Chapter 3

I let out a cold laugh.

"Not leaving, huh? Fine."

I took out my phone and dialed building management straight away.

"Hello, security? There's an old woman in my apartment who won't leave, and she dragged in a bag of rotting garbage too. Could you come up and deal with it?"

The mother-in-law's eyes went wide. She couldn't believe I'd actually call security.

Alvin rushed over and snatched the phone right out of my hand.

"Narelle, are you crazy? That's my mother!"

"You apologize to her right now!"

I stared him down without flinching.

"Why should I apologize?"

"She brings a pile of rotten vegetables to disgust me, and I'm supposed to be grateful?"

"Alvin, get one thing straight. My family paid the down payment on this apartment, and I'm the one paying the mortgage."

"This is my home, and she's not welcome here."

The mother-in-law was shaking with rage. She dropped onto the floor and started throwing a fit.

"Alvin, look at this! This is the fine wife you married!"

"So much for filial duty. It's a miracle she hasn't driven your mother to her grave!"

Alvin hurried to pull her up, then whipped his head around and roared at me.

"Narelle, you're going to kneel and apologize to my mother today!"

"Otherwise this isn't over!"

I looked at the mother-in-law on the floor, then at Alvin's twisted face.

The last shred of hope in my heart died completely.

"Kneel and apologize? Keep dreaming."

I turned, walked into the bedroom, and locked the door.

No matter how they cursed outside, I ignored them.

The scene out there dragged on for another ten minutes or so.

Only when the building security actually came up and knocked did the mother-in-law follow Alvin out, still cursing.

The apartment was finally quiet.

I came out of the bedroom and threw the rotten vegetables, plastic bag and all, into the trash.

Then I started packing my things.

Since I was going to divorce, there were valuables I needed to take with me first.

I opened the bottom drawer of the wardrobe and took out the jewelry box.

Inside was the gold jewelry my mother had given me as a dowry.

All told, it had to be worth over a hundred thousand.

But when I opened the box, it was empty.

A ringing went off in my head.

No one had broken in.

The only possibility was Alvin.

I called him immediately.

It rang a long time before he picked up, his tone impatient.

"What do you want now? I'm out having dinner with my mother!"

"Where's my dowry jewelry?" I got straight to the point.

There were two seconds of silence on the other end.

"Sold it."

I was shaking with fury.

"That was my dowry. What gave you the right to sell it without my consent?"

Alvin wasn't the least bit guilty. If anything, he sounded righteous.

"What's yours, what's mine? Once you're married, it's community property!"

"My brother's getting engaged soon, and the bride's family bumped up the wedding gift money by a hundred grand at the last minute."

"My mother couldn't come up with that kind of money. As the older brother, was I supposed to just stand by?"

I could hardly believe my ears.

"You give your mother thirty thousand a month. Over two years that's more than seven hundred thousand!"

"And now you're telling me she can't even scrape together a hundred grand?"

Alvin had his justifications ready.

"What do you know! My brother spends a lot on his dating."

"And a while back, to keep up appearances, he bought himself a nice car."

"Whatever money Mom had was gone long ago."

I could hardly believe my ears.

"So all that money you gave your parents out of filial duty actually went straight into Oscar's pocket?"

"Seven hundred thousand isn't enough for him, so now you're selling my jewelry to plug the hole?"

Alvin flared up too.

"Watch how you talk! That's my own brother!"

"Besides, that jewelry of yours is just sitting there anyway. What's the harm in using it to help the family?"

"My brother's fiancée comes from a family with real money and connections. If he marries into it, our family stands to benefit down the road too."

"You just have no head for money. Long hair, short on sense!"