Chapter 3

The entire Christmas Eve dinner had turned into chaos, and I figured it was time for the main event.

Sure enough, with a loud thud, my 80-year-old grandma, Eleanor Hull, made her grand entrance. "This is ridiculous!"

Leaning on her cane, Grandma hobbled out and began lashing out at me without asking anything. "You jinx! You troublemaker! You've turned this whole family upside down!

"You will get on your knees right now! Apologize to Adam, Caleb, and Quinn, or I'll announce in the newspaper that I'm disowning you!"

As I looked at the biased old woman, all the last remnants of any warmth in my heart evaporated.

I took a step back, pretending to be scared. My voice trembled as I cried out, "Grandma, why? Uncle Adam and Uncle Caleb were the ones fighting, and Quinn even hit me! Why should I be the one to kneel?"

"Why?" Grandma sneered.

"Because you're an ungrateful wretch! Quinn married a great husband. She's the pride of this family. And you? What are you? Who do you think you are, comparing yourself to them?"

As she spoke, she raised her cane as if to strike me.

I cried out in fear. "Don't hit me! Grandma, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have aired the family's dirty laundry. I shouldn't have mentioned money. Please don't be mad!"

At the mention of money, Grandma's expression turned even darker. "How dare you bring up money? You ungrateful brat! I raised you from nothing, and now you want to settle the accounts with me?"

Tears clouded my eyes, but I nodded vigorously. "Yes, Grandma. You're right, I shouldn't have thought about settling the accounts."

I wiped my tears and quietly said, "But I've never understood. When my dad's insurance payout came after the accident, you said it was only 100 thousand dollars, and you used it all for my tuition. But when I went to the insurance company, the claim was actually two million dollars…"

I took out a copy of the insurance report from my bag. "And back then, you took 200 thousand dollars from my dad's payout and gave it to Uncle Adam, saying it was for my dad's treatment."

I paused and carefully glanced at Uncle Adam, whose face had turned ashen. "Why, then, did that money end up in a casino transaction in Montara?"

I blinked and looked at Grandma with an expression of pure innocence. "Did you ask him to go there? Could that casino cure my dad?"

Grandma's face was drained of color. Her eyes went wide with disbelief as she looked at Uncle Adam.

But he slowly turned around, completely unshaken. "Hannah, looks like you really are losing it."

Uncle Adam sighed and walked toward me, his presence imposing. "Everyone, Hannah's been mentally unstable ever since she lost her parents. She's shown me this fake document before."

He stopped in front of me and looked down his nose. With a low, threatening voice, he said, "Hannah, I know you've been struggling. If you need money, just ask, and I'll give it to you. But using a fake document to slander us and even attempting to extort us? That's a crime."

"Whether it's a forgery or not, one simple check will prove it!" I spat through gritted teeth while clutching the paper in a death grip.

"It has your signature on it, and the transaction records!"

Uncle Adam suddenly laughed, his laughter dripping with contempt.

He lunged forward and snatched the paper from my hands before tearing it to shreds. "Now, there's nothing left to check."

He leaned in close and whispered maliciously, "Yeah, I took the money to gamble and lost it all. So what? That short-lived father of yours was a lost cause. Leaving money to him would've been a waste anyway. In this house, I'm the law. What are you going to do about it?"

After that, he took a step back and shouted to the relatives around us, "You all saw that! This crazy brat not only forged evidence, but she also stole the gold watch I had on the table during the chaos! That's a Rolex worth over 100 thousand dollars!"

"What? She stole something?"

The relatives, who had been quietly observing, erupted at once.

Between rich, powerful Uncle Adam and an introverted, broke niece, they didn't hesitate to side with the former.

"I knew she was up to something!"

"Call the cops! She needs to be arrested!"

Aunt Zoe, ignoring the swelling on her face, lunged forward and pointed a finger at me, screaming, "No wonder she was lurking in the corner earlier. Turns out she was stealing!"

Trembling with rage, Grandma pounded her cane on the floor. "What a disgrace to this family! An absolute disgrace! Adam, lock her up! Don't let her get away!"

"Security!"

At Uncle Adam's command, two men rushed in from outside. "Grab this thief and lock her up! No one lets her leave without my say-so!"

As Uncle Adam looked at me, cornered against the wall, he slowly straightened his cuffs with a sinister grin. "Hannah, you just had to choose the hard way. Today, I'll teach you some real respect on behalf of your dead parents."

The two bodyguards advanced on me, one on each side.

My relatives watched coldly, some even smirking.

My back was pressed against the wall, and I had nowhere left to retreat.

"Uncle Adam."

I raised my head, meeting his arrogant gaze. The corner of my mouth lifted in a small, defiant smile.

"Do you really think tearing up that paper means you've won?"