Chapter 3

A son?

Herman and I had been together five years, and he and Melinda already had a son?

Through the camera, I watched Melinda pick up the video call.

On the screen was a middle-aged woman, holding a little boy of about three in her arms.

The boy babbled and reached out: "Mommy, Daddy..."

Herman lit up at once. "Son, Daddy misses you so much."

And the middle-aged woman was no stranger. She was Herman's mother.

The first thing Belinda Gilbert said was:

"Son, hurry up and marry that little bitch Nellie Pruitt."

"Once you're married, then find a way to kill her off. Then her whole fortune is ours, isn't it?"

The words turned my blood cold.

I truly never imagined that Belinda, who had always treated me like her own daughter, could be this vicious.

So it turned out every kindness she'd shown me had been an act.

And I understood something else too. Herman and the rest of them meant to wipe me out and take everything, leaving me not a single heir behind.

It was terrifying.

I'd been heartbroken about Herman cheating with Melinda.

But now the heartbreak vanished in an instant.

All that was left inside me was fear.

Herman said quickly, "Mom, we're at the house. Don't say things like that. If she hears you, it's over!"

He looked at the little boy a while longer, then shut off his phone.

Melinda asked, a little anxious, "Nellie's not going to suddenly come to the master bedroom, is she?"

Herman scoffed. "Relax. I put sleeping pills in her milk. She's out cold for sure."

Only then did Melinda relax. "She's got no brains either. Every time you drug her, she just drinks it."

Herman looked pleased with himself. "Her parents are both dead. I'm all she's got to lean on. So when I bring her milk, to her it's a gift. Of course she'll drink it."

I clenched my fists.

Suddenly I felt like my whole life had been a failure.

Because it was exactly as he'd said. Ever since my parents passed, I'd only leaned on Herman more.

Every time he was good to me, it moved me half to tears.

And only now did I know that all of it had just been how he kept me under his thumb.

Then I started going back through the older footage, and by the end I was so furious I laughed.

Melinda came at least three times a week.

And every time she came, I was drugged.

They did it right there beside me...

And sometimes, even though I was already out cold, I'd be made to take part along with them.

Melinda would often wait until I was dead asleep, then slap my face while she cursed at me:

"We're both women. Why does your family get to be so well-off, a perfect match for Herman?"

"I'm impressive too. Why does my family have to be so poor?"

No wonder there'd been a few mornings I woke up with a swollen face. It had been Melinda hitting me.

And Herman and I were a perfect match?

My family had been wealthy for generations. Herman came from an ordinary family.

I didn't dwell on it any longer. Instead I sent all the surveillance footage that didn't expose me to my personal assistant and told him to get in touch with the lawyers.

Then I told him to sell this mansion too. It was filthy.

Jeremy Swanson asked: "How far do you want me to take it?"

My finger hovered over the phone screen a moment. "Jeremy, you've been at my side since college. You should know I never let anyone get the better of me."

Jeremy replied at once: "Understood! No mercy. Wipe them out."