All Chapters of They Missed My Kindness: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"Tell the truth. Did you open it?" Mrs. Couser jabbed a finger inches from my face. "I knew something felt off. Charging one cent to hold packages? So this was the plan the whole time? You see something expensive and steal it?"My head buzzed as heat rushed to my face."Mrs. Couser, how can you even say that? I started this pickup station to help everyone out. One cent doesn't even cover the electricity. Why would I touch your stuff?""Why wouldn't you?" Mrs. Tate cut in with a sneer. "One cent isn't much, sure. But some people stay broke so long they get greedy the second they see something expensive. Three grand is probably more than you'd make in years holding packages.""Mrs. Tate!" My hands were shaking. "I've helped everyone here for six months. Has a single package ever gone missing? Have I ever taken one extra cent?""That's because nothing valuable showed up before!" Mrs. Couser snapped, waving the ripped empty box around. "Then a gold necklace finally arrives, and sudden

Mrs. Tate backed her up immediately, acting like she was being reasonable while hinting my character was "questionable" and saying the low fee had always seemed "suspicious."The mood in the chat started changing.[Really? Annie doesn't seem like the type.][But Mrs. Couser sounded pretty certain. That necklace was worth $3,000.][Sigh. You never really know people. Maybe the whole one-cent thing was just to gain everyone's trust.][Honestly, maybe it's better this way. At least nobody has to worry anymore.]The residents' group chat was just as chaotic.Misled by Mrs. Couser and Mrs. Tate, people who had no clue what actually happened started blaming me too.A few tried defending me, but their messages were buried almost instantly.The resident rep texted me, clearly annoyed.[Annie, you're being way too impulsive about this. Mrs. Couser was obviously just emotional. You could've explained things instead of shutting the whole pickup station down. Now everyone's inconvenience

His shadow swallowed me whole.My chest tightened.One irrational woman was already a nightmare. Now she'd brought backup.Residents walked past us, clearly seeing what was happening, but every single one kept their distance.Nobody stepped in.Nobody even tried.For the first time, I felt completely alone.I forced down the fear and looked him straight in the eye."What do you mean you won't be nice? You gonna hit me? Or keep harassing my job? I'll say this one last time—I didn't take your necklace. If you have proof, call the cops and let them investigate. Blocking me here and threatening me? That's illegal.""Illegal?" Tony let out a harsh laugh. "Stealing my sister's three-thousand-dollar necklace is illegal. I'm telling you right now, if you don't hand it over today, you're not walking through that door."His giant fist waved right in front of my face.Mrs. Couser stood off to the side looking smug as hell.Just then, a police car pulled up outside the apartment buildi

A few seconds later, the girl from Unit 602, Demi, replied in the group chat:[It's mine!! My limited-edition Dior makeup set! It cost $200! I was literally about to go downstairs and grab it! How is it gone already?!]The chat instantly blew up again.[Another package missing??][@management are you guys seriously not doing anything about this?][Who keeps stealing people's stuff?]I messaged Demi privately and got straight to it.[I know who took your package. I have proof. If you want it back, do exactly what I say.]She was shocked and pissed.She agreed immediately.We didn't confront her ourselves.I told Demi to go straight to the management office, ask for the hallway surveillance footage, then call the police.This time, Mrs. Tate was going down in front of the cops.The officers showed up fast.Demi brought one of them straight to Unit 501.Mrs. Tate opened the door.The second she saw the officer standing there next to Demi's furious face, her expression stif

About half an hour later, Mrs. Tate came downstairs.She pretended to look around for a bit before locking onto the small box.Then she pulled the same smooth move as before—looking both ways, stuffing the package into her coat, and hurrying back upstairs.I never appeared in the footage once.The evidence couldn't have been clearer.Mrs. Tate was the thief.I edited together the clip of Mrs. Tate stealing Mrs. Couser's necklace with the earlier footage of her taking Demi's package, then sent the video straight into the residents' group chat.The second it posted, the chat went completely silent.A few seconds later, the messages exploded.[Oh my God! Mrs. Couser's necklace really was stolen by Mrs. Tate!][It's the exact same method! She's done this before!][@Unit 302 Mrs. Couser, open your eyes! You framed an innocent person!][Annie got treated horribly for no reason!][Mrs. Couser owes Annie a public apology!]The entire group turned on Mrs. Tate and Mrs. Couser.Th