Chapter 2
Olivia let out a shriek.
"My father is Charles Sinclair, Chairman of Sinclair Holdings! I'm his only daughter! Everyone in Metro City knows that!
"Who are you, some nobody who crawled out from under a rock, to question who I am? You're just after money, aren't you? Pathetic!"
She crossed her arms, jutting her chin out.
"I see what this is. You're trying to shake us down for cash! Well, dream on!
"This engagement is off. Olivia is the heiress to Sinclair Holdings. A broke loser like Ethan isn't even fit to shine her shoes!"
Ethan was just staring at her, stunned into silence, so the malice in her eyes intensified.
Olivia suddenly lunged, grabbing his hand and crudely trying to rip the ring from his finger.
I had designed that ring myself. It was a simple band, but the inside was engraved with their initials, forged from a special alloy that shimmered differently with the wearer's body heat.
It was the only real blessing I, as his screw-up of a sister, could give him.
"Give it back!" Ethan finally roared, lunging to get it back.
"Give it back?" Olivia sneered, yanking her hand away. "You think you deserve this?"
She held the ring between her thumb and forefinger as if it were a piece of trash and sauntered over to the massive, floor-to-ceiling aquarium.
"You love it so much? Why don't you go for a swim with it!"
With a flick of her wrist, the ring sailed through the air and landed with a soft plunk in the tank, sinking to the bottom among the priceless Arowana.
"Olivia!" Ethan screamed, his eyes instantly turning bloodshot. He looked like a wounded lion, ready to tear her apart.
"Ethan!"
Alisa cried out, grabbing him in a desperate hug to hold him back.
I stared at the faint glimmer of metal on the white sand at the bottom of the tank. The slow burn of my anger finally erupted into a full-blown inferno.
"That's enough," I said.
My voice was quiet, but it sliced through the chaos, silencing the entire room.
Everyone's head snapped toward me.
I walked right up to Olivia, who was still smirking triumphantly, and met her gaze. My own felt like ice.
"Apologize."
"What?"
She stared at me as if I'd lost my mind.
"You want me to apologize? Are you insane?"
Lexi jumped in front of her daughter protectively.
"How dare you! You're the one who's crazy! Security! Where is the security? Get these hooligans out of my house!"
A man in a butler's uniform stepped forward, making a firm gesture toward the door.
"If you all don't leave immediately, we will call the police."
I looked around at the ugly, sneering faces in the room, and the last shred of trust I had for Charles crumbled.
If he truly had nothing to do with these people, how could they be so brazenly acting like they owned his home?
"The police?" I sneered. "Go ahead. I'd love to see who they arrest, us or the con artists who've taken over a house that doesn't belong to them."
My calm composure clearly rattled them again.
"What... what are you talking about?" Lexi sputtered, her bravado failing her.
"Oh, nothing," I said, my gaze sweeping across the lavishly decorated room, pausing for a moment on a few seemingly random details.
"I'm just surprised you don't know about Mr. Sinclair's little quirks. For instance, he's a notorious neat freak. Those tulips in the living room are flown in from overseas. They require fresh water every morning at nine o'clock sharp, and only the finest imported glacial water will do.
"And that painting in his study, the reproduction of 'Travelers Among Mountains and Streams'? It's his prized possession. He keeps it in a climate-controlled case that must be maintained at exactly 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit and 55 percent humidity. Not a fraction off."
With every word, Lexi's face grew paler.
These were Charles' obsessive, intensely private habits, things no outsider could possibly know.
"How... how could you know that?" she stammered, her voice trembling.
Olivia, finally sensing that something was deeply wrong, lost her arrogant swagger. It was replaced by a look of pure confusion.
I ignored her and turned to the butler.
"You must be new," I said with a dismissive smirk. "Can't even recognize the lady of the house? When did the Sinclair family lower their hiring standards so drastically?"
The butler flinched under my stare and took a half-step back, suddenly hesitant.
An eerie silence fell over the room.
Finally, Olivia couldn't take it anymore. She fumbled for her phone, her fingers flying across the screen as if it were her last lifeline.
The call connected, and she immediately burst into theatrical sobs.
"Dad! You have to come home! There are people here, making a scene! They're bullying Mom and me! If you don't get here, they're going to throw us out!"
She was crying her eyes out, whining and complaining.
After she hung up, a flicker of her old confidence returned. She planted her hands on her hips.
"Just you wait! My dad is on his way. We'll see how tough you are when he gets here!"
I just watched her, silent. Inside, I was laughing.
"Charles, let's see you talk your way out of this."