Chapter 4

I thanked Mr. Jones, took pictures of the authorization letter for evidence, and drove into the complex.

The villa was lit up.

I stood at the door, looking at the light spilling from the upstairs bedroom through the curtains, and the anger in me kept rising in waves.

Someone had taken over my house, and I still had to stand at the door and ring the bell?

I keyed in the passcode and opened the door myself.

The sight in the living room made my blood pressure shoot through the roof.

My couch was piled with delivery boxes and clothing bags. Half-eaten takeout sat on the coffee table, the red chili oil already congealed and giving off a nasty smell.

There was a huge stain on the wool rug, like someone had spilled red wine all over it.

My mom brought that rug back from Istanbul. Handmade, and worth about 13,000 dollars.

Before I could blow up, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Who is it? How can you just walk into someone else's hou-"

Olivia Sterling stood at the turn of the staircase, wearing my silk pajamas, a face mask on, and holding a glass of red wine.

She froze for a second when she saw me, then looked me up and down.

"Who are you?"

I almost laughed from sheer disbelief.

"You're living in my house, driving my car, wearing my pajamas, and you're asking who I am?"

Olivia peeled off the face mask, revealing a polished face underneath.

She really was pretty. Big eyes, high nose, pointed chin, a textbook influencer face. But her expression control was next level. After hearing me, she didn't even twitch a brow.

"Oh, so you're that broke loser who was hating on me online."

She strolled down the stairs at an easy pace, her slippers stepping across my rug, adding another footprint right beside the wine stain.

"What, saw the video and tracked me down? Gotta say, I'm impressed by the effort."

She set her wineglass on the coffee table and crossed her arms while looking at me.

"But showing up here won't help. This house is mine."

I stared at her for three seconds.

Either this woman was one hell of an actress, or she had some serious backup. Otherwise, there was no way she'd stand in someone else's house and act this damn confident.

"Your house? Is your name on the deed?"

Olivia smiled, and there was something weirdly certain in that smile.

"The deed? Have you ever even seen what a deed looks like?"

She grabbed her phone off the table, pulled up a photo, and held it in front of me.

The photo showed a purchase contract. The villa's address was right there, and under buyer, it clearly said Olivia Sterling. The date was three years ago.

I glanced at the contract, and my heart skipped.

The format was real. Contracts filed with the Land Registry Office did look like that.

But when my grandpa bought this villa, he paid in full, and I signed the purchase contract myself.

"That contract is fake."

"Fake?" Olivia laughed out loud. "It's fake just because you say so? Who do you think you are?"

She turned on her phone camera and pointed it at me.

"Come on, say hi to my followers. This is the broke hater from today's comments, and she actually tracked me all the way to my house. Isn't that hilarious?"

She started livestreaming.

Thousands of viewers poured in instantly, and the comments flew so fast they were almost impossible to read.

"Holy shit, she really came to your house? No shame at all!"

"Call the cops, sis! People like this belong in jail!"

"She looks exactly like her profile pic. Definitely had work done!"

"This is creepy. People will do anything for clout these days."

Olivia put on a pitiful expression for the camera.

"Guys, look at this. She broke into my house in the middle of the night. I'm so scared."

Watching her act, I actually calmed down.

"You said your dad bought this house for you?"

"Yeah. My dad bought it. So what?"

"Then what's your dad's name?"

Olivia's eyes flickered, but she recovered fast.

"What's it to you? You think you're worthy of knowing my dad's name?"

The livestream comments instantly echoed her.

Right then, my phone rang.

It was my mom.

"Em, your grandpa just called me. He said someone took our purchase contract to the Land Registry Office to pull the file. Was that you?"

I glanced at Olivia.

For the first time, her expression cracked.