The Billionaire's Daughter They Tried to Scam

"Gold prices have skyrocketed. That necklace is worth at least two hundred thousand dollars." "You've obviously hidden it somewhere safe, then handed me some empty bag to search through like I'm stupid. You think that little act is going to fool me?" Had she never seen real gold in her life? I had to admire the audacity. The cosmetics she'd dumped out of my bag and scattered across the floor were worth enough to buy ten gold necklaces. She lunged at me, dirty claws outstretched, trying to pat me down. Her nails raked across my arm, drawing blood. I hissed at the sting and shoved her back. She stumbled on her own feet, staggered a few steps, and crashed into the wall. Immediately, the wailing began. "Oh, my son! This fiancée of yours is vicious! She's beating up an old woman!" Chad's expression darkened, his brows knitting tighter and tighter. "Enough, Muriel! You're giving that gold back today, one way or another!" I laughed in disbelief, holding both palms up. "I never took it. What exactly am I supposed to give back?" "You searched my bag. You found nothing. So stop trying to pin this on me." Zoey kept going: "Give me back my gold! I want the exact same gold!" Chad slammed his palm against the glass display case and barked at me. "If you can't produce the gold, you pay market value. Two hundred thousand. Not a cent less!" I almost laughed at the absurdity. Setting aside the fact that I never took it, this brass knockoff weighed less than ten grams. And they wanted two hundred thousand dollars from me. This family genuinely thought I was an idiot. There was no point arguing. I refused to waste another ounce of energy on this circus. I pulled out my phone and transferred ten thousand dollars to Chad without hesitation. "Your necklace doesn't even weigh ten grams, but let's round up and call it ten. I've calculated the value of your brass at gold's market price. Ten thousand is more than generous. It's already in your account. Don't bother me again." "Oh, and give your dad my best wishes for a speedy recovery." I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. I didn't even bother picking up the cosmetics scattered across the floor. I just wanted out of this godforsaken place. The whole house reeked of toxicity. I could feel the bad luck clinging to me like a film. I never wanted to set foot here again. But Zoey's greed was nowhere near satisfied. She darted to the front door, craned her neck, and let out a shriek that carried down the street. "Everybody! Some little brat came here to walk all over the Fletcher family!" The next second, villagers who'd been milling about the lane appeared with shovels and axes, surrounding me in a tight circle. Every face was hard with menace. "This village isn't somewhere you stroll in and out of whenever you please." Their eyes were cold and predatory, every last one of them looking like small-town thugs straight out of the backwoods. Zoey's laugh was shrill, dripping with arrogance. "There's a resort about to be built right here in this village. It's a project from Chad's company. He earned it because the chairman thinks so highly of him." "My family is this village's number-one benefactor. These people follow my lead. One word from me, and they could end you right here. No one would ever find you." Zoey wasn't wrong about one thing. The resort project did have Chad's involvement. But he held no real authority over it whatsoever. Whether it got built or not was never his call. Dozens of people blocked my path. I couldn't move an inch. I turned to Chad. "Chad. You invited me all the way out here over the holidays to meet your family, and you're just going to stand there and let them do this to me?" A shovel hovered inches from my face. He didn't flinch. Didn't move. His expression was utterly indifferent. When he finally spoke, his voice was ice. "You still owe a hundred and ninety thousand. Pay up, then you can leave." And just like that, everything clicked into place. He'd never had any intention of introducing me to his family to discuss our wedding. This whole thing, from the moment I arrived, was a trap. The entire family had planned it together.

They just wanted to bleed me dry. Since that was the case, no amount of explaining would make a difference. I tossed my bag aside, dropped into a chair, and crossed my arms over my chest. Then I stared right at them. "You want money that badly? Too bad. I'm not paying." Zoey clearly hadn't expected me to dig my heels in. She jabbed a finger in my face and let loose. "You conniving little tramp! You melt down my gold and have the nerve to sit there looking smug? I have never in my life met anyone this shameless!" "If anything happens to Chad's father, his ghost will haunt you! He'll come for you every single night!" I didn't flinch. I fired right back. "You keep saying I stole it. Then call the cops." Zoey's face contorted, the loose skin on her cheeks quivering with rage. When nobody made a move to call, I pulled out my phone to do it myself. The screen hadn't even unlocked before Chad smacked it out of my hand. His face was twisted with fury, and he roared at me. "You actually have the gall to call the police after what you did? You have no shame, so I'll have it for you." "The second they show up, your life is over. You really that eager for the whole world to find out you're a thief?" Oh, how generous. I was supposed to thank him for looking out for me. Chad went on. "You destroyed the evidence, so just pay up. Pay the money, and I'll let it go. We can pretend none of this ever happened." He wanted to pretend it never happened. Nobody asked if I agreed. This was never going away. Not for me. He paused, then played what he clearly thought was his trump card. "Otherwise, the wedding is off!" My eyes went wide. Not because I was devastated about losing the engagement. Because I was stunned that Chad actually believed I was desperate to marry him, that the wedding was some kind of leverage. Zoey jumped in, beaming with approval. "That's right, son! Our family doesn't welcome women of low character. Can't let our future children inherit those rotten genes of hers." I took a deep breath, nodded, and smiled. "Fine. Then I'll be going." Neither Chad nor Zoey had expected that. Their threat hadn't landed. Not even close. The wedding falling through was a blessing. At least now I'd seen their true colors before it was too late. I pushed past the slack-jawed crowd and stepped out of the jewelry store. Zoey's shrill voice pierced the air behind me. "Stop her! If she won't pay, take every piece of jewelry off her body!" "Family's dirt poor but she's decked out like a princess. She's obviously sleeping with some rich old man behind my son's back!" The words had barely left her mouth when a brutal grip seized the back of my head. My whole body was yanked backward, dragged back inside. The villagers caught sight of the ring, the watch, the bracelet on my wrists, and the earrings glinting on my earlobes. Their jaws dropped. "That watch brand... I've seen it on TV. One of those is worth more than an apartment in the city!" "Look at that bracelet. I've never seen anything that beautiful in my entire life." "And her bag, plus whatever's inside it. That's gotta be worth a fortune!" Zoey pushed her way closer, her eyes locked on the pigeon-egg diamond on my finger. Now she was absolutely convinced I'd been sleeping with some wealthy sugar daddy. "Cheating on my son and still acting this bold!" "Squeezed all that money out of some old man, and she won't even cough up two hundred grand." The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Her voice went shrill as she barked orders. "Strip every valuable off her! I'll set a few pieces aside for everyone to split!" The villagers' eyes went bloodshot with greed, their ugly faces pressing in around me, shoving and jostling to get closer.

