At that moment, I understood Tanya's intention. She wanted to frame me, making it look like I had pushed her down the stairs so my parents would see me as a vicious person.
The live comments also started celebrating too soon.
"Tanya knew there were cameras in the villa, but she deliberately chose a blind spot to fall down the stairs. Now, the fake heiress has no way to defend herself."
I watched the scene expressionlessly and then pressed the button beside the staircase.
The next second, Tanya, who should have slammed hard onto the ground, was launched into the air, forming a graceful arc instead.
Her smug expression instantly cracked.
"Wait. Who installs a trampoline under their own staircase?"
Normal people would not, but I had paranoia. Places like staircases were high-risk zones for framing incidents. How could I not prepare for that?
After countless rehearsals with hired actors, I installed a full-coverage safety trampoline system. With just a press of a button, it deployed in 0.01 seconds.
Mom rushed over when she heard the noise. "Tanya, what happened?"
Tanya's eyes darted around with a calculating glint. Just as she was about to spin another lie, she saw me pull a small surveillance device from my collar and casually play with it in my hand.
Even if there were blind spots in the cameras, I had nothing to fear. I carried my own portable monitoring device with me.
Tanya's face instantly went pale. She stared at me like she had seen a ghost and shook her head frantically.
"I'm fine, Mom. I only slipped. Luckily, Faye's trampoline caught me."
After that incident, Tanya stayed unusually quiet for quite a while. She started to feel like something was haunting her, as if every move she made was known by me.
At home, she avoided me like the plague, terrified of getting caught in something again.
Eventually, her school transfer application was approved. On the day we went to school together, she looked like she had been reborn.
As she got out of the car, she leaned close to my ear and whispered in an eerie tone, "Faye Lockman, if your classmates found out you're just a fake heiress who has been lying to them all along, I wonder what they would think of you."
The comment section came alive again.
"Tanya is pretty cunning. She can't get the upper hand at home, so she's shifting the battlefield to the school instead."
"Tanya is amazing at manipulating public opinion. Back in middle school, she drove someone who bullied her to the point of dropping out. The fake heiress is done for."
They chatted away, discussing my tragic downfall.
I said nothing and simply walked toward the classroom with my backpack.
When it was time for self-introduction, Tanya shot me a smug glance and then turned to the class, smiling sweetly. "Hello, everyone. My name is Tanya Lockman. You might be wondering why I share the same surname as the Lockman family's heiress, Faye."
She stretched her words out, milking the suspense for all it was worth as she savored the look of torment on my face.
"That's because I'm the real daughter the Lockman family just found. Faye is nothing but a fake heiress who has been living under my identity for 18 years."
