Chapter 3

"Making money off the dead, do you have no shame? Your whole family of shameless people won’t get a dime from my boyfriend, not even in death!"

With that, Xena ordered her group to smash everything in the house to pieces.

It was only then that I noticed she had brought a large crowd with her. There were at least twenty or thirty people, all armed with sticks.

The memorial photo was knocked off the wall and landed face down on the floor, scattering shards of glass everywhere.

The expensive porcelain vases I had just bought for the old family home were worth tens of thousands of dollars. They toppled one by one, sending shards flying and cutting my legs.

I wanted to stop them, but when I glanced at the newly installed security camera on the wall, I swallowed my words.

"Xena, the things you’re smashing are worth over a million dollars. If you can afford to pay for the damages, go ahead and keep smashing."

Xena, thinking I was insulting her, suddenly went berserk and slapped me hard across the face.

"What’s with your attitude? What’s with your attitude? You’re spending my boyfriend’s money! I’ll smash it all! What are you going to do about it?"

She grabbed my hair and dragged me across the floor. My silk dress was torn apart by the porcelain shards, and the sound of fabric ripping filled my ears.

Instinctively, I covered my chest, but I noticed the crazed look in Xena’s eyes.

"This dress looks expensive too, doesn’t it? My boyfriend bought it, didn’t he? Take it off! Give me back everything my boyfriend bought you!"

Realizing something was terribly wrong, I desperately held onto my dress, trying to appeal to Xena’s conscience.

"Even if your boyfriend cheated, you should be taking it out on him, not on me!"

But Xena had already called over a few people to pin down my hands and feet, violently tearing at my clothes.

"If you hadn’t seduced Zac with that slutty body of yours, he wouldn’t have fallen for it! It’s all your fault! What did he do wrong?"

Just as she finished speaking, the last piece of clothing was ripped off me.

She laughed as she raised her phone, taking pictures while muttering, "Aren’t you such a tease? Let’s see what your family thinks when they see this. Let’s see what the internet has to say about you!"

Hearing this, the relatives who had been watching with amusement now wore lecherous smiles, and several people pulled out their phones to film me.

My head spun as a familiar feeling of dread washed over me.

Years ago, I had been in this exact situation. Sally had treated me the same way.

I never expected that, at her funeral, I would be humiliated like this again.

Just as I was about to close my eyes in despair, Ruby burst in with five bodyguards.

The bodyguards were all highly trained fighters, and in a few swift moves, they knocked down several people and surrounded me protectively.

Now the relatives began to stir.

"What are you guys doing, hogging all the fun? We haven’t had our fill yet!"

"Exactly, why do you get to watch, but we don’t? What kind of nonsense is that?"

One of the bodyguards, enraged by these words, backhanded a middle-aged man who had been spewing obscenities. The man clutched his stomach in pain, crying out as blood trickled down his face.

Seeing the brawl spreading to them, the crowd erupted, grabbing whatever they could find and charging in. In no time, the small room was packed with people, and chaos ensued.

Even the most professional bodyguards could not hold their own against so many. Zac’s relatives and the people Xena brought suddenly teamed up, fighting off the bodyguards to keep them from reaching me.

Xena crouched down next to me, a triumphant smile on her face.

"Oh, look at the queen bee with her bodyguards! Let me guess, you used Zac’s money to pay for them too?

"You really think you’re marrying into wealth? Have you lost your mind?"

My gaze swept past Xena and over the ugly, wicked faces around me, finally landing on the glittering urn.

I raised my hand and gave Xena a defiant smile.

"So what if you’re losing it? Zac still chooses to spend his money on me.

"See that urn? It cost eight hundred thousand dollars! Zac paid for it in full! If you’re so tough, go ahead and smash it!"

Xena looked in disbelief at the spot I was pointing to, then suddenly stood up.

"So that eight hundred thousand dollars really was spent by you, you shameless woman!

"And for what? A worthless funeral for your family? Why should my boyfriend pay for that?

"Does your family deserve something so nice? Do you deserve a single cent of my boyfriend’s money?"

Cursing as she went, Xena walked over to the table. She grabbed the custom-made urn and hurled it to the ground with all her might.

"I’m smashing it on behalf of my hubby! Your whole family can go to hell!"