Chapter 3

Belle's face went pale. "Ramona, I know you don't like me, but you can't say stuff like that. Gary, I'm not adopted, right?"

Gary only joined our family when Belle was eight, so he had no idea who she really was. He said, "Of course not, Belle. You're Mr. and Mrs. Willis's real daughter."

The crowd jumped in to back her up.

"I knew it! There's no way Belle was adopted by the Willis family."

"Ramona's just trying to drag her down."

"She thinks calling Belle adopted will make people forget she's the actual illegitimate one, huh? No way."

"Ramona, that's enough!"

Before I could say a word, someone shoved me hard. I nearly fell.

I looked up. It was Elbert Greenwood—Belle's number one fan.

I steadied myself and walked right over. Before anyone could even react, I slapped him across the face twice.

"You touch me again, and your family won't get another dime of business from us," I said coldly.

The Greenwood family only stayed afloat because of the Willis family's support. That was why Elbert always kissed up to Belle.

"You really hit me, huh? Ramona, who do you think you are? Some kind of princess?" Elbert shouted. "Even Belle, the real Willis daughter, doesn't act like you do. You're just an illegitimate brat. You think the Willis family belongs to you, huh?"

He still cared about reputation. Even though he was pissed, he didn't dare lay a hand on me in front of everyone.

I almost laughed at how dumb he was. "The real daughter? Oh, come on. You believe whatever Belle tells you, huh? If she told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?"

I shot him a look, then knocked on the car door. "Open up."

"Don't open it!" Belle yelled, her voice trembling. "Gary, don't open the door! Ramona just hit Elbert. If you open it, she's gonna kill me!"

I didn't back down. "Gary, think hard about what you're doing. Are you opening this door today or not?"

Gary looked back at Belle, who was crying her eyes out, then clenched his jaw. "Ramona, you're out of line. Belle's not feeling well. I'm taking her to the hospital first."

Then he stepped on the gas and took off. The car vanished down the street.

I let out a mocking laugh.

"She says she's not illegitimate, but even the family driver leaves her behind," someone snorted.

"Exactly. Belle would never lie about this. She's always so sweet."

"Some illegitimate brat shows up at the Willis family and starts acting like she owns the place, huh? And she even dares to hit the real daughter. Unbelievable!"

"Belle's way too nice. If it were me, I'd smack that girl hard."

While everyone around me kept mocking me, I kicked Elbert, who was still glaring, then pulled out my phone and started a video call with my parents right there on the spot.

Before time rewound, Gary never came to pick me up from the police station. That was definitely because of Belle.

The driver my parents paid was listening to some adopted girl instead. Gary really was a fool.

He did whatever Belle told him but completely ignored me. He didn't even realize she was using him. What an idiot.

"My sweet girl, what happened? Why are you crying? Who bullied you?" My mom's anxious voice came through the video call.

That was the first time I'd called my parents on video since I came back a month ago.

Before this, whenever they tried to reach out, I ignored them. I hated them. The only updates they got about me came from the butler.

When I thought about everything that had happened to my family before time rewound, I couldn't help but feel heartbroken.

"Mom, Dad, I want to fire Gary," I said.

I wiped my tears and calmly told them what had happened at the school gate.

Their faces turned pale the moment they heard it.

I knew they loved me the most. Sure enough, by the time I got home, Gary had already been fired.

Belle's eyes were red and puffy. It looked like she'd just gotten chewed out.

The whole mood at home felt weird. As soon as Belle saw me, she jumped up and snapped, "Ramona, how could you be so selfish?

"Gary was just worried about me today. He only left you behind because he was rushing me to the hospital. You've got money—why couldn't you just take a taxi home? How could you lie and say Gary hit you just to get him fired?"

The butler and the servants all gave me dirty looks.

Ignoring them, I walked into the dining room and slapped Belle across the face twice. "So what if I got him fired? He left me behind, so I fired him.

"If you have a problem with it, go beg Mom and Dad to keep Gary instead of blaming me.

"Or was it that you never intended to fight for Gary, or deep down you knew our parents wouldn't care what you had to say?

"Did you already forget how you once got on your knees, begging me not to kick you out?"

Belle stared at me in disbelief, holding her face, her expression twisting into rage. Her eyes looked like she wanted to kill me.

I knew she had wanted to kill me the day I came home. Pushing Winton into the lake had just been her warm-up.