1: 1

Half an hour before my cousin's wedding was set to begin, my aunt's panicked scream tore through the banquet hall.

"The gold set! I kept the whole set of gold jewelry in my bag, and now it's gone!"

"That's three hundred grams! At today's gold prices, that's three hundred thousand dollars!"

Everyone jumped, and the whole crowd started hunting for it.

In the middle of the chaos, my aunt suddenly seized my wrist.

"You took it, I'm sure of it. Everyone we invited today is rich or important. Only a broke little nobody like you would have sticky fingers!"

"Hand it over right now, or I'm calling the police!"

I opened my mouth to explain, and she cracked her hand across my face.

"You little slut! Still won't admit it? Do you even know what three hundred thousand dollars looks like?"

"Are you even worth that kind of money? Three hundred thousand would be more than enough to buy your worthless life!"

Under the disgusted stares of every guest in the room, I pulled out my phone.

"Hello, yes. I'd like to turn myself in."

"I'm a thief. I just stole gold jewelry worth three hundred thousand dollars."

1

But my cousin's groom, Keith Butler, shoved his way out of the crowd, snatched the phone from my hand, and hung up.

"You're Tabitha's cousin. We're all one family here. None of us wants this to turn ugly."

"Just give the jewelry back and we'll let it go. We won't hold you responsible."

My cousin, Tabitha Fox, stood beside Keith and slid her arm through his.

"See that? Keith's already being more than generous with you."

"A minute ago you were trying to drive a wedge between me and Keith. Pathetic. Go take a good look at yourself in the mirror and see what you really are."

I looked coldly at the two of them and thought back to what had happened earlier.

Half an hour ago, I'd overheard Keith talking with his parents outside the lounge, by accident.

"Don't worry, son. No one's going to figure out this gold set is fake."

"After the bride's family gets a look at it, I'll find a chance to hide it, and then we'll say it was stolen."

"They won't know who took it anyway, and it has nothing to do with our family, so they won't have the nerve to come after us."

I'd hurried to tell Tabitha, but she'd only looked at me with contempt.

"Doreen Summers, you're just green with envy because I landed myself a rich husband, aren't you?"

"Let me tell you, jealousy won't get you anywhere. A broke little nobody like you only deserves some guy who picks through trash."

When I didn't answer, Tabitha jabbed a manicured finger straight at my face.

"You've got some nerve, Doreen Summers. A minute ago I thought you were just jealous, but it turns out you had your eye on my gold, didn't you?"

"I'm warning you, you'd better hand it over fast, or don't blame me for not being nice about it!"

A flicker of guilt crossed Keith's face.

He stepped forward and pulled Tabitha into his arms.

"That's enough, Tabitha. Doreen's still your cousin. As long as she gives it back, we'll drop it."

"Today's our big day. Don't let someone like her ruin our mood."

My aunt dropped her earlier viciousness in an instant and turned to Keith with a face full of smiles.

"Oh, look at my new son-in-law. Not only rich and capable, but so kind and generous too. Such good breeding."

"Not like some people, poor and broke and light-fingered on top of it, doing something this shameful."

"This is my son-in-law giving you a way out. Now hand the jewelry over! Don't throw a good turn back in our faces!"

I watched the whole family sing the same tune in front of me, and it was almost funny.

"You don't need to give me any way out. I'm calling the police right now."

The moment she heard I still wanted to call the police, Tabitha lost all control of her temper and pointed at me, screaming.

"Doreen Summers, so I really did give you too much credit, is that it? I think you just came here to wreck my wedding on purpose!"

"You bitch, I think you just can't stand to see me happy!"

The relatives in the room all chimed in one after another.

"I remember Doreen was such a good girl when she was little. How could she do something like this? Tabitha's her cousin, after all. If she pulls this, how are any of us supposed to stay on good terms?"

"Who knows? Maybe she's just jealous. I hear the groom's a top executive at a big company in Seaford City, makes a fortune every year. Tabitha's marrying into money now, so it's no surprise Doreen can't get over it."

"Or maybe not. Maybe she just did it for the money. Gold prices are pretty high these days, and I hear that set was over three hundred grams. That's worth a fair bit."

While everyone buzzed and gossiped, my mother had just finished cleaning up the mess outside and walked into the banquet hall.

Seeing me hemmed in at the center of the crowd, her face went pale with alarm, and she squeezed her way to my side.

"Ava Summers, what's going on here?"

"Isn't the wedding about to start? Why is everyone crowded around my Doreen?"

2: 2

2

The second she saw my mother, Aunt Ava slipped right back into that untouchable air of hers.

"Well, well, sister-in-law, perfect timing. Come see the fine daughter you raised."

"Today of all days, my daughter's big day, and she's got sticky fingers. She stole the hardware Keith's family gave to Tabitha. Three hundred thousand dollars' worth!"

My mother went white with fright, waving her hands, scrambling to explain.

"That's impossible, that's impossible. My Doreen is a good girl, she'd never do something like that..."

Before she could finish, Aunt Ava cut her off with a cold sneer.

"Impossible? All these people heard it. She admitted it herself just now!"

My mother turned to look at me, disbelief all over her face.

All my life I could stand up to anyone's mockery and doubt, but the one thing I could never bear was the disappointment in my mother's eyes.

Facing that look, I forced the words out.

"I did admit it just now, but..."

Before I could finish, Aunt Ava's voice cut across mine again.

