Chapter 4
The property manager soon arrived.
Seeing more than thirty people surrounding me, he immediately realized how serious the situation was and quickly asked what had happened.
"The registered owner of this unit is Ms. Willa Scott."
The property manager looked me up and down.
"I think I've seen you more than once. You were going in and out with different female owners."
That single sentence set the crowd into an uproar.
The neighbors, who were influenced by constant embellishment from several of the Judd family relatives, all started seeing me as some disgraceful homewrecker.
"Shameless jerk. No wonder he ran straight into the group of women earlier. He's clearly a repeat offender."
"Exactly. This is outrageous. As residents, we should stick together and deal with jerks like him."
The insults and curses came wave after wave. The crowd grew more and more agitated. The situation was on the verge of spiraling out of control.
No matter how hard I tried to explain, no one would listen.
From the corner of my eye, I caught the property manager and Willa exchanging a knowing smirk.
That's when it hit me.
Back when I bought this place, Willa had strongly recommended this neighborhood. It seemed she had planned to take over my property all along. She's truly shameless.
"Everyone, please listen to me–"
I shouted with all the strength I had left, only to be met with a mouthful of spit from an old man.
"Jerk, why are you still trying to argue? Stop playing tricks. We're not falling for your act."
The stench hit me full force. I nearly gagged and had to step back, only to be groped by Eve from behind.
"Exactly. This jerk is great at pretending to be pitiful and scamming people. A few days ago, he even told me he had no money to eat. He said for just 30 bucks, he'd keep me company for two hours. I'm already over fifty. How could I handle a young man like him flirting with me? It was terrifying."
Eve pretended to be an outraged resident. She shoved me repeatedly while taking the opportunity to grope me all over.
Fury surged through me. I shoved her hard and sent her crashing to the ground.
"That's slander. I'm going to sue–"
Before I could finish my sentence, her expression changed instantly as she lunged at me.
I dodged, but two of the Judd relatives grabbed me from behind. They twisted my arms back and pinned me in place.
She slapped me twice in rapid succession. My lips cracked immediately, and blood seeped out.
Willa clapped her hands in delight.
"Nice! Jerks like him deserve a good lesson. Everyone, line up and give him a slap."
When they heard her, Meredith and her relatives took the lead. One slap after another landed on my face.
Sebastian stood nearby and grinned smugly as he shouted, "Serves you right, you filthy jerk. This is what happens when you seduce someone else's woman."
After hearing what he said, Willa leaned in and kissed him in front of everyone.
"I'm so lucky I have a boyfriend like you to protect me."
My face burned with pain. It was swollen and throbbing. I kept struggling and insisting that the property transfer document was fake, but no one listened.
"Willa! I have the property deed for this house. Do you?"
When Willa heard me shouting angrily, she immediately told them to stop.
"Everyone, please stop for a moment. This man still won't give up. He insists on bringing out his property deed to prove me wrong.
"What do you all think? Should we give him one more chance?"
The people led by Sebastian were clearly reluctant, but under my desperate explanations and a few neighbors' insistence, Willa finally made a show of goodwill and called my parents.
About thirty minutes later, my parents arrived with Melanie. Before they even spoke to me, they quickly retrieved the property deed.
The moment it was flipped open, everyone was taken by surprise.
"Let's see how you're going to deny it now!"
Willa and Sebastian exchanged a glance. Both of them were wearing triumphant smiles.
"Ryan, we've already been more than kind. We gave you more than one chance. Even your parents brought this deed. What else do you have to say?"