"Hannah, you bitch!"

My cousin, Quinn Burton, finally snapped out of her shock. She stormed up to me while glaring at me.

"What the hell did we ever do to you? Why are you ruining us like this? If anything happens to my parents, I swear I'm going to make you pay!"

As she said that, she raised her hand, ready to slap me.

I instinctively dodged, and her hand missed by inches.

Seeing me avoid her slap only made Quinn more enraged. She grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the wall.

"How dare you dodge? You're just an orphan! If my parents hadn't been kind enough to take you in, you would've starved to death on the streets long ago!"

The sudden pain made real tears spill from my eyes. "Let go of me!"

"Let go of you? I'll beat you to a pulp today!"

Quinn suddenly sneered. "Hannah, you're just jealous because I have everything and married a great husband, while you're nothing but worthless trash!"

She flaunted her diamond watch and casually tossed her Porsche car keys in the air.

"See this? This is power! Lucian is the CEO of a major company. With just a snap of his fingers, he could make sure you never set foot in Avendale again!

"Now, get on your knees and apologize to my parents right now. Otherwise, I'll make sure you're out of Avendale by tomorrow, begging for change under the bridge!"

Her words made the relatives who had been trying to break up the fight freeze. They all turned their attention toward me.

I pressed my hand against my throbbing forehead and looked at her timidly. "Quinn, I'm not jealous. I'm just worried about you."

Quinn stared at me for a second, then burst into laughter. "Worried about me? You're a loser who can't even take care of yourself, and you're worried about me? Are you out of your mind?"

I lowered my head and replied softly, "No, Quinn. I think Lucian's company… might be in trouble."

"What do you even know?" Quinn sneered, sizing me up with disdain.

"You probably don't even understand stock charts. Lucian's company is about to go public. When it does, I'll be a billionaire's wife! And you? You'll always be nothing but trash!"

"But…" I raised my head, blinking innocently.

"I saw on the news yesterday that there's something called a Ponzi scheme, and it targets people like you… who want to be rich wives."

I tapped my phone a couple of times and showed her the screen.

A financial news clip was playing. The anchor was delivering a report. "Zentara Group is under investigation for illegal fundraising. The police have intervened…"

Quinn's smile immediately froze.

"Hannah! Are you trying to ruin our family's Christmas?" she screamed, lunging to grab my phone.

"Give me that! How dare you fake this garbage to make up lies? I'll call the cops and have you arrested today!"

I dodged her again. Just as I was about to speak, her phone suddenly rang.

When Quinn saw who was calling, her face lit up with newfound confidence. "Hmph! Lucian is calling me! You said he's a fraud, right? Just watch!"

With that, she answered the phone and put it on speaker. "Honey, you need to hear this. My cousin said you're a frau—"

"Honey! Help me!"

Before she could finish her sentence, her husband Lucian Lowery's frantic voice cut her off.

"I've been arrested! The police are here! All our money has been frozen! Help me!"

In the background, a stern voice commanded, "Don't move! Hand over your phone!"

A series of mechanical beeps followed.

The call was abruptly cut off.

Clutching the phone, Quinn stood there in shock.

I watched as the color drained from her face and walked over to pat her lightly on the shoulder. "Quinn, don't be too upset. I looked it up. That car you're driving is rented. Daily rental is 2,000 dollars, and the deposit is 50 thousand dollars."

I picked up the Porsche key from the floor and handed it back to her. "You'd better return it now, or the penalty fees for late return will be on you."

The entire Christmas Eve dinner had turned into chaos, and I figured it was time for the main event.

Sure enough, with a loud thud, my 80-year-old grandma, Eleanor Hull, made her grand entrance. "This is ridiculous!"

Leaning on her cane, Grandma hobbled out and began lashing out at me without asking anything. "You jinx! You troublemaker! You've turned this whole family upside down!

"You will get on your knees right now! Apologize to Adam, Caleb, and Quinn, or I'll announce in the newspaper that I'm disowning you!"

As I looked at the biased old woman, all the last remnants of any warmth in my heart evaporated.

I took a step back, pretending to be scared. My voice trembled as I cried out, "Grandma, why? Uncle Adam and Uncle Caleb were the ones fighting, and Quinn even hit me! Why should I be the one to kneel?"

"Why?" Grandma sneered.

"Because you're an ungrateful wretch! Quinn married a great husband. She's the pride of this family. And you? What are you? Who do you think you are, comparing yourself to them?"

As she spoke, she raised her cane as if to strike me.

I cried out in fear. "Don't hit me! Grandma, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have aired the family's dirty laundry. I shouldn't have mentioned money. Please don't be mad!"

At the mention of money, Grandma's expression turned even darker. "How dare you bring up money? You ungrateful brat! I raised you from nothing, and now you want to settle the accounts with me?"

Tears clouded my eyes, but I nodded vigorously. "Yes, Grandma. You're right, I shouldn't have thought about settling the accounts."

I wiped my tears and quietly said, "But I've never understood. When my dad's insurance payout came after the accident, you said it was only 100 thousand dollars, and you used it all for my tuition. But when I went to the insurance company, the claim was actually two million dollars…"

I took out a copy of the insurance report from my bag. "And back then, you took 200 thousand dollars from my dad's payout and gave it to Uncle Adam, saying it was for my dad's treatment."

I paused and carefully glanced at Uncle Adam, whose face had turned ashen. "Why, then, did that money end up in a casino transaction in Montara?"

I blinked and looked at Grandma with an expression of pure innocence. "Did you ask him to go there? Could that casino cure my dad?"

Grandma's face was drained of color. Her eyes went wide with disbelief as she looked at Uncle Adam.

