Chapter 4
Callie's face drained of all color, turning as pale as a ghost.
"A tool..." she muttered to herself. "I'm a tool?"
She whipped around to face Vincent, her voice so sharp that it felt like it could pierce my eardrums. "Vincent, is this true? Tell me. Tell me everything written here is a lie."
Vincent collapsed on the couch like a lifeless heap, unable to look at her.
Clover was the first to react.
She snatched the agreement and stared at the terms, her eyes glued to the page. "The house. The shares. Are they all given to Henry? And what about Callie? She's gonna get nothing?"
She understood everything in an instant. The Bennett family had been played for fools from the start.
She was shaking with rage, pointing right at Margaret's nose as she started yelling, "Oh, you Booth family, you really are calculating.
"You used my daughter as a weapon to go after your daughter-in-law. And once you got what you wanted, you kicked us to the curb? You cunning bastards."
Margaret was completely frazzled at this point.
Seeing her son act so spinelessly, she could barely contain her anger.
But at that moment, she had to keep a lid on things.
She tried to explain, "Hey, please calm down, this is all a big misunderstanding. We are always planning to make it up to Callie."
"A misunderstanding?" Damien let out a cold laugh.
He'd been silent this whole time, but now he was shooting daggers with his eyes. "You treat my whole family like fools, and you call that a misunderstanding? My daughter's reputation is ruined because of you two shameless bastards."
With those words, he raised his belt.
This time, it wasn't Callie he was after. It was Vincent.
Vincent recoiled in fear, scrambling to hide behind Margaret. "Don't... Don't hit me."
Margaret threw her arms out, shielding her son like a fierce mother hen. "What are you trying to do? Are you trying to start a fight?"
The living room was in complete chaos, like a madhouse.
Curses, cries, and screams echoed through the room, blending into a wild uproar.
I picked up the glass of water from the table and took a leisurely sip.
It was as if the whole farce unfolding in front of me had nothing to do with me.
My calm stood out sharply against their chaos.
The whole room went quiet for a second, everyone staring at me.
I set the glass down with a quiet clink. "Are you finished? If you're finished, it's my turn to talk."
My gaze swept over everyone in the room: Margaret, Vincent, Callie, Clover, and Damien.
"You really think this was just about asking Vincent's cousin to have a kid for him?" I asked.
Everyone was stunned by my words.
"Isn't it?" Clover said.
I gave a cold laugh. "Of course not. This whole thing was a setup from the very beginning, with me as the target. They want to kick me out with nothing and drag my name through the mud."
I looked at Vincent. "Vincent, tell them. If I'd found out about your affair and insisted on a divorce, what would you have done?"
Vincent's lips trembled, but he couldn't get a word out.
"Since you won't talk, I'll spell it out." I stood up and walked to the center of the living room. "You and your precious mom would've dumped all the blame for not having kids on me.
"You would've spread rumors everywhere, got relatives and friends to testify that I was sleeping around, and that's why I couldn't get pregnant.
"You would've faked evidence, accused me of cheating on you, and turned everyone against me.
"And in the end, you would've made sure I walked away with nothing after the divorce. Isn't that right?"
Vincent's face wasn't pale. It was ashen, drained of all hope.
Margaret was more stunned, staring at me in disbelief.
She had never imagined I'd know all their schemes cooked up right there in her bedroom.
"How... How do you know?" Margaret blurted out.
"Of course I know." I pulled a tiny little recorder out of my pocket.
With everyone staring at me in shock, I hit play.
The recorder played back Margaret and Vincent's voices, loud and clear.
"Mom, what if Kylee finds out about Callie and insists on a divorce?" Vincent asked.
"What are you scared of? We'll say she can't have kids. I'll call up some of my old friends and have them gossip everywhere that she's got health issues and a bad character," Margaret replied.
"And the money..."
"Not a dime for her. Kick her out. No way our Booth family's money goes to some outsider."
Every word on that recording cut right to the bone.
Callie and her parents were left speechless, staring in shock.
They finally realized how deep they'd been dragged into this dirty game.
They were not only tools, but also disposable pawns in this whole plot.
If I hadn't uncovered the truth, Callie would've ended up as the slut who seduced a married man. The Booth family would've kicked her aside, and she'd be stuck with that reputation for the rest of her life.
When the full horror finally dawned on Callie, she screamed in utter despair.
She was like a woman possessed, lunging at Vincent and Margaret. "You lied to me. All of you lied to me!"
Chaos erupted once more.
I just watched coldly.
Then I switched off the recorder and said one last thing, "By the way. The other person named in the agreement, Henry Booth, should be here any minute now."
As soon as I finished speaking, the doorbell rang right on cue.