"You hear that? We're not framing her. She admitted it herself. So, sister-in-law, tell us how you plan to handle this."

"My brother had rotten luck, marrying a husband-killer like you. Went to his grave young. And the daughter you raised turns out to be a thief."

"Ha. I never should have let the two of you come today. You've dragged the Summers name right through the mud!"

My mother's eyes brimmed with tears, her lips moving as she tried to explain.

But since I'd said it with my own mouth, all she could do was wave a helpless hand, swallowing the humiliation without a single word of defense.

The year I was eleven, my father died of illness. My mother never remarried. She held this family together alone.

But from that day on, she and I were nothing but cold looks in the eyes of these relatives.

Fifteen years have passed. I've made something of myself, put down roots in Seaford City.

I came back this time to bring my mother to Seaford City to live with me.

It just happened to fall on Tabitha's wedding, and when my mother asked, I came with her to the wedding anyway.

All these years, no matter the family gathering or whoever's big occasion, they always called on my mother.

Not because they treated her as family. They just wanted her as free labor.

And even so, she came every single time, answering every unreasonable demand.

She said it was only at moments like these that she felt she was still a Summers, still my father's wife.

Aunt Ava crossed her arms and started up again.

"Wasn't Doreen off working some job in Seaford City? No wonder she came running back so eager for Tabitha's wedding. So this was the plan all along."

"Don't tell me you couldn't make it in Seaford City anymore and figured you'd scrape a little something off my daughter's wedding?"

"Trash is trash. The kind that'll never amount to anything, not in a whole lifetime!"

The murmuring grew louder, the looks at my mother and me more contemptuous by the second.

My mother pressed her palms together and pleaded.

"I'll pay, I'll pay for sure. Whatever it costs, I'll pay it. Ava, please, that's enough."

"The child must have had it so hard on her own in Seaford City. She's a good girl. She'd only do something like this if she were pushed to it with no other way out."

"She's young, she doesn't know better. Let me pay for her, all right? I'm begging you. Let Doreen off just this once."

Watching my mother beg like that, so small, I couldn't stop the sting rising in my nose.

I stepped in front of her, keeping her behind me.

"Mom, let me handle this. Trust me."

With that, I didn't look at any of them. I just took out my phone and dialed the police again.

"Hello, I'm at the ground-floor banquet hall of the Seacrest Grand Hotel."

"Please send officers as soon as you can. There's been a theft here worth three hundred thousand dollars."

3: 3

3

That last call got cut off by Keith before I could give the address.

This time there was no problem.

Tabitha jabbed her finger at me, so furious her hand shook.

"You—you—you! You just can't stand to see me happy! You're dead set on ruining my wedding!"

"They say it's the quiet dog that bites. Doreen, you're really something else!"

I glanced at her, at all that rage.

"Someone here does want to ruin this wedding. It just isn't me."

The moment the words left my mouth, my eyes went straight to Keith.

He already had a guilty conscience.

One pointed line from me, one cold look, and he was up on his toes with panic.

"Doreen, what's that supposed to mean? I've let things slide again and again because you're Tabitha's cousin, and now you're pushing your luck?"

"Everyone here knows exactly what I brought to this marriage. Don't stand there stirring up trouble."

Seeing her precious son-in-law upset, Aunt Ava rushed over to back him up.

"Doreen, you think everyone in this family is stupid? We all know you're just jealous of Tabitha. Who's going to believe a word you say?"

"Everyone here today is somebody who matters. The only two broke nobodies in this room are you and your mother!"

"I'm telling you, if you don't hand that stuff over today, I'll make sure you and your mother never walk out of this hall!"

The relatives had wanted to get in Keith's good graces from the start.

Now that they saw him worked up, they wanted their own moment in the spotlight.

"Keith, don't you worry. We all saw the hardware set you gave Tabitha just now. Of course we believe you."

"That Doreen's been creepy since she was a kid. One look and you can tell she's no good. People like that are just plain rotten. Stealing's bad enough, but she wants to wreck her own cousin's wedding too."

"Her mother's the same, isn't she? Widowed so young, killed her own man off. Who knows how she raised Doreen?"

"Exactly. Says she never remarried, but who knows what filthy business she got up to behind everyone's back."

The more they fawned over Keith, the uglier their words got.

I couldn't stand to hear another word of it, and my voice came out hard.

"Every single one of you who just spread lies about my mother, wait for your court summons."

The relatives froze for a beat, then broke into loud laughter.

"Hahaha, did you hear what she just said? She actually said she's going to sue us?"

"She's so broke she stole in front of a whole crowd, and now she can afford a lawyer? That's the funniest thing I've heard all day."

"A few years working in Seaford City and she didn't pick up anything except how to talk big and put on airs. That's the fine daughter her mother raised."

Aunt Ava didn't want to waste any more time. She stepped right up.

"Doreen, the wedding's about to start. Hand it over, now."

"Otherwise, I'm warning you, forget Keith's family. My family isn't one to cross either. I'll make sure you pay for this."

Watching it all about to spin out of control, my mother, who had held it in this whole time, finally broke.

"Ava, don't back the girl into a corner. I'll pay for it."

"I'll go withdraw the money right now, I'll get it and pay your family back, she's young, don't make things hard for her."

She was already moving toward the door as she spoke.

But the way she moved made them think she was trying to run, and they crowded in to block her path.

"Trying to run, are you? Not a chance!"