“Darlene, who gave you permission to sell the Delgado estate?”
“My patience is running thin. You'd better have an explanation ready when you come back.”
Before I could say a word, the line went dead.
I pushed open the doors to the living room, and the sight that greeted me made my fists clench instantly.
Odette was sitting in the seat of honor, perfectly at ease, and her twins had already been settled into the nursery as if they belonged there.
“You have the nerve to show your face here! Who do you think you are, selling the Delgado property?”
The moment my mother saw me, she charged over without hesitation and slapped me hard across the face.
“Have you forgotten you're already divorced from Elmer? That house is Delgado property, not something you can sell on a whim! You go buy it back right now, or I swear I'll make you pay!”
She paused, her tone sharpening into a warning.
“Odette just gave birth and her body is still fragile. Don't you dare cause a scene here!”
I looked at her, almost amused. “Didn't I just give birth too?”
The color drained from her face. Her mouth opened, then closed. She had nothing.
Elmer walked over to me with a frown. “Stop making a fuss. I'll compensate you for the baby.”
He extended his hand, holding out his one and only black card.
I stared at that outstretched hand, and a bone-deep chill flooded through me. Hatred so thick it nearly swallowed me whole.
“Is that the same hand you used to strangle my child?”
The living room went dead silent.
Everyone froze, exchanging glances, their eyes wide with shock and barely concealed panic.
“You……what are you talking about?” My mother stammered, tripping over her own words.
“The baby……the baby was stillborn! Don't you dare stand there and throw around baseless accusations!”
“Enough!” My father cut her off without a shred of hesitation.
He looked down at me, his eyes full of open contempt.
“A child with no real parents to speak of. Why would we be afraid of you? Even if you do know the truth, what are you going to do about it?”
“A baby that didn't survive just means it wasn't meant to live!”
The air left my lungs. For a moment, the weight of it crushed me so completely I couldn't breathe.
I slowly lifted my head and let out a cold, sharp laugh.
“Fine. Then every last one of you can join my child in the ground.”
The instant those words left my mouth, the front doors slammed open.
Several court officers in uniform filed in one after another and stopped before me, their posture formal and deferential.
“Ma'am, the acquisition of the Swanson family's assets has been completed. All properties belonging to both the Swanson and Delgado families have been fully inventoried and transferred.”
“Due to your existing inheritance rights with the Swanson family, no acquisition fees were required.”
The officer's words settled over the room like a verdict. The entire living room of the Delgado estate fell into absolute silence.
Every person present stared at me, their eyes churning with disbelief.
The same people who had been hurling insults at me moments ago stood frozen where they were, unable to produce a single sound.
Odette, who had sat there the whole time reaping the rewards without lifting a finger, finally couldn't sit still.
She lurched to her feet, ignoring the two swaddled infants still in her arms, and staggered toward me.
“How?”
She screamed it at me, hysterical, looking like she wanted to tear me apart with her bare hands.
“How can you just take everything from me?”
“I'm the one Mom and Dad raised like a princess! I'm the one who was supposed to be Mrs. Delgado! You're nothing but a throwaway, a stray they dragged back to marry in my place. So how? How do you get to have all of this?”
Her shrieking echoed through the living room. The babies in her arms wailed in terror, but she didn't pull back an inch.
I raised one brow, my gaze steady and unbothered. “Because I'm the real one.”
