: A Clean Break
3
I carried my suitcase downstairs. The maids didn't even pretend they didn't see me.
Not a single one offered to help.
I couldn't be bothered to ask, so I struggled with the suitcase downstairs on my own. And just then, the family of three appeared upstairs.
Stella Sterling's eyes welled with tears. "Sis, I don't want you to go..."
'Gag!'
My eyelid twitched. I barely managed not to throw up.
"Our Stella is so thoughtful."
Mr. Sterling looked moved and gratified. Mrs. Sterling was also all smiles as she held Stella's hand. "Don't worry about her. She can get by anywhere on her own."
I curled my lip in a silent smirk. It was true.
Thanks to the Sterling Family's years of harsh treatment, I'd learned early on that you have to look out for yourself in this world.
Even if they threw me into a primeval forest, I'd grit my teeth and survive.
"You're amazing, Sis!"
I couldn't tell if Stella was being genuinely clueless or just pretending, but she praised me sweetly. I smiled. "How about I teach you how to 'get by'?"
'There's an art to 'getting by,' you know.'
'For example, how to sneak food without getting caught and beaten when the adults forgot to feed you as a child.'
'Or how to get money for study materials when you needed them, to buy the practice exams and guides you'd been wanting for so long.'
'Or what you had to do in college to keep from starving when you had no living allowance.'
'For years, that's how I'd been 'getting by'.'
'Does Stella want to give it a try?'
"What could you possibly teach her?"
Mrs. Sterling's face hardened, her eyes falling to my suitcase. "Why are you taking so much with you?"
'It's just some books and my personal belongings.'
But seeing her suspicious gaze, I feigned panic. "N-nothing..."
"Open it. Let's see."
Mr. Sterling nudged the suitcase with the tip of his shoe. I don't know what he hit inside, but a crisp CLINKING sound came from within.
Stella's eyes widened with curiosity. "Sis, did you take all the jewelry?"
Mr. and Mrs. Sterling's expressions changed.
The two of them had never bought me anything expensive. I lived a life of stark poverty; no one would have ever believed I was a daughter of the Sterling Family.
But after Stella returned, they had bought her countless fine things.
'If there was something shady in my suitcase... '
Mr. and Mrs. Sterling didn't hold back. In moments, they had rummaged through my luggage and turned it into a complete mess. But aside from a jar of beautiful polished crystals, there was no jewelry at all.
"These stones are so pretty..."
Having found no jewelry, Stella stared at the glass jar with envy. "I'm so jealous, Sis. You get to have such pretty stones."
"Then here..."
"That's from my private collection."
I snatched the glass jar back from Mrs. Sterling just as she was about to hand it to Stella.
'It's a good thing I don't have any strange hobbies.'
'Otherwise, if I had packed a few turds in my suitcase, would she have snatched them back to have a taste?'
"What's yours is hers!"
Mrs. Sterling's face darkened with displeasure, but I locked my suitcase and started to leave. "You did raise me, and for that I'm grateful. But not *that* grateful. So, I'm getting the hell out of here for good."
"From now on, I wish the three of you a happy life together."
I didn't wait for the Sterlings to start their drama; I got out of there fast.
Listening to too much of their twisted logic and unreasonable arguments would seriously lower my IQ.
On my way, I called Zane Vance.
He was even more direct.
I had barely told him that his fiancée was now Stella Sterling when he started clapping and cheering. He declared that he had nothing more to do with me and proactively did a complete 180, cutting all ties.
Me: "...That's just great."
'No need to see each other, nothing owed to one another. We can just go our separate ways.'
