After hearing that my son was getting engaged, I immediately returned to the country to prepare the engagement party for him.

As soon as I arrived at the hotel, I made a post online asking for advice.

[Would this engagement gift look sincere enough?]

The post included a selfie of me standing in front of a pile of engagement gifts.

It quickly went viral, and the comments poured in.

[This is way too sincere!]

[That's at least $400,000 worth of gifts. The groom must really value you. You're so lucky, sis.]

[Where do you even find a god-tier husband like this?!]

…

Only after reading the comments did I realize the netizens had misunderstood.

Just as I was about to explain that I had prepared the engagement gifts for my future daughter-in-law, I received a private message.

I froze when I opened it.

[You shameless bitch, how dare you steal my things? My fiancé bought all of these for me! I suggest you return everything immediately and stop entertaining thoughts you shouldn't have!]

I was about to ask who she was when I realized she had already blocked me.

I assumed it was a prank or some lunatic chasing attention, so I ignored it.

To attend my son's engagement party, I made a special trip to Saks Fifth Avenue to buy a suitable evening dress.

I had just picked out a custom long gown.

Before I could ask the sales assistant to take it down, a hand with glittering rhinestone nails reached over and snatched the dress away. "I'll take this one. Wrap it up for me."

I turned toward the speaker. A young woman dressed in the latest couture collection and carrying a designer bag stared at me with open disdain.

She looked me up and down, then suddenly reacted as if she had discovered something shocking. Pointing at me, she screamed, "It's you!?"

"You know me?" I asked with a frown.

She let out a cold laugh, pulled out her phone, opened a screenshot, and shoved it in my face. "What are you pretending for? You were the one who secretly took photos of the dowry my fiancé prepared for me and posted them online to show off, right? I wasn't even finished cursing you out online, and now you've got the nerve to show up in front of me?"

The post on her phone was mine.

So she was the one who had sent me those insulting messages. She was also my son's fiancée, Scarlett Harper.

Before I could speak, she raised her voice and shouted toward the store entrance. "Everyone, come take a look! This is what a mistress looks like these days. Completely shameless!

"She secretly took photos of the 700,000-dollar dowry my fiancé, Nathaniel Cole, prepared for me, claimed it was for her, and posted them online while pretending to be some socialite!

"Why don't you take a look at yourself? You're already so old, and you're still trying to seduce a rich young man. It's disgusting!"

Her voice rang so loudly that my ears hurt just standing beside her.

Suddenly, I remembered how Nathaniel had looked during our video call the night before. His face had been full of joy, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Mom, Scarlett is a gentle and kind woman. She even feeds stray cats on the street. She never raises her voice, and she's very sensible. You'll definitely like her when you meet her," he had claimed.

Then I looked at the woman in front of me, practically spitting as she spoke and looking down on everyone around her. I simply couldn't connect her to the words gentle and kind.

In the short time she had been shouting, a crowd had already gathered outside the store.

Many people who did not know the truth quickly took her side and began pointing at me.

"She's still doing this kind of thing at her age. She has no shame at all."

"She looks like a professional mistress. She's made a career out of being the other woman!"

"What is that guy thinking? Leaving a young, pretty girlfriend for someone old enough to be his mother?"

"Maybe this old woman has some special skills in bed. Hahaha..."

Their words were vicious, and fury burned inside me.

But the woman standing in front of me was still my son's fiancée, and she had clearly misunderstood the situation.

I forced myself to remain calm and tried to explain. "Your name is Scarlett, right?"

"Oh, so you even looked up my name." She shot me an arrogant glance. "You think posting something online can force your way into our lives? Keep dreaming. A piece of trash like you isn't even worthy of carrying my shoes. You're only fit to crawl under a bridge and find a homeless man!"

Her filthy insults came one after another, each one testing the limits of my patience.

I genuinely began to wonder if there had been some kind of mistake. How could this possibly be the girl Nathaniel had described?

I took a deep breath, suppressed the anger rising in my chest, and spoke coldly. "Listen carefully. I'm not a mistress. I'm Nathaniel's mother. In other words, I'm the biological mother of the fiancé you're talking about."

As if she had heard the funniest joke in the world, Scarlett doubled over with laughter. "Ha? His real mother? Couldn't you at least come up with a believable lie?

"Nathaniel already told me his mom is overseas, so busy she barely has time to breathe, and she won't be back for at least another year! Just to climb the social ladder, you're willing to tell a lie like this? How desperate are you for a man?"

The surrounding onlookers quickly joined in.

"Is this old lady crazy? She got caught and now she's spouting nonsense."

"Mistresses these days really are shameless. They can lie without even blinking."

It was true that I spent most of the year abroad managing the branch company's business.

I had only landed in Briarwood yesterday because I wanted to surprise my son. I never expected that surprise to turn into a shock.

Not wanting to waste any more time arguing with her, I took out my phone. "Since you don't believe me, I'll call Nathaniel right now and let him tell you himself."

I had just unlocked the screen and opened WhatsApp when Scarlett suddenly lunged forward and snatched the phone from my hand.

