Chapter 2

"Margaret, bring me some water," Mary said.

The system said, "She's talking to you."

Me? I hurriedly poured several glasses of lukewarm water and walked over.

Mary gulped it down and started again, "You actually went to work as a waitress at a hotel? Didn't we give you money? Or are you just trying to embarrass us on purpose?"

1 million!!!

I'd either erupt in silence or perish in it.

I rolled my eyes beside them. "Sure, sure. You transfer 150,000 bucks a month to Sophie's account, but in eight years, you gave Charlotte a grand total of 1,500. Of course you gave her money. She could totally buy a car, a house, and live it up with that."

You could hear a pin drop.

Everyone's eyes were on me. Charlotte even forgot to cry. Sophie's smug smile froze on her face.

"What do you mean by that?" Richard sat up straight, his voice cold.

I wouldn't back down even if a CEO tycoon stood before me. That was just how we broke folks were.

I gritted my teeth, mustering all my courage. "The missus says she gave Charlotte money. May I ask when and where? I've never seen the missus give Charlotte any money at home."

Mary glared. "We, of course, transferred it to her card."

"Is that so? Then show us the transfer records," I shot back.

Mary shot a sharp look at Charlotte. "Is this what you've been telling people? That we mistreated you, didn't give you money?"

Charlotte shook her head repeatedly. "Mom, I never told anyone that."

Of course she hadn't. I read it in the book.

"You dare lie and slander us in front of others too?" Mary cursed and raised her hand to slap Charlotte.

The system scoffed, "Is that all you've got? Just stirring the pot?"

"Watch and learn," I shot back mentally. Then, I pushed Mrs. Evans aside and shouted, "Why so defensive, ma'am? Just show us the transfer records."

Mary looked at me in disbelief. "How dare you. How dare you lay hands on me!"

Richard and Eric moved to shield her. "What are you doing? Assaulting someone?

"Margaret, what is this? You've been with our family for so many years, don't you know us? How could we possibly mistreat Charlotte?

"Sister, quick, talk some sense into Margaret! She's only lying and causing trouble because she's angry on your behalf."

"How shameless. Claim you gave money but can't produce the records, getting defensive and even trying to hit someone, now playing the victim. Is this the upbringing of the Evans family?" I fired back.

Richard's face turned ashen. "Show her the transfer records."

All eyes turned to Mary.

Mary's voice trembled. "Didn't... didn't you transfer it to her?"

"See? Cat got your tongues?" I slammed the table so hard it shook.

Heavenly. Absolutely heavenly.

The feeling of a wage slave finally cursing out the boss was so satisfying that it made my scalp tingle.

Plus, I'd wanted to curse them out while reading. Now I got to do it to their faces. "Bragging for a lifetime about giving your real daughter a measly $1,500 eight years ago?

"If Charlotte didn't work, was she supposed to scavenge through trash?

"Look at you all, well-fed and plump, with your fat heads. Can't you see Charlotte is malnourished, thin as a rail?"

Charlotte tugged at my sleeve. "Margaret, stop."

I brushed her hand away and tapped her forehead. "Stop, stop, stop. Did your mom die? Your dad? No money, no love, just slaps and a storage room to sleep in."

Richard and Mary's faces looked worse than corpses dead for months. "Why didn't you say you had no money?"

"Charlotte, you're so scheming. You deliberately didn't say anything, letting Mom and Dad assume the other was giving you money, so you could accuse us of abusing you, right?" Eric, whose brain seemed permanently squashed, yelled, eyes red.

Hearing my thunderous tirade, the system seemed to have shrunk away somewhere, not daring to utter a word.

"Say something? Hasn't Charlotte told you, Richard Evans, many times? And Mary Evans, search your conscience, hasn't she told you too?" I fired back. "And what did you say? 'Don't be materialistic, adults don't earn money easily'? What kind of bullcrap was that?

"And you, Eric Evans, didn't your sister ask to borrow money once? Do you know what she needed it for? The elderly lady who found her was hospitalized, and she was desperate. That's why she asked you. And what did you say?

"You said, 'I knew it, you only came back for money. Forget it, everything at home belongs to Sophie and me.' You sounded like an asshole."

The three of them suddenly fell silent because those were indeed their exact words.

Richard opened his mouth, and after a long pause, finally said to Charlotte, "I... I didn't know. You should have made it clear to us."

Charlotte looked up at him. "I did. I said I had no money, that no one gave me any. You told me to ask Mom for it."

"And Mom told me to get lost," she added.

I stared at Mary in disbelief. "What kind of mother says that to her child? Did you bring Charlotte back just to harvest her organs or something?"

The others were also shocked, but upon hearing my words, they looked at me like I'd just eaten something disgusting.

A lightbulb went off. "Oh, I get it. If not for organs, then it must be for a dowry, right?

"You invest nothing, wait for Charlotte to grow up on her own, then cash in a huge bride price. What a foolproof business plan."

Richard said, "We were wrong about the money. We brought Charlotte back simply because she's our child. We had no ulterior motives."