Chapter 5

"Mom, it wasn't me. Do you know who it was?"

"Your grandpa said it was a young woman. The name she registered under was... Olivia Sterling. Do you know her?"

"Yeah. She's living in my villa right now."

The line went quiet for three seconds.

Then my mom's voice changed.

"Em, stay away from her. I'm sending your dad over right now. Your grandpa also mentioned something else."

"What?"

"The contract Olivia Sterling brought in had your grandpa's company seal stamped where the developer seal should be."

My grip on the phone tightened hard.

My grandpa's real estate company really had developed several villas in Clearwater Bay three years ago.

But this villa had been transferred directly from the company to me. It never went through a normal sale process.

Anyone who could get a blank contract stamped with my grandpa's company seal had to have connections inside the company.

I looked up at Olivia.

Her livestream was still going, but the smile on her face was already slipping.

"Okay guys, that's it for today's stream. I need to deal with something personal."

She ended the livestream, and her face turned cold.

"You just said this villa was a gift from your grandpa?"

"Your grandpa is Charles Sterling?"

I noticed her voice trembling slightly when she said his name.

"You know my grandpa?"

Her lips moved, and suddenly her eyes turned complicated.

Instead of answering me, she spun around and ran upstairs.

When I chased after her, I heard her making a call.

"Dad, didn't you say that old man Sterling would never find out? His granddaughter is here now!"

I was standing on the stairs. I heard every word clearly.

I couldn't hear the person on the other end, but Olivia's panic was real enough.

When she hung up and turned around, she saw me coming after her and took a step back until her back hit the hallway wall.

"Don't come any closer."

"Weren't you acting all tough just now?"

Olivia bit her lip, and suddenly her eyes turned red.

The way she switched faces was unreal. One second she was calling me broke on livestream, and the next she was about to cry in front of me.

"I was forced into this too."

I leaned against the stair rail and watched her perform.

"Forced into living in my villa, driving my car, wearing my pajamas, and calling me broke online?"

"The contract is real!"

"The developer seal on that contract belongs to my grandpa's company. My grandpa is Charles Sterling. When he bought this villa, he transferred it straight to me from the company. There was never any purchase contract."

Color drained from Olivia's face inch by inch.

"So where did the seal on your contract come from?"

She said nothing.

Just then, my dad called. I put him on speaker.

"Em, your grandpa wants you back at the family house right now. He knows what this Olivia Sterling thing is about."

"Right now?"

"Yes. Right now. And he sounds furious."

I hung up and looked at Olivia.

"You heard that. Want to come with me?"

"Why the hell should I-"

"You don't have to. I'll call the police right now for illegal trespassing, contract forgery, and identity fraud. Your choice."

Olivia fell silent for a few seconds, then lowered her head and muttered, "I'll change first."

I followed her upstairs and watched with my own eyes as she dug a slip dress out of that pile of delivery boxes, tags still on, from some influencer brand.

My walk-in closet had been trashed. Several coats with the tags still attached had been tossed onto the bed, and one of the cashmere ones was already pilling.

I didn't say a word. I just remembered every bit of it.

When we went outside, Olivia got into the passenger seat of the Maserati on her own.

I opened the driver's door and sat down, and the smell inside made me frown.

Cigarette smoke.

My car reeked of it. There was also an empty Starbucks cup stuffed into the storage compartment on the passenger side, with moldy coffee crusted at the bottom.

"You smoked in my car?"

Olivia stared out the window and didn't answer.

I started the car and drove toward the family house.

Grandpa lived in an old villa neighborhood on the east side of town, about forty minutes from Clearwater Bay.

On the way there, Sophie sent me more than a dozen messages, everything she'd dug up from Olivia's social media accounts.

"Emily, look. Three months ago, this woman was still posting about sharing an apartment with roommates. Then all of a sudden she moves into a villa and gains 300,000 followers."

"She also posted a video before saying her dad worked in real estate, and she shared a photo. Look at who the man in it is."

I opened the photo while stopped at a red light.

In it, Olivia was holding the arm of a middle-aged man, and the background was a real estate sales office.

I recognized him.

Richard Sterling, deputy sales manager at my grandpa's company. He'd worked there for eight years.

My grandpa had treated him well. He'd even given him two raises the year before last.

"Do you know this guy?"

"Yeah."

The light turned green, and I hit the gas.

Olivia Sterling. Richard Sterling.

Same last name. So that was it.