Sorry, I Own This Place

The woman in the gaudy short skirt flushed an angry shade of red right before my eyes."What the hell did you just say?!"She let out a furious roar and lunged at me, grabbing a fistful of my collar."Got a sharp tongue, don't you? Do you even know who I am? How dare you talk to me like that?"She shoved me hard against the red sports car, my back slamming into the cold metal.Instead of getting angry, I laughed. "First, I have zero interest in who you are. Second, this is a lawful society, and what you're doing right now counts as assault."But she burst into crazed laughter."I'm Lily Jenkins, and here in Grebour City, I am the law!"I stared at her, speechless. Someone had clearly read too many melodramatic novels.Still, the name Lily Jenkins did ring a faint bell.My silence only seemed to fuel her arrogance. She pointed to a tiny speck of dirt on the car's hood, her smile twisting into something vicious."Scared now? Good. Then use your tongue and lick this spot clean.

Just as one of the security guards reached out, ready to shove my head down onto the hood of the red sports car, the glass doors of the auto shop swung open from the outside.Walking in was my mother-in-law, Wendy—and behind her, my husband, Leo.The moment Lily saw them, her arrogance vanished, replaced instantly by joy and obsequious flattery. She let go of me at once and hurried forward, looping her arm through Wendy's as she began to complain."Wendy! Leo! You came just in time!"Look at this blind fool! Not only did she insult the Penzo family, but she tried to smash my car!"I was just about to teach her a lesson—show her what the Penzo family is capable of!"She twisted the truth without a shred of shame, piling every bit of blame onto me.My mother-in-law's expression darkened to pitch black.She had always despised me for my ordinary background—for being a 'useless' researcher she believed unworthy of her son. In the past three years, she had never once shown me a plea

Leo had long since lost his senses. "No… I don't want a divorce…" he murmured, his voice hollow and broken.Regret tore through him—regret that he hadn't stepped forward to defend me when it mattered.Wendy's entire body trembled violently. More than anyone else, she understood exactly what my words meant.Like a madwoman, she lurched toward my car, trying to grab the window—trying to seize the last strand of hope slipping through her fingers."Samantha! I was wrong! It was my fault! Please—give me another chance!"But she barely took two steps before the bodyguards behind me reacted instantly. The wall of black-suited men blocked her.At that moment, Leo finally snapped out of his shock. He stumbled to my window, crying, panic twisting his face."Samantha… I'm sorry… please don't leave me…"His voice broke, every word a trembling mess."My mom… she didn't mean it… I… I just…"I looked at him quietly. I looked at the face I had once loved so deeply.Now, the tears on that fa

The night before I left Grebour City, several of its top business tycoons organized a farewell banquet for me.Halfway through the event, I stepped onto the terrace with a glass of wine to get some air. Carmen approached, her expression strangely tense."Samantha… Leo is here."My brows pulled together. "How did he get in?"At an event of this level, security was airtight, and invitations were strictly tied to real names.Carmen sighed. "He begged an old family friend of the Penzos to use their invitation slot. The security guards just realized it. Do you want me to have someone escort him out?"I shook my head. "Forget it. Let him be. I don't want tonight turning into a spectacle."I thought he only wanted to see me from a distance. I underestimated how shameless he could be.When I left the terrace and returned to the banquet hall, a waiter "accidentally" spilled an entire glass of red wine down the front of my suit jacket.I took off my jacket and headed for the lounge to

The police and ambulance arrived quickly. The scene was sealed off at once, plunging everything into chaos.Leo was lifted onto the ambulance, his fate still unknown.And from the driver's seat of the wrecked black sedan, the person dragged out was… Lily.She had somehow gotten out of the detention center.Blood streamed down her forehead, yet her face twisted into a bizarre, deranged grin.Pinned to the ground by the police, she still shrieked in my direction, "Samantha! You bitch! I came here to kill you! Didn't expect it, did you?! How could I have missed! I missed!"So her target… had always been me.She hated that I had destroyed her family, hated that I had driven her into ruin. She was willing to pay any price to drag me down with her—no matter what it cost.Leo was nothing more than a pitiful casualty in her frenzy for revenge.At the hospital, the light above the emergency room stayed on for what felt like an eternity.Leo's parents rushed in. In a single night, they