Mirabelle's POV
I gave a cold, sharp laugh. “Don’t you think it’s a little early to be talking like that?”
Right then, two men in light-colored suits walked in behind James Mack, the butler. Each wore a badge with the official emblem of the notary's office.
James went straight to my aunt’s side and whispered, “These two are from the notary’s office. Before he passed, Mr. Holt made a will. They’re here to deliver it.”
My aunt’s face tightened with suspicion. “Come with me. We’ll talk privately.”
But the livestream audience wasn’t having it.
[Oh, so when you wanted her inheritance, you wanted us to watch. But now there’s a will, and you want to hide it?]
[Something’s fishy. Everyone knows Mr. Holt treated Mirabelle like his own. Who in their right mind would give that up?]
[And let’s not forget. The ‘new wife’ is Mirabelle’s aunt. A woman who sets her sights on her own brother-in-law is not exactly the picture of morality.]
Comments kept pouring in, the feed scrolling nonstop. My aunt clenched her jaw.
“Fine. Let them read it here. My son is Manfred’s only biological child. What do I have to be afraid of?”
The notary staff broke the red wax seal in front of everyone. One of them unfolded the will, showed it to his colleague for confirmation, then looked up.
“Which one of you is Miss Mirabelle Holt?”
Slowly, I raised my hand. “That’s me.”
He glanced back at the paper and said clearly, “All assets under Mr. Holt’s name are to be inherited entirely by Miss Mirabelle.”
The room froze.
My aunt’s face went pale. She lunged forward and snatched the will from his hands. “Impossible!”
I couldn’t believe it either. Even if my father had cared for me, now that he had a son, how could he possibly leave everything to me?
The comment section also erupted.
[No way! Sure, he might’ve liked her a lot, but all of it? That’s absurd.]
[Didn’t she make a public announcement cutting ties with him? And now he has a son. Why would he leave her everything?]
[So what really happened back then? Why did she insist on ending things with him?]
While everyone was still reeling, my aunt suddenly burst out laughing twice.
“Why? Isn’t it obvious? Because little Mirabelle learned how to seduce men at a young age.”
She leaned forward, voice dripping with mockery. “My sister died early when Manfred was barely in his forties, a man in his prime. Yet he never remarried and just stayed in that house with this little orphan for all these years. You expect me to believe nothing happened between them? Please.”
My grandmother’s eyes darted slyly before she chimed in, “My daughter’s right. That girl’s been a temptress since she was a teenager. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, hugging him around the waist like she owned him.”
Fury burned through me, and I snapped, “Grandma, don’t make things up! Aren’t you afraid of the consequences, saying things like that at your age?”
But the audience didn’t care what I said.
[Her mom died when she was in high school, right when girls started feeling things. Makes sense.]
[The aunt’s story checks out. Back then, Manfred was still handsome. No wonder he treated her so well. She was basically his young wife.]
[And now it makes sense why she cut ties the moment she got into college. It’s all adding up.]
[But seriously, what kind of man is this Manfred? His current wife just gave him a son, and he still leaves every cent to Mirabelle? What’s his wife and kid supposed to live on? Fresh air?]
The live chat was filling up with comments like that, eating up every lie my aunt and grandmother had been feeding them. They kept throwing dirt on me and my dad, and the more I stayed quiet, the more it stuck.
My aunt, meanwhile, looked like the cat who’d just caught the canary. She put on this pitiful, wronged expression, milking the sympathy from the viewers.
“So, dear viewers, you have to stand up for us, a poor widow and her orphaned son,” she said sweetly. “I am Manfred’s lawful wife, and my son is his legitimate child. Not like this little temptress here, who, at such a young age, already knows how to steal a man’s heart!”
Now, the only person who seemed genuinely worried for me was Pansy. She grabbed my arm and whispered urgently, “Mirabelle, you’re killing me here! What on earth happened between you and your dad? Just tell them already!”
But I couldn’t. If I said it out loud, my father’s entire reputation would be destroyed.
The viewers didn’t know that, though. They just saw me hesitating and decided they’d guessed right. The insults then started flying so thick and fast in the chat that it was like a tidal wave of hate.
My grandma and aunt were also throwing a deathly glare at me.
Just then, two police officers entered the hall behind James. One of them was holding a sealed file.
“Hold on. We also have a DNA report.”
