thick with impatience and greed, came through the door.

I rose to my feet and smoothed out the creases in my clothes.

If they were so hellbent on digging their own grave, who was I to deny them?

I walked over to the entryway and opened the door.

Outside the door were Patrick, Kelsey, and the entire peanut gallery of relatives who thrived on drama.

They were even holding printouts with screenshots of an explicit video. Though the images were censored, the side profile and figure did bear some resemblance to me.

Clearly, they'd prepared these props well in advance.

"So? Have you made up your mind?" Patrick waved the property transfer agreement in his hand, grinning smugly. "Sign this, and I'll burn these photos right now. You have my word that no one will ever see them."

Kelsey stood behind him, having already touched up her makeup, back to that lofty socialite demeanor.

She leaned in close to my ear and hissed venomously in a voice only the two of us could hear, "Jillian, I know you never made any video. I had someone create it with deepfake. But so what? No one actually cares about the truth.

"All anyone cares about is a juicy story. So what if you're rich and successful? I'll still crush you. Now hand over the apartment like a good girl, or I'll make sure your name is dragged through the mud so bad that you'll wish you'd never been born."

I looked at her overdone face and smiled even brighter than she did. Then, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tapped the button to stop the recording.

I gently waved it in front of Kelsey's horrified eyes, saying, "Kelsey, I've recorded everything you just said. However, it seems you've forgotten something."

I stepped aside from the doorway and made an inviting gesture. "Come on in. Signing something this important should really be done in front of the whole family to be legally binding, don't you think?"

Patrick, thinking I'd finally caved, was overjoyed. He shoved past me and swaggered right in.

As rattled as Kelsey was, she steeled herself and followed Patrick inside after seeing how confident he seemed.

The whole family had gathered in the living room once again, the atmosphere even more suffocating than it had been during dinner.

Patrick slapped the agreement down on the coffee table and shoved the pen into my hand.

"Quit stalling! Sign it now!"

I picked up the pen but didn't sign right away.