Chapter 2

The neighbors crowding around were floored.

"So she stole from them! That's why she got thrown out!"

"A necklace worth over a hundred grand. That's years in prison."

"She pulls a stunt like this and still has the nerve to come out here and make a scene."

The way they looked at Kirsten now was pure contempt.

Kirsten's face went pale.

"She's slandering me. I only tried it on and forgot to put it back, that's all."

"You've got so much jewelry. What's the big deal if I wear it once? I'm your cousin, after all!"

"Don't blow this out of proportion and use it to fool everybody."

She sounded so convincing that the neighbors started to waver.

"Oh, so they're cousins. Then trying it on isn't such a terrible thing, I suppose."

"Could this Ursula have made up an excuse to run her off just to save on wages?"

Watching some of them fall for Kirsten's act, I was so angry I almost laughed.

"Then where's my necklace? You want to give it back to me right now?"

Kirsten panicked all over again.

"That, well, I accidentally left it at home for now..."

The moment she said it, the crowd erupted.

"So she took the necklace home. If that's not stealing, what is?"

I pressed my hands down, motioning for everyone to quiet down.

"First of all, I already gave her a thousand dollars."

"She worked ten days. I paid her a full month's wages."

"And I didn't throw her out because she stole the necklace. I only found that out just now."

"I threw her out because she kept insisting my daughter be betrothed to her son. She said her father saved my father's life, so my family owes hers."

"But my daughter is only nine this year..."

I wasn't even finished before the crowd blew up.

"That's outrageous. Who arranges a child betrothal in this day and age?"

"She's using the fact that her dad supposedly saved this woman's dad to guilt-trip them into it."

"So she's the one twisting everything around. That woman is shameless!"

Under the crowd's accusations, Kirsten's face turned a mottled purple.

Like a rat caught in the open, she slunk away.

She glanced back at me once, her eyes full of venom.

The others urged me to call the police right away.

Worried about Mindy alone upstairs and scared, I didn't linger long and went up.

"Mommy, I'm scared." The moment Mindy saw me, she burrowed into my arms.

"Don't be scared, Mindy. It's okay." I soothed her softly.

Mindy pouted, her whole face crumpling.

"That lady kept saying she wanted me to be her son's wife. I thought she was just joking with me."

I couldn't help but clench my fists.

So Kirsten had been up to no good all along.

By the time I'd settled Mindy to sleep, it was deep into the night.

I was about to go wash up when my phone suddenly got an alert from the door system.

Someone had been lingering outside the door for a long time.

I pulled up the camera outside.

Kirsten and her father, Oliver Chavez, were skulking around at my door.

Oliver was carrying a bucket of red paint.

Kirsten held a brush, dipping it in the red paint and smearing it across the door.

"Kirsten, your old man's got plenty of tricks. Don't you worry, they'll come around."

"Like they say, a man who can't be ruthless is no man at all. Back then, if I hadn't stolen her father's money and his food supplies—"

"then staged the crash, and run him off the cliff—"

"and turned right around and saved him, would he have spent his whole life bowing and scraping and letting me do whatever I pleased?"

Oliver said it with a smug look on his face.

Never once realizing every word was being recorded by the security cameras.