Chapter 3
Did she seriously think she could push me around?
She looked at her classmates in disbelief and asked, "Do you all think I'm the one who's wrong?"
Monica immediately jumped in. "Isn't it obvious? Chloe's mom bought that fancy cake from overseas, so her family must be rich. She might not have known it would go bad.
"You got some fake truffle from somewhere, tried to shake down Joseph for 900 thousand dollars after being rejected. How is that not your fault?"
Everyone was backing Chloe up, just because they thought her family was wealthy and powerful.
I couldn't be bothered to argue anymore. I held out my hand to Monica and said, "If you want me to pay, you gotta give me my phone back."
"Be quick," Monica said, handing over the phone.
However, the next second, I bolted as fast as I could.
Scrolling through the messages from Cohen, I saw the proof was solid. Kelly had indeed stolen from us, and the police were on their way.
I ran out of the school and grabbed a cab back home.
As soon as I stepped out of the cab, Kelly rushed over, collapsing to the ground and wailing.
She said, "Ms. Larson, you can't do this to me. I've been working for the Larson family for years. I may not have done much, but I worked hard.
"How can you have Cohen call the police on me over something so trivial, something that's basically worthless to you? You're so mean. Don't you think it's a bit too much?"
I ignored her twisted logic and walked straight past her to Cohen. I asked, "Cohen, have you totaled up how much Kelly stole?"
"All done," Cohen replied, handing me the data he'd compiled.
Unlike last time, when the total exceeded ten million, I discovered it early this time.
Chloe hadn't officially started dating Joseph, so she hadn't begun her extravagant spending. The total only came to hundreds of thousands of dollars, but it was still enough to land her in prison.
Cohen suddenly cut in. "Ms. Larson, over the past few years, Kelly took about 50 thousand dollars. The remaining was stolen today, and the items are still in her room."
I was still in shock when the cops showed up.
Kelly collapsed outside the gate, utterly defeated, as if she'd known this moment would come, silent and broken.
After Cohen explained everything to the police, and they were about to take Kelly away, she suddenly went off the rails, yelling like crazy.
She screamed, "Ginny, you won't get away with this. Just wait, my son-in-law will become the richest man, and when he gets me out, I'll enjoy endless wealth and glory. And that day will be your end."
It suddenly hit me that Chloe was probably given another chance, like me. She also came back with memories of her previous life.
I immediately checked the villa's security footage and saw that Kelly had stolen the items just an hour ago, ten minutes before Cohen began his investigation.
Right before that, Kelly had been on her phone, crying and laughing like she was totally losing it.
When Kelly was taken away, she left everything behind, so I immediately asked Cohen to find her phone.
The first thing I saw was a message from Chloe.
Chloe: [Mom, I've got a boyfriend now. Trust me, in ten years, he'll be the richest guy in Avermont. He will take over everything the Larson family has.]
Chloe: [You'll never have to work as a nanny again. He'll make you the wealthiest woman in Avermont, but right now, I need a ton of money. I have to win his heart while he's still struggling.]
Chloe's manic, self-assured message revealed just how eager she was to marry Joseph and become the dazzling, wealthy wife she had been in her previous life.
There was nothing wrong with chasing a good life, but she shouldn't have taken everything from me out of greed and caused my family's death.
This time, her fantasy was about to come crashing down.
I immediately canceled Joseph's credit card and suspended all his one-on-one lessons.
The police had already frozen Kelly's accounts. Even if every penny in them went to repay me, it still wouldn't cover her theft, but I refused to let Chloe spend another cent.
Ten minutes later, the class group chat exploded with mentions of me.
[Ginny, where are you? Weren't you supposed to cover the hospital expenses?]
[It's 20 thousand dollars. Hurry up and give us the money.]
[You can't just run away. Don't think you can disappear from school forever.]
[Someone as shady as you deserves to get kicked out of school.]