“Layla? I was in a no-signal zone for a meeting, and my phone was in airplane mode. What’s wrong?”

The moment Layla answered, Apollo’s anxious and regretful voice blasted through the speaker.

There was no guilt and avoidance, only confusion and worry.

The last shred of doubt in Layla was replaced by indignation. She started weeping.

“Apollo, I…” She choked up and could not even form a complete sentence.

However, Apollo could immediately tell that something was wrong. He raised his voice in anger and roared murderously, “What’s wrong? Did someone harass you and Mom? Don’t cry. Hand the phone to my mom!”

While crying, Layla handed her phone to me. Once I gave Apollo the general gist of what had happened, he became so livid that his voice started trembling, and he started making some really crazy oaths. “Mom, trust me when I say that I’ll never betray Layla. If I do, you can announce to everyone that you’re cutting ties with me immediately, and God will kill me in a car crash!”

That “I’ve got the cat in the bag” smile on Mandy’s face finally cracked.

Just then, two police officers walked into the shop with steady footsteps and sharp gazes. “Who called the police?”

I raised my hand.

Mandy’s expression immediately changed. She strode over and tried to snatch my phone away.

“Officers, it’s all a misunderstanding! It’s just a family matter! We can handle this by ourselves!”

However, I took a step to the side and blocked her way as I said coldly, “You’re not the one who gets to decide whether this is a misunderstanding.”

The police officer who was clearly the leader observed us. When he saw me, he raised an eyebrow in shock. “Are you… Leto Jackson, the CEO of Grand Source?”

His words were like a splash of cold water on boiling oil. It made the people around us erupt in shock.

“Grand Source? The giant in new energy? She’s the CEO?”

“Wait. Now that you’ve mentioned it, she really is Leto Jackson! I saw her during the last financial summit!”

As she listened to the discussions, Mandy’s face turned pale.

When she trained her eyes on me, her lips quivered, and all her arrogance from a moment ago vanished.

“M-Miss Jackson, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t know that you’re…”

She almost started crying, but when she realized that Apollo was still on the phone, she decided not to give up yet.

“But we weren’t trying to scam you. We just thought that the woman seemed to know you well. Why don’t you ask your son if he’s too afraid to tell the truth because Miss Lark is here?”

I refused to entertain her stubbornness and showed the police officers the ridiculous receipt.

“It’s simple, officers. I brought my future daughter-in-law here to buy an engagement present, but the shop owner issued me a two-million-dollar receipt. I was unaware of it, I never signed the receipt, and I was never asked for verification. When I refused to pay, she threatened to keep me here,” I stated calmly and clearly with no hint of unnecessary emotion.

The police officers’ expressions grew stern as they turned to Mandy. “Since both of you have stated that there’s a conflict between you, bring out the security footage. We’ll handle this.”

I smiled and agreed. “Of course. The shop owner said that I’m very close to whoever said I ought to pay for the diamond ring. Let’s have her bring out the security footage. I believe that the number of security cameras in such a large jewelry shop should be second only to the amount of jewelry here.”

I then stared at Mandy and said, “Miss Williams, this is your best chance to prove your innocence.”

Mandy’s eyes flickered with various emotions. After a long time, she stammered, “T-The security cameras… broke down today.”

This time, the police officers scoffed.

When Mandy saw that the police officers’ expressions were turning darker, she gritted her teeth. She grabbed my arm and whispered, “Miss Jackson, can we talk in private?”

I had thought that she would beg for mercy, but the moment she went to the side, desperate ruthlessness replaced her fear. When she spoke, her voice was absolutely threatening.

“Miss Jackson, burning bridges isn’t good for any of us. You’re a respectable person. I don’t think you’d want to go on the news for a family matter, right? Besides, two million dollars is a small sum to you, isn’t it?”

Seeing that I was silent, Mandy thought that she had me, and she immediately wore an expression that screamed, “I’m just doing this for your own good.”

“Miss Jackson, our brand is a global franchise, and we have a legal team. If the reporters report about this, they won’t be digging around for news from us, but from you.”

Then, she lowered her voice even more as her gaze turned meaningful. “Besides, you’ve earned so much money. I’m sure that some of it is dirty money. Can you really handle being looked into?”

I scowled, which somehow made her think that I felt guilty. So, she started talking gently, like she was trying to convince me to just listen to her. “I’m doing this for your sake, Miss Jackson. If there’s smoke, there’s fire, right? Why didn’t that woman do this to anyone else but you? I’m just saying that what if your son really cheated on your future daughter-in-law? If you cause such a ruckus and he did cheat, you’d be humiliating your own family. That’s why you should just let this slide, don’t you think?”

I scoffed. Even at this point, she was still throwing mud at Apollo.

I took a deep breath and could not be bothered to continue dancing in circles with her. “Will your shop pay those two million dollars?”

Honestly, I could understand her.

She was just an employee. The moment such a major flaw in management appeared, her first reaction was to hide it and convince me not to blow this out of proportion.

