Chapter 3

"So that's what really happened back then, Dad. I never knew."

Kirsten's eyes lit up.

Oliver let out a low grunt.

"That's a big secret. Right now only you and I know it."

"I just wanted you to understand—if you want to get somewhere in life, you can't be squeamish about how."

"Once Brian and the girl grow up and marry, Ursula's whole fortune ends up his sooner or later."

Kirsten's eyes went brighter still, and she couldn't hold back a laugh.

"You're right, Dad. Word is Ursula's worth over a hundred million. One day it'll all be ours!"

When they'd finished, they left, satisfied.

By then I was grinding my teeth.

Fury burned in me.

Years ago my father went out of town to work with Oliver.

After the money and food he carried were stolen, he met with a freak car crash.

He was gravely hurt. He kept his life, but his left leg was left badly crippled.

It shadowed the better part of his years.

Now that he's old, he can only get around in a wheelchair.

All these years he's kept lamenting his bad luck.

But how lucky, he'd say, to have such a good cousin.

He gave Oliver almost anything the man asked for.

Never dreaming that the man behind it all was that good cousin of his.

I wanted to tell my father the truth right away.

But I was afraid, this late at night, of the shock to an old man.

So I forced it down.

I barely made it to morning.

I stepped outside and looked.

Two rows of big characters had been painted on the door in red.

"Repay a kindness with kindness—only right and proper!"

"Betray the hand that fed you—and heaven will strike you down!"

The walls on both sides of the door were smeared with great sweeps of red paint too.

It was a sickening thing to see.

I was shaking with rage.

But sense won out, and I took photos first to keep the evidence.

Right then my phone rang.

It was Kirsten.

I switched on the recorder first, then answered, to keep the proof.

"Ursula, I sent you a present. Go out and take a look."

I gave a cold laugh.

"The red paint on my door—that was you, wasn't it?"

"That's right. Like it? Keep biting the hand that fed you and I've got plenty of ways to deal with you."

Kirsten's voice was full of provocation.

"Thank you. I like it very much." Instead, I went very calm.

Kirsten fell silent a moment.

She probably hadn't expected me to say that.

Then she gave a cold snort. "Fine, fine, still talking big. You just wait."

And she hung up.

I went back inside, thought it over, and started going through the last few days of home security footage.

Turned out Kirsten hadn't only kept trying on my jewelry and taking a necklace.

She'd actually opened my safe and taken things out of it.

I hurried to open the safe and check.

A one-kilo gold bar was gone.

So were three valuable pieces of jewelry.

Strangely enough, I felt a rush of excitement.

Kirsten, oh, Kirsten.

You're digging your own grave!

Once Mindy woke, we had breakfast and went to my company first.

I dealt with some urgent business, then asked a coworker to look after Mindy.

And got ready to go home and call the police.

But just as I reached the door,

I ran straight into Kirsten and her father Oliver.

Her son trailed behind her.

And so did my parents.

"Ursula, where do you think you're going?"

"Your parents are here now. Still trying to hide?"

Kirsten looked utterly smug.

But I couldn't help laughing.

Better to come at the right moment than to come early.