All Chapters of You Want My Life? Pay the Interest First: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The air at the dining table instantly froze. Mom slammed her fork down onto the table so hard the porcelain bowls hummed. "Have you lost your mind, Irene Campbell? Why are you keeping score with your own brother?" She sprang to her feet, jabbed her finger in my face, and fumed. "You're a woman. You're bound to get married off sooner or later. Why on earth are you competing with your brother? "If you don't give this house to your brother, are you planning to hand our family's assets to an outsider? You're his older sister. Don't you know that you're supposed to look out for him?"There it was again. In my previous life, those words, "You're his older sister. You're supposed to look out for him", weighed me down like a death sentence. I had paid for my brother, Elio Campbell's, tuition, paid off his credit card bills, and even drained my savings to scrape together the down payment for his house. In the end, I had been bled dry until I couldn't even borrow 30 thousand dollars for

The moment I sent those texts, my phone started vibrating furiously again. Mom sent me ten voice messages in a row. Every single one was filled with shrill curses. "Have you lost your mind, Irene? Are you seriously going to drive your own family to death over 700 thousand dollars? Bonnie was so upset that she had to go to the hospital for fear of a miscarriage! If anything happens to the baby boy in her belly, I'll make you pay with your life!"Looking at the freshly bandaged burn on the back of my hand, I let out a derisive chuckle. I casually pulled up Bonnie's social media feed. It had been updated just three minutes ago. "I went through so much today. My hubby bought me a 100-thousand-dollar designer bag to cheer me up!" The photo attached showed a limited-edition Hermès against the backdrop of a fine dining restaurant. I took a screenshot of it, sent it to Mom, and added a note for good measure. "Consider this your final reminder. You have 60 hours left to pay me the 70

Elio's hand that was holding a massive king crab pincer was frozen stiff in midair. His mouth was still stuffed with crab meat, comically looking like a duck that had been strangled. Oblivious, Mom still fumed at me through the phone. "You bitch, even if you call the cops, I'm still the one who gave birth to you and raised you—"Before she could finish her sentence, the lead officer lunged forward and seized her by the shoulder. His voice rang out, loud and commanding, "Nora Martinez! Elio Campbell! You're suspected of home invasion, extortion, forgery of company seals, and large-scale fraud. We're taking you into custody in accordance with the law! Cuff them!" The cold clink of metal reverberated throughout the room as a pair of gleaming handcuffs snapped around Elio's wrists. At that moment, the pompous, overbearing atmosphere in the private room completely shattered. "What do you think you're doing, officer? On what grounds are you arresting my son?" Like a woman possessed,

The officer in charge mercilessly cut Mom off, "The legal system doesn't bend to your whims, Nora. Do you think you can just take the fall because you want to? "The surveillance footage clearly shows that your son was the one who assaulted Irene, forged her signature, and masterminded the loan fraud! You're an accomplice and an accessory at best. No one can save him now!"After Mom heard that, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted in her chair.…Bonnie's comeuppance arrived even faster. After being kicked out of the hospital once the tests confirmed she was fine, she was so terrified that she packed her bags that very night and fled back to her parents' home.Yet, the moment she stepped through the door, her mother, who had learned that Elio had been arrested for fraud and robbery and was facing ten years in prison, immediately turned on Bonnie. "I told you the Campbells were unreliable, but you insisted on marrying into it, you jinx! Look at you now, married to a convict. Do

Three months later, as the biting winds of early winter swept in with freezing rain, the criminal case finally went to trial in the district court. As the victim, I sat in the front row of the gallery. The moment the bailiffs brought Elio and Mom into the courtroom, I could barely recognize them. Mom was gaunt beyond recognition. Her hair, which had previously been dyed jet black and styled in glossy curls, was now more than half gray. Elio, on the other hand, looked like a walking skeleton, his eyes vacant. The judge struck the gavel, and the trial officially began. The prosecutor opened by reading the indictment, laying out each of Elio's charges—forging a company seal, defrauding the victim of 300 thousand dollars, breaking into the victim's house and committing robbery, and extortion. The moment the judge asked the defendant whether she disputed the allegations, Mom suddenly dropped to her knees in the dock as if she'd lost her mind. Her voice was hoarse as she wailed at th