Chapter 1

I had kindly driven my neighbor's son to and from school for a whole year. After his final grades came out, she showed up with her entire family, blocking my garage.

She slapped a claim for fifteen thousand dollars into my hand, pointed a finger at my nose, and yelled, "My son was a genius! But your crappy car jolted his brain so bad, it's ruined! You're not leaving this garage until you pay up!"

I stared at the familiar official seal on the claim form and let out a cold laugh.

She had no idea that the owner of that assessment center was my uncle.

Not only that, I also knew the real reason her son's grades plummeted: she'd taken five thousand dollars meant for his tutoring and spent it all on tipping a sexy male streamer.

Trying to extort me? I'm about to make you lose everything you have, and leave you with nothing.

The underground garage was dimly lit, reeking of a musty smell that never saw sunlight.

I'd just parked my car in my designated spot, and hadn't even unbuckled my seatbelt when three figures suddenly darted out from behind a supporting pillar nearby.

They surrounded my car, blocking the front and cutting off all my exits.

Leading the charge was my dear neighbor, Brenda Hayes.

She was wearing a full face of makeup today, her lipstick a dark, bold shade, her feet clad in four-inch stilettos, and in her hand, she clutched a stack of stark white papers.

Trailing behind her were her husband, David Hayes, who usually greeted everyone with a smile but now had a grim expression, and her mother-in-law, Martha Hayes, notorious in the neighborhood for being an absolute pain.

"Sophia Miller! Get out of that car right now!"

Brenda's shrill voice exploded in the empty garage, echoing piercingly and making my eardrums ache.

I frowned, not getting out immediately. Instead, I lowered my window halfway and stared at her coldly.

"Brenda, what the hell is wrong with you, yelling like this so late at night?"

"What's wrong with *me*?" Brenda let out an exaggerated, cold laugh, storming closer to my car window. She raised her hand and slapped the stack of papers against my windshield with a loud smack.

"Open your eyes and look at what you've done! My perfectly fine son, you utterly ruined him!"

Martha, seeing this, immediately scurried closer. Her bony fingers, dry like tree branches, almost poked through the window gap and into my nose.

"You evil, cold-hearted woman! We trusted you so much, letting you drive our Leo every day! What were your intentions? Do you hate that you can't have kids, so you're jealous of our Leo's intelligence and deliberately messed with him on the road?"

I took a deep breath, suppressing the anger surging in my chest, pushed open the car door, and stepped out.

On the windshield, the white A4 paper was almost blinding. The bold, enlarged title at the top screamed, as if desperate for attention:

*"Compensation Details for Brain Nerve Damage and Intellectual Developmental Delay Caused by Prolonged Vehicle Jolting."*

I looked at that line of text and laughed, enraged. Reaching out, I yanked the paper off and scanned it under the garage's dim light.

The categories listed were even more detailed than a hospital bill.

One-time compensation for intellectual damage: $7,000.

Parental emotional distress: $3,000.

Follow-up brain rehabilitation and nutrition costs: $2,000.

Lost future prospects from failing to get into an elite prep school: $3,000.

The last line was heavily circled in red:

Total: Fifteen Thousand Dollars.

I looked up at Brenda's face, slightly twisted from extreme agitation.

"Fifteen thousand? Brenda, are you trying to extort me, or are you just dreaming in broad daylight?"

Brenda crossed her arms, chin held high, looking smug, as if she had me cornered.

"Extortion? Sophia, don't you dare make baseless accusations! It's all in black and white. This is an official assessment from the most authoritative professional institution in the state! Our Leo used to get perfect scores on every test; he was an absolute prodigy! But ever since he started riding in your clunky car, getting jolted around every day... now his final exam results are out, and he got a D in math! A D! Can you believe it?! The doctor even said it's because of long-term violent jolting, causing severe attention deficit and irreversible brain nerve damage! If you don't pay up, you're not taking another step out of this garage today!"