Chapter 7
The screen started showing photos, chat logs.
My uncle’s new Benz.
My aunt’s new Chanel.
My dear cousin bragging to his buddies:
“My uncle’s really something-money he scammed from that woman sure is easy to spend!”
The entire hall fell dead silent.
Every gaze cut like knives, all fixed on the Holloways.
Grandpa clutched his chest, gasping for air, pointing at Dad with trembling lips, unable to get a word out.
Dad stared at the screen in shock, then whipped around to glare at me.
Mom stood on stage, looking down at that family. Gently tapped the microphone.
“How did everyone like the gift?”
“Now we can discuss that additional investment.”
Suddenly, Dad charged forward like a madman.
“Turn it off! Turn it off!”
But before he could touch the equipment, two bodyguards pinned him to the ground.
Then he turned on me.
“It’s you! You ungrateful daughter!”
“She faked all of it! She’s working with outsiders to steal our family fortune!”
Uncle Mason caught on too, pointing at my nose and screaming.
“You ungrateful brat! The Holloways raised you for eighteen years, and this is how you repay us!”
“We raised a viper! A viper that bites the hand that feeds it!”
The guests who’d been righteous just moments before now seemed shaken, whispering among themselves again.
Mom raised her hand, signaling the bodyguards to let go.
“Faked?”
“What about these?”
The giant screen lit up again.
On screen: Dad.
Sitting in his study, teaching little me step by step how to lie over the phone, how to squeeze out tears to get money from Mom.
In the video, I had pigtails, eyes confused and scared.
“Be good girl, River. Your mom’s soft-hearted-if you cry, she’ll give you anything.”
“Just say Daddy’s business failed, no money for your tuition, tell her to wire money fast.”
Memory floodgates suddenly burst open.
Those childhood moments I’d deliberately forgotten, the ones he’d sugar-coated with “we’re family,” became crystal clear.
The scene switched.
Dad and Uncle Mason in the office, discussing how to cook the books, how to quietly funnel Mom’s company investments into their
personal pockets.
“That stupid woman actually thinks we’re expanding production.”
“Big brother, once we get this money, that top-spec Benz is as good as mine…”
Evidence was ironclad-no room for excuses.
The crowd exploded.
“Marriage fraud! This is obvious fraud!”
“The Holloways have no shame! Using their own daughter!”
“Call the police! Lock these animals up!”
The relatives who’d been all smiles just minutes ago, toasting Grandpa and Dad, turned faster than anyone,
pointing fingers at the Holloways, desperate to distance themselves.
“Thud.”
Grandpa clutched his chest and collapsed straight down.
The banquet hall erupted in chaos.
Dad and Uncle Mason went limp like someone had pulled all their bones out
In the confusion, Dad saw me.
Crawled over on hands and knees, crying and begging.
“River… River…”
“Daddy was wrong, really wrong!”
“Beg your mom for mercy-we’re family! You can’t let Daddy go to prison!”
I stepped back, avoiding his reaching hand.
“Family?”
“From the moment you turned me into a tool to scam money, we stopped being family.”
