Tiara shifted the conversation back to me. I put down the snacks silently.

Just then, Marcus came home too. When he noticed what Tiara was wearing, his face immediately turned cold, and they started arguing again.

I took the opportunity to slip back into my room.

"Who are you dressing up like that for every day?"

"I'm doing it to make money. If you could earn enough, would I need to go out and make money?"

"Make money? You haven't brought home a cent, but you've taken all the family's savings and invested it."

"Do you even know what investing is? You have to be willing to take risks if you want to catch a big fish. Just wait until the day I strike it rich!"

...

I cracked the door open quietly and peeked at the two of them having an intense argument in the living room.

My mom seemed used to it. She didn't even try to break them up, just took Damian, and went back to her room.

I heard that Tiara was now doing business with Ansley, supposedly in investments. She had invested all of the family's savings in hopes of making much more money.

A few days ago, she even tried to get her hands on my mom's pension. When my mom found out, there was a huge argument.

Now, Tiara had her sights set on the people around her.

Tiara seemed to be pretty popular. From what I heard, she'd already convinced a few friends to invest with her.

She was showing off at the table, bragging about the referral money she got for bringing in new investors.

Then she got a phone call that changed her expression.

It was from Damian's kindergarten.

He had gotten into a fight with another child.

When I got there, I found out the little girl he fought was named Jamiya Frey.

Jamiya saw that Damian wasn't talking and no one wanted to play with him, so she offered him her toy bear to play with.

But after Damian took it, he wouldn't give it back.

When Jamiya tried to take it back, Damian bit her on the arm.

I saw Damian's eyes burning red, like a fierce little beast.

Tiara didn't react much until Jamiya's parents demanded compensation for medical expenses.

That was when she exploded. "Your kid provoked mine first! Why should we pay for the medical expenses?

"It's just a little money for medical expenses! Do you think we can't afford it?"

Seeing that she was about to get into a fight, I quickly stepped in to stop her.

Finally, under the kindergarten director's mediation, Tiara reluctantly paid the medical expenses.

On the way home, she didn't stop cursing.

She even praised Damian for what he did, saying he did the right thing.

By then, Damian had returned to his usual silent self.

According to Tiara, her son only stepped in when it really mattered.

She didn't seem to notice anything strange about Damian and was even telling me enthusiastically how she'd sign him up for extracurricular classes once she got a bonus from the company.

When we got home, we found a crowd of people blocking the doorway.

As soon as they saw Tiara, they surrounded her.

"Tiara, I trusted you as a friend, and that's why I gave you my money. How could you cheat me?"

"Exactly! We've been friends for years, and you still swindled my money!"

"I even invested all of our savings behind my wife's back! You told me it was a guaranteed profit! What are we supposed to do now?"

...

Everyone was shouting at once, and Tiara hadn't even figured out what was going on.

Then someone else stepped forward. "We went to that company today, but the janitor told us they moved out a few days ago. There's no company there now."

"What? You're just making stuff up! That company belongs to a close friend of mine. There's no way I wouldn't know if something happened."

Tiara pulled out her phone and called Ansley, but no one answered after a long time.

She kept calling, but still, no one picked up.

Finally, she heard the message saying the phone was turned off.

Tiara's face turned pale instantly, but she still wasn't willing to give up.

She took a taxi to the company's location, only to find it was empty.

When she returned home, utterly defeated, the whole family had already heard about what happened.

"I told you Ansley wasn't trustworthy! Now look what happened! All the money is gone. She's nothing but a con artist!"

"How could this be? She said she'd help me make money!"

"What! Help you make money? She was after your money the whole time."

Marcus sneered from the side.

His words seemed to snap her out of it.

"What good does it do to say that now?

"This is all your fault! When I asked you if doing business with Ansley was a good idea, you said it was!"

Tiara turned her gaze toward me.

She was trying to shift the blame onto me.

"Tiara, I never encouraged you to do business with that woman. All I said was, 'It's up to you!' I thought you were an adult who could make your own decisions. Anyway, wasn't it because you didn't know how to judge people? This has nothing to do with me.

"Besides, weren't you the one who said you were good friends? Who could've guessed it?" I said innocently.

2.2 Conflict Over the Scam