Chapter 1

At my husband, Matt Blanchard's, funeral, I forced my in-laws, Albert Blanchard and Thelma Sampson, to sign a document relinquishing their rights to his inheritance.

Thelma kneeled on the ground in a frail manner. Her eyes brimmed with helpless tears.

"Debbie, Matt is gone now! That means we're going to have to rely on you from now on. Please, you can't treat us like this…"

Her face was ashen, and she wouldn't stop coughing either. She looked like she was terminally ill.

I withdrew my arm in disgust. She stumbled and fell to the ground, and the loose pills for her blood pressure that she kept in her pocket spilled out onto the ground and scattered across the floor.

Both Albert and Thelma were shocked. They looked up at me in astonishment, and their cloudy eyes were filled with utter disbelief. They simply couldn't believe that their usually virtuous, obedient, and soft-spoken daughter-in-law would treat them like this.

Even their relatives stared at me in shock and disbelief.

"Deborah Everett! Are you out of your mind? They are your in-laws! How could you treat them like this? Have you forgotten how well they treated you in the past?"

Albert and Thelma trembled as they defended me from the relatives, shielding me behind them. They spoke up for me and said, "Debbie isn't like what you say she is. We know that she must have her reasons for doing this to us."

However, I couldn't care less about their words and coldly said, "Well, if you can't stand me treating them like this, then you can bring these two old hags home and care for them instead."

Everyone fell silent when they heard this.

When Matt's second granduncle, Robert Blanchard, realized what was happening, he retorted angrily and said, "You're their daughter-in-law! It is your duty to care for them! Why are you pushing the responsibility to us instead?"

My duty?

I scanned the group of hypocritical monsters and smiled coldly at them.

In my previous life, it was precisely these same people who forced me to serve Albert and Thelma for the next 20 years by using moral blackmail against me.

After Matt died, Albert and Thelma begged me not to abandon them by remarrying. And when I recalled the past kindness they'd shown me, and my relationship with Matt, I found myself softening to their pleas. I eventually decided to stay and support Matt's broken family.

However, 20 years of hard work took a major toll on my health, and I even developed stomach cancer in the end. Yet, it wasn't until I was on my deathbed that I realized that Matt wasn't dead at all!

He had faked his death in the car accident, effectively dumping the responsibility of caring for his parents on my shoulders, whilst he lived a happy, carefree life abroad with his mistress, Laura Donnelly.

I felt like a fool for being duped by him and his family for 20 whole years!

As I recalled the deception in my past life, resentment began burning like a wildfire in my chest, nearly consuming my entire being.

They wanted to be the villains of the story, didn't they? Well, I was just going to prove that I could be even more devious than them too!

I chuckled coldly and forcefully grabbed Albert's and Thelma's hands, inked their fingers, and pressed the fingerprints on the inheritance relinquishing agreement.

Then, I put the documents away smugly and didn't bother wasting any more of my breath on them before throwing my in-laws out of the house.

I slammed the door shut amidst the screams and curses from Albert, Thelma, and the other relatives. Then, I hired a lawyer, Clifford Bryant, and gave him an address in the Paldives, asking him to help me investigate something and record some video evidence.

Matt Blanchard could run, but he certainly couldn't hide from me!