Chapter 3

Halfway through the engagement banquet, Uncle Gary Fox's wife, Aunt Denise Fox, suddenly pulled out her phone and held it up, comparing it to my face over and over.

"Joy, the more I look at you, the more you look like someone I know online."

She dug up a screenshot of a profile picture and shoved it in my face.

"See? This mom's profile pic, that's got to be seventy, eighty percent you, right?"

"She was in one of the moms' group chats asking if anyone had cheap secondhand kids' clothes to pass on. I even mailed her a few packs of diapers."

"Address was over at Southlake Apartments."

"That's you, isn't it?"

I froze.

After my daughter was born with a cleft lip, I stretched every dollar in two to save up for her surgery.

I'd joined more than a dozen moms' group chats, hoping to pick up gently used baby things cheap, the kind that still worked fine.

One of the women said she'd send me some diapers. I was thrilled, and I gave her my address.

But after the package arrived, she insisted her gold bracelet had fallen inside it and demanded I pay her back for it.

I turned that package inside out and never found a thing.

Still, she went to the group chat and dressed the story up, dragging my name through the mud.

After that, no one dared sell me anything cheap ever again.

Later, I heard she'd found the bracelet in her son's backpack.

But she never posted a single word to set the record straight.

Even now, thinking about it makes my chest tighten.

I glanced at the screenshot in her hand. It was my old profile picture, a photo of me with my daughter and son.

Blurry, and I was a little heavier then, but yeah, seventy, eighty percent me.

I stared at that gloating face of hers, my teeth practically itching.

Better to play along and own it than to deny it.

"Aunt Denise, yes, to save money I did buy secondhand things in those groups for my little brother and sister. That's nothing to be ashamed of, is it?"

"But back then, you accused me of stealing your bracelet and made sure the whole group knew about it."

"And when you found it yourself, why didn't you say a word in the chat? Were you afraid people would find out your son was the thief?"

Denise's face changed. She opened her mouth to fire back.

Then Tyler Abbott, Uncle Gary's son, suddenly let out a scoff.

"A necklace, what's that even worth?"

With that, he grabbed his mother's arm, his eyes lighting up.

"Mom, sell the house. I'm going to drop out and go abroad to do something big!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the whole room fell into that strange silence all over again.

I turned and stared at him, stunned.

If I remembered right, Tyler was a top student, an Ivy League early-admission kid, only a sophomore now, and he'd always been Uncle Gary and Aunt Denise's pride and joy.

Seeing his mother frozen there, he kept going.

"What's the point of an Ivy League degree? You graduate and you're still just working for somebody else."

"I met this guy online who's got connections overseas. You just put money in and it's a fortune, ten thousand back for every one you spend! You can clear tens of millions in a single year!"

"Isn't that a whole lot better than finishing college just to be somebody's workhorse?"

"Mom, you've been saving up money for my wedding house, right? Take it out, quick, I need to invest it!"

"I already gave the school a heads-up and finished the paperwork to withdraw. All that's left is to take my startup capital and fly out!"

Aunt Denise was so furious she couldn't catch her breath, coughing violently.

But Tyler thought she was just overcome with excitement, so he turned to work on Zachary next.

"Zachary! Don't be in such a rush to get married either! Take that wedding money and invest it with me!"

"In a year I'll buy your wife a mansion outright!"

"Then we'll see who isn't jealous of how well you've done..."

The more he talked, the more worked up he got, his face flushing red.

Before Zachary could answer, Vanessa sidled over.

"Little bro, you've really got a way to make that kind of money? Why didn't you tell me!"

"Zachary's an ungrateful leech. You bring him in and not me? What kind of brother does that?"

Tyler scoffed. "You're just a woman, and you've got no money. What are you going to invest with?"

Vanessa's eyes lit up. "I just got married. The bride price and my dowry are all in my hands, who says I've got no money?"

"That old Fox family house is worth something too, isn't it? Sell it and we'll put it all in together!"

The second Aunt Denise heard that, her eyes rolled back, and she passed out cold.