"You're feeling guilty and trying to call Nathaniel to back you up, aren't you?" she said mockingly. "Forget it, old lady. I don't know what tricks you used to get close to him. But Nathaniel said he only loves me. Even if he comes here, there's no way he'd take your side!"

As she spoke, she kept scrolling through my phone. The screen was still open to the chat history between my son and me.

I didn't know what she saw, but her expression darkened by the second, and her voice suddenly turned shrill. "Natty? Judy?"

"Natty" was my son's nickname. Only the people closest to him used it. And "Judy" was what he called me whenever he was teasing me or acting spoiled. But clearly, she interpreted it differently.

"You disgusting old pervert! At your age, you're still using pet names like some teenage girl? And you make him call you that too? And you expect me to believe you're his mother? What kind of mother talks to her son like this?"

What exactly was wrong with that? No matter how old the child I gave birth to became, wasn't he still my baby? She was the one with the filthy mind, twisting everything into something improper.

When she saw that I stayed silent, she mistook it for guilt. She raised her hand and slammed my phone onto the ground.

A sharp crack rang out as the screen shattered instantly.

My phone contained a great deal of important data, and now it was nothing more than a pile of scrap.

Rage surged through me. "Are you insane? That's my phone. Pay for it!"

"Pay for it?" Scarlett sneered and kicked the broken pieces aside. "This phone was bought with Nathaniel's money too, wasn't it? If something was bought with my fiancé's money, I can smash it whenever I want. What are you going to do about it? A parasite who lives off men has no right to ask me for compensation."

After a brief pause, she crossed her arms and adopted the smug posture of a lady of the house. "Let me make this clear. Stop daydreaming. Nathaniel will be here to pick me up soon. When he gets here, I'll have him blacklist you and make sure you can't survive in Briarwood! Then we'll see how long you can keep acting shameless!"

Looking at her arrogant expression, I became so angry that I laughed.

Blacklist me? In Briarwood, no one would dare claim they could blacklist me, Judith Foster.

Even Nathaniel's current company was a wholly owned subsidiary under my control. Every dollar he spent came from the empire I had built with my own hands.

And now, a woman living off my money wanted to blacklist me? How ridiculous!

"Ma'am, please cooperate with us." The sales associate who had been standing nearby finally spoke, but she was addressing me. "You're causing a disturbance in the store, and… Miss Harper is one of our VVIP clients. If you can't prove your identity, we'll have to call security."

In luxury stores, flattering the powerful while stepping on the weak was the norm.

I had dressed casually today. I wore no jewelry except for a jade pendant hanging around my neck. To them, I was probably nothing more than a washed-up gold digger.

I straightened my collar, walked to the lounge area, and settled onto the leather sofa. "There's no reason to turn away a customer in business."

I crossed my legs and leaned back with composed ease. "Since Miss Harper says she's waiting for her dear fiancé to come blacklist me? Fine. I'll wait right here."

The calmer I appeared, the angrier Scarlett became.

Then her eyes fixed on the pendant around my neck. It was a protective charm my grandmother had given me when I was born. She passed away many years ago, and this was the only thing she left behind. It meant everything to me.

"Oh, this was also a gift from Nathaniel, right?" A flicker of greed flashed across Scarlett's eyes. "Amazing quality. It must've cost a fortune. If it was bought with my fiancé's money, take it off."

With that, she actually reached out to grab it.

I hadn't expected her to attack me in public. "What are you doing!"

I covered my chest with one hand while grabbing her wrist with the other.

But Scarlett fought like a madwoman, yanking at the pendant with all her strength.

The pendant dug into my skin, and a burning pain spread across my neck. Her ridiculously long acrylic nails raked across the back of my hand during the struggle, and blood immediately welled up.

The pain snapped the last thread of my patience. I swung my hand and slapped her hard across the face.

The sharp crack echoed throughout the store.

Scarlett covered her face and stared at me in disbelief.

I was breathing hard as well. Blood dripped from my hand onto the beige carpet, stark against the pale fabric.

"She hit her! The mistress hit the rightful partner!"

The two sales associates reacted immediately and rushed over to shield Scarlett.

"How could you hit her?!"

"Call the police! Call the police right now!"

Even the crowd of onlookers became agitated.

"So arrogant. A mistress actually dares to hit the fiancée?"

"The world really has changed. The shameless ones are always the boldest."

"Film her. Expose her!"

Countless phones pointed toward me, camera flashes stabbing at my eyes.

Seeing public opinion swing in her favor, Scarlett instantly slipped into performance mode. Tears filled her eyes on cue. "If you're really short on money, I can give you some. Please, don't destroy my family, okay? Nathaniel and I worked so hard to get where we are…"

Watching her pathetic act only disgusted me more.

"Scarlett, are you done performing?" I looked at her coldly. "I'll say this one last time. I am Nathaniel's mother, Judith Foster. Everything you're doing right now is pushing yourself toward a dead end."

At that, a trace of mockery flashed through Scarlett's eyes.

She lowered her voice so only the two of us could hear. "You old hag, still not done pretending? If I don't crush you today, I'll take your last name."