To my surprise, the moment she heard that I wanted the shop to pay for the two million dollars, her eyes went wide. “Why should we pay? My monthly salary is just eight thousand dollars! Of course you’re paying for it! You own a huge company. Two million dollars is nothing to you. You can earn it back immediately!” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

She even shrugged, and her innocent expression made it seem like she was talking about a simple problem.

As I stared at her self-righteous expression, I suddenly thought that saying even one extra word to her would be a waste of my breath.

Before she could react, I walked back to the police officers and told them all that she said to me. Then, I stared into their eyes as I said, “Officers, according to Article 40 of the Consumer Protection Act, when a seller has elements of deception in the products or services they sell, they need to pay monetary compensation. I suspect that she was trying to coerce me into spending money.”

Mandy’s expression turned as dark as a thundercloud.

As for the police officers, they flew into a rage because of her outrageous behavior.

“Mandy Williams, is it? Please come to the station with us for an investigation.”

For a fraction of a second, I could see Mandy warring between choosing to be a lawful citizen or an unreasonable banshee.

The unreasonable banshee won.

She stomped on the floor and screamed so shrilly that her voice could shatter glass. “I’m not wrong! That woman is her future in-law! She’s the one who won’t recognize it! What does that have to do with me?!”

Her voice grew increasingly louder as she pointed at the air. Her spit flew everywhere. “I’m just an employee! Why should I clean up this mess for you rich people?! Arrest that woman! She’s rich but heartless!”

Phones came out, and cameras flashed.

The jewelry shop turned into a huge live stream event.

Layla frowned and instinctively hid behind me.

Just as Mandy was kicking up a fuss, the most cliche thing happened.

Someone from the crowd suddenly shouted, “Hey, look! The person who bought the diamond ring has gone live! She says that she wants to argue with Miss Jackson!”

Everyone went wild, and they turned to me.

The police officers frowned.

Mandy stopped kicking up a fuss too. A flash of panic rose on her face for a brief moment before slight confidence replaced it.

After that, the crowd turned restless and went to that live stream channel.

Indeed, even I had not expected the person to show themselves instead of running away.

I took out my phone and popped into the live stream channel.

I wanted to see what sort of lies that mother-and-daughter pair was going to weave.

The moment I connected to their channel, a sickeningly sweet voice came through my phone.

“Hey, Leto. Why did you call the police? This is just a small matter!”

When the screen lit up, I thought that I would be able to see the coward’s face, but a ridiculous watermelon filter covered her entire face. Even her background had been blurred.

All the onlookers went wild, and they started spamming the chat.

[You put on a filter? You’re definitely feeling guilty!]

[You billed someone for two million dollars and won’t show your face? You’re definitely a scammer! Get the police to arrest her!]

[That sounds like the voice of a pimp!]

At the sight of the chat, the watermelon swayed violently, and the woman’s shrill voice pierced my eardrums.

“Shut up! What would you poor peasants know?!”

After she finished cursing at the viewers, she looked into the camera as if she was staring at me. Then, her voice turned sickeningly sweet again. “Leto, don’t be mad. I just heard that there was a slight misunderstanding at the shop. Your son might be marrying another woman, but my daughter has been with him for a long time, so she needs some compensation, right? The diamond ring is nothing to someone with such a big company like yours.”

She made it sound like this was the way of the world, and she was trying to guilt-trip me.

The customers around us were stunned, and they gasped.

Even Layla’s composure cracked, and she teared up again.

She bit down on her lip, and her nails dug into her palms as she swayed.

While she spoke, even the police officers scowled and quietly cast me skeptical looks.

“Is that so?” I finally spoke, but my voice was flat, almost as if it were covered in ice.

“Come over right now. My son’s about to arrive. Let’s have the children talk in front of the police.”

I then turned to the crowd and stated clearly, “If my son were really a cheater, forget two million dollars, I’ll even pay you twenty million dollars!”

I raised Apollo on my own and knew more than anyone whether he had the guts to cheat.

Since this woman had the nerve to set me up, she had to prepare to be crushed under my foot.

In an instant, the incessant chatter came to a screeching halt.

She remained silent for a grand total of three seconds before the watermelon drew closer to the screen. She dropped her facade and started screeching, “Apollo is the one who’s shameless, but my daughter still has an ounce of shame! Every last one of you rich people has dirty laundry!”

I cut her rambling off and mocked her, “You, however, are involved in a two-million-dollar scam, and that’s full grounds for a fraud case. You can absolutely go to prison for that. By the way, I forgot to tell you something.”

As I stared at the screen, I told her a simple fact. “This entire supermarket is a subsidiary company of Grand Source. In other words, I own the place. So, how long do you think I’d need to retrieve the full security footage?”

The watermelon face froze.

In the next second, exasperated cursing shot through my speaker. “Leto Jackson, you shameless witch! I’m going to crush you!”

The live stream went off, and the screen turned dark.

I turned to the police officers. “Officers, I believe things are clear now. This is a premeditated scam, and this shop is her accomplice.”

Mandy’s face was paler than a ghost at this point. