I still couldn't understand what part of me was supposedly "extravagant."
Our family had money, sure—but I wasn't obsessed with luxury. Clothes, jewelry—I never spent more than a few hundred. Among the socialites in Halo City, I was considered odd.
Shane's expression stiffened.
"Why would you even ask that? You're much better now."
"What do you mean 'now'? What about before?" I pressed.
He frowned.
"When our parents were alive, you didn't understand saving. They built everything from nothing—they were farmers. Even I had to think before spending. But on your birthday, you'd beg them for gifts worth thousands. How do you think that looked?"
Anger flared in me and I took two steps forward.
"Our family is that rich—can't I buy a phone worth one thousand? What's the point of earning money then?"
He darkened.
"Listen to yourself. It's just a phone. What's wrong with any of them? You're just vain, always comparing yourself to those socialites. That's why you wanted this and that. After these past five years of having nothing, haven't you done fine?"
I stared at him in disbelief, my blood running cold. In his eyes, I'd done fine?
Every day I played a corpse, begging directors to let me take extra scenes just to earn twenty dollars more. Sometimes lying in mud, sometimes in a stinking ditch. More than ten hours at a stretch.
My old rival, Charlene Cooper, would see me struggling and seize every chance to humiliate me. I couldn't even fight back.
Just because I wanted to celebrate the New Year with my brother, I became a clinical trial volunteer—and to this day, I didn't even know the state of my own body.
Was that really "doing fine"?
My stomach twisted painfully as Charlene's words flashed in my mind, "Fool. This is all your own fault. I'll follow you anywhere—whatever drama you're in, I'll be there. My family can invest however they want to stick me in. For the next five years, you'll suffer in my hands!"
A chill ran down my spine. Five years—why five years? Could Charlene know something else? My gut told me my brother and the others were hiding more than I realized.
I clenched my fists, swallowing the urge to demand answers, and obediently said, "Okay… I'll change."
My brother put down the vegetables and gently ruffled my hair, satisfied.
"That's better. Eat on your own later. I have to go to work."
Once he left for work, I pulled on a mask and hat and quietly followed him.
After leaving the slum, he stopped by the roadside and made a call.
Within five minutes, a black Maybach pulled up in front of him. He got into the car.
I quickly hailed a taxi and tailed him. Half an hour later, he entered an upscale restaurant.
I slipped in five minutes later, sitting just behind him.
My heart pounded. I didn't dare look up, so I couldn't see who he was meeting. But when I heard the other person speak, my blood froze.
"Shane, I've been following your orders to 'train' Lily… and she's been doing very well lately!"
It was Charlene.
