Chapter 2

The sound of the shattering vase echoed in the hallway.

I looked at the pink porcelain fragments on the floor, my heart giving a sudden wrench.

That was my mom's favorite piece.

I suppressed the urge to slap her, aiming my phone's camera at the mess and Jennifer's triumphant face.

Video saved, cloud synced.

It was all done in one smooth motion.

Jennifer didn't take my actions seriously at all.

She thought I was just having a fit of impotent rage.

"What? Heartbroken?" She kicked a piece of the broken vase.

"From now on, I don't want to see any of these old-fashioned things around here."

Laura clapped her hands in approval.

"Exactly! Jennifer's the lady of the house now, what's wrong with smashing a stupid vase?"

Kevin was even more outrageous, walking directly to my jewelry cabinet and violently yanking at the drawers.

"What's the password? Let's see if there's anything valuable."

I watched them coldly.

"The drawers have fingerprint locks. Forcibly prying them open will trigger the alarm automatically."

Kevin jumped in surprise, quickly pulling his hand back.

Jennifer glared at me, then turned to soothe her dad.

"Dad, what's the rush? When Musa gets back, I'll have him give you the whole cabinet."

I was tired of watching these clowns, so I turned and went back to my bedroom, planning to settle accounts with them when my dad returned.

That afternoon, the villa completely became Jennifer's family playground.

Laura invited all her friends over, playing music loudly and without restraint in the living room.

Kevin gathered his usual crew of shady friends, having a barbecue and drinking competition by the heated pool.

The place reeked of smoke and alcohol, a chaotic circus.

I put on my noise-canceling headphones and sat in my study, going through company documents.

I had always been the actual controlling shareholder of Victoria Group.

Musa was nothing more than a figurehead CEO, drawing a fixed salary every month.

Now that he'd stirred up trouble and run off, there was a pile of messes at the company waiting for me to clean up.

As I was reviewing documents, my door was suddenly pounded on with earth-shattering force.

I took off my headphones and walked over to open the door.

Jennifer, wearing a high-end designer nightgown and holding a stack of blueprints, stood aggressively outside.

Behind her was a man in a suit, wearing a badge identifying him as the director of a well-known renovation company.

"Victoria, you need to clear out those guest rooms on the first floor, immediately."

She slapped the blueprints against my chest.

"I hired a top designer. We're knocking out the walls on the first floor to build a private cinema and a wine cellar."

I didn't take the blueprints, letting them fall to the floor.

"You're renovating?"

"Duh! This old house has such a bad layout, it doesn't match my status."

The designer stepped forward at the opportune moment, a professional smile on his face.

"Ms. Victoria, I presume? Mrs. Musa has chosen our most premium full-home custom design package."

"The initial budget is around eight million dollars."

I almost burst out laughing.

Eight million dollars? Musa couldn't even scrape together eighty thousand right now.

I looked at Jennifer with amusement.

"Eight million is no small sum. Do you have enough money?"

Jennifer looked as if she'd heard the funniest joke.

She pulled a black card from her bag, held it between two fingers, and waved it in front of my face.

"Open your eyes and look closely. This is a supplementary card Musa gave me before he left."

"Forget eight million, I can swipe eighty million with this!"

I was all too familiar with that card.

Musa had specifically gotten it from the bank to curry favor with me when I graduated college.

The main card was with me; he had always kept the supplementary card to maintain appearances.

Last month, after his investment failed, I directly set the supplementary card's limit to zero.

I took a step back and gestured.

"Since Mrs. Musa is so well-off, then go ahead and swipe it."

The designer immediately pulled out a portable POS machine and presented it to Jennifer with both hands.

"Mrs. Musa, please pay the thirty percent deposit first, which is two point four million dollars."

Jennifer confidently tapped the card against the machine.

"Beep—Transaction failed."