Rough, filthy hands closed in on me from every direction like a dark wave. My scalp prickled with horror. I swung my purse wildly to fend them off, screaming until my voice cracked. "Get away from me! Don't touch me!" My resistance only stoked their anger. They seized my wrists without an ounce of mercy, pinning them down. Grimy fingers rummaged over every inch of me, pawing through my pockets, my clothes, even fishing the lipstick out of my purse. The humiliation was so immense it pounded against my ribcage. I fixed every single one of them with a venomous glare. "You're going to pay for this. I'll shut down the resort project immediately. This entire village will never see a dime of development money. Ever." The villagers froze. The hands clutching my jewelry went rigid. "What did she just say? The resort project's going to fall through? How would she have that kind of pull?" "No, no, no. I put my family's entire savings into this. Everything!" Word of the resort had barely reached this village before every household scrambled to capitalize. For generations, these people had known nothing but poverty, and the promise of development was the first real opportunity any of them had ever seen. They'd taken out loans, maxed out credit, poured their life savings into tearing down crumbling brick houses and rebuilding them as vacation rentals, all racing to capture the first wave of tourists. After a beat, Zoey seemed to connect the dots. Her eyes went wide and she let out a shriek. "So that's whose bed you climbed into! The chairman of Grandview Group, the man behind the resort!" "He's in his fifties or sixties. Old enough to be your father! And you still got on your knees for him. Absolutely disgusting!" The villagers' jaws dropped. They stared at me with something closer to fear now, whispering among themselves. "What do we do? She's the developer's woman. If we cross her, she'll go back and whisper in his ear." Not a single one of them had guessed who I actually was. But I had to admit, when dealing with people like this, power and status were the only weapons that mattered. I swept my gaze across the crowd and couldn't help but laugh. Moments ago, every face had been twisted with self-righteous fury. Now every head hung lower than the last, terrified of being singled out. Even Zoey had lost her bluster, inching behind Chad in small, shuffling steps. Chad was the only one whose expression hadn't changed. His jaw was set, his face hard. Not a shred of compromise. "Mom, don't be scared. No matter how high and mighty she acts, she's just some kept woman. A mistress nobody would claim in public." "I'm dating Chairman Stephen Stephenss' daughter now. Loretta Stephens is my girlfriend. All I have to do is make one phone call and tell her that Muriel is her father's side piece. Loretta and Mrs. Stephens will tear her apart." I could barely believe what I was hearing. Chad had betrayed me for Loretta. "Chad, you are unbelievably greedy. You cheated on me, and now you're scheming against me on top of it. Do you even know that your precious Stephens heiress, Loretta, is actually—" He cut me off before I could finish, his voice dripping with contempt. "You went and found yourself a sugar daddy. Why can't I be with Chairman Stephens' daughter?" "I'm not like you. I don't get so desperate I'll swallow anything put in front of me. At least Loretta and I are a perfect match. A power couple." The villagers erupted. "You're with the developer's daughter? Then getting the resort built is just a matter of saying the word!" Zoey's grin stretched so wide it looked like her face might split open. "Of course! Muriel's nothing but a tramp selling her body. How far is that going to get her? My son is about to be Chairman Stephens' son-in-law. Getting a little resort built is nothing!" "Then hurry up and get the construction crews out here!" Chad aimed his phone camera at me, triumph plastered across his face. His tone was the kind of magnanimous a person used when tossing scraps. "I'll give you one chance. Get on your knees in front of this livestream and say you're a thief. Do that, and maybe I'll convince Loretta not to make things too ugly for you." I returned a gentle smile, enunciating every single word. "In. Your. Dreams." Chad's face went green with rage. He pulled out his phone and called Loretta Donaldson. Before long, a massive cloud of dust kicked up at the village entrance, the rumble of engines growing louder as it approached. The villagers jumped to their feet, cheering with excitement.