But he slowly turned around, completely unshaken. "Hannah, looks like you really are losing it."

Uncle Adam sighed and walked toward me, his presence imposing. "Everyone, Hannah's been mentally unstable ever since she lost her parents. She's shown me this fake document before."

He stopped in front of me and looked down his nose. With a low, threatening voice, he said, "Hannah, I know you've been struggling. If you need money, just ask, and I'll give it to you. But using a fake document to slander us and even attempting to extort us? That's a crime."

"Whether it's a forgery or not, one simple check will prove it!" I spat through gritted teeth while clutching the paper in a death grip.

"It has your signature on it, and the transaction records!"

Uncle Adam suddenly laughed, his laughter dripping with contempt.

He lunged forward and snatched the paper from my hands before tearing it to shreds. "Now, there's nothing left to check."

He leaned in close and whispered maliciously, "Yeah, I took the money to gamble and lost it all. So what? That short-lived father of yours was a lost cause. Leaving money to him would've been a waste anyway. In this house, I'm the law. What are you going to do about it?"

After that, he took a step back and shouted to the relatives around us, "You all saw that! This crazy brat not only forged evidence, but she also stole the gold watch I had on the table during the chaos! That's a Rolex worth over 100 thousand dollars!"

"What? She stole something?"

The relatives, who had been quietly observing, erupted at once.

Between rich, powerful Uncle Adam and an introverted, broke niece, they didn't hesitate to side with the former.

"I knew she was up to something!"

"Call the cops! She needs to be arrested!"

Aunt Zoe, ignoring the swelling on her face, lunged forward and pointed a finger at me, screaming, "No wonder she was lurking in the corner earlier. Turns out she was stealing!"

Trembling with rage, Grandma pounded her cane on the floor. "What a disgrace to this family! An absolute disgrace! Adam, lock her up! Don't let her get away!"

"Security!"

At Uncle Adam's command, two men rushed in from outside. "Grab this thief and lock her up! No one lets her leave without my say-so!"

As Uncle Adam looked at me, cornered against the wall, he slowly straightened his cuffs with a sinister grin. "Hannah, you just had to choose the hard way. Today, I'll teach you some real respect on behalf of your dead parents."

The two bodyguards advanced on me, one on each side.

My relatives watched coldly, some even smirking.

My back was pressed against the wall, and I had nowhere left to retreat.

"Uncle Adam."

I raised my head, meeting his arrogant gaze. The corner of my mouth lifted in a small, defiant smile.

"Do you really think tearing up that paper means you've won?"

"What can you even do now?" Uncle Adam scoffed and contemptuously patted my face.

"Hannah, have you forgotten your place? You think this is some kind of TV drama? You're going to pull off a last-minute comeback against me? You're just a jobless, unwanted orphan. What do you have to fight me?

"In this house, if I say you're a thief, then you're a thief! If I say you're crazy, then you're crazy!"

He turned around and waved a hand toward the two bodyguards. His tone was bone-chilling. "Why are you just standing there? Tie her up! Search her body! Find the damn gold watch!"

The bodyguards moved immediately, advancing on me.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed, frantically waving my arms to push them away. In the struggle, I accidentally scratched one of them.

"Fuck! You scratched me?"

The man raised his hand and slapped me across the face. The impact rang in my ears and drew blood from my lips.

"Stay still! Don't make this worse for yourself!"

The bodyguards shoved me against the wall, patting me down all over.

They emptied my pockets and rummaged through my bag, scattering my belongings all over the floor. Yet, the gold watch wasn't there.

Uncle Adam's expression darkened, and he pointed at my clothes. "Search her clothes! Who knows where she's hiding it? Strip her if you have to. Just find that watch!"

"What?" I jerked my head up, staring at him in disbelief.

"Adam Burton! Don't push it! First you search me in public, and now you want to strip me?"

Aunt Zoe, still holding her swollen face, spat venomously. "She deserves it! Let her get what's coming to her! This shameless bitch should be stripped so everyone can see what she really is!"

Quinn even pulled out her phone and started filming excitedly. "Everyone, look! We've caught a thief! I'm posting this online and making you famous!"

The bodyguards reached for my collar again.

I looked around at the relatives enjoying the spectacle, and my heart turned to stone.

"Uncle Adam, are you sure you want to do this?"

Uncle Adam frowned at my sudden calmness. "Shut up! Do it now! Strip her!"

Just as they were about to tear my clothes off, the front door of the villa suddenly slammed open.

Startled, everyone turned toward the sound.

A group of men in black suits and sunglasses marched in.

Then, a middle-aged man in a dark gray suit strode in, followed by two lawyers.

At the sight of the man, Uncle Adam's face went deathly pale. His knees buckled, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. "M-Mr. Turner? What brings you here?"

Alfie Turner was the second-in-command at the company's HQ, where Uncle Adam worked. He was a high-level executive Uncle Adam wouldn't normally even have the chance to meet.

Alfie scanned the room. The moment his eyes landed on my disheveled state, he strode over and let out a furious roar. "How dare you?"

He kicked one of the bodyguards who was holding me, sending him flying. "Who gave you the nerve to lay a hand on Ms. Burton?"

"M-Ms. Burton?"

Uncle Adam stood frozen, as did Aunt Zoe, Quinn, and all the relatives.

I rubbed my wrist slowly, adjusted my clothes, and smiled at the stunned Uncle Adam. "Uncle Adam, let me introduce myself again."

I took a file from Alfie's hand and lightly slapped it against Uncle Adam's pale face.

"I'm the chief auditor sent by the HQ, codename Grim Reaper. You were asking earlier what I could do? Well, this is my answer, Uncle Adam."