Chapter 2

I was just about to tell my people to bring in the transaction records from all those years too.

Cary suddenly snatched the phone out of my hand.

"What does that prove? Did any of those transfer notes say 'loan'? If it wasn't written down, then you gave it freely!"

Isabel jumped in at once.

"The renovation was for your daughter to live in."

"The startup money, you handed that over willingly too."

"As for the mortgage and the car loan, what married couple doesn't pay those together?"

She bent down, picked up the hundred-thousand engagement gift bill, and slapped it hard against my chest.

"This is the only money the Gilbert family actually laid out, cash on the table!"

"And today you're paying it back!"

Then, as if something had just come to her, she turned her head toward the corner of the memorial hall.

"Fine. If you can't come up with a hundred thousand, you can settle it another way."

"Don't you still have a daughter? Let her marry my nephew. That'll clear the debt."

Mia Abbott flinched, clutching her sister's things and backing away a few steps.

The rage inside me boiled over.

"She's only eighteen!"

Isabel let out a scoffing laugh.

"So what if she's eighteen? I've got no problem with it."

"As long as she can wash clothes, cook, and have babies, that's enough."

She waved toward the crowd.

A man in his thirties immediately shoved his way out.

Isabel pointed at Mia.

"See her? Your aunt found you a wife. A full hundred thousand in engagement money!"

The man's eyes lit up in an instant, drool sliding down his cheek.

"Wife!"

He lunged at her, and Mia startled backward.

He grabbed her wrist anyway and yanked her hard against him.

Isabel didn't stop him. She clapped and cheered.

"She won't listen now, but once she's in the door, a good beating will straighten her out."

"Our Dwight Adams may be a little slow in the head, but he's got plenty of strength. He'll get plenty of sons out of her!"

Cary's relatives roared with laughter.

Some of them even pulled out their phones to take pictures.

"Inspect the goods first. Don't end up with another one who can't breed!"

"The sister couldn't have a kid. Maybe the younger one's got the same problem!"

Mia was crying so hard her whole body shook.

I grabbed the metal frame beside the funeral wreath and swung it hard at the man's arm.

"Let go of my daughter!"

The man yelped and let go.

Isabel rushed at me, clawing and tearing in a fury.

"You owe money and won't pay, and you think you're in the right?"

Several of Cary's relatives quickly closed in around us.

The whole crowd shoved and jostled us.

In the chaos, someone yanked Mia's clothes open.

White buttons burst off and scattered, landing in front of Yuna's portrait.

The man's eyes lit up at once, and he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her toward the side room behind the memorial hall.

Mia was terrified.

All ten fingers clawed into the door frame as she screamed until her voice broke, "Dad!"

Something in my chest clenched hard.

Ignoring the pain in my own body, I snapped my head up.

"Cary, make them stop. Now."

"Or I swear I will make you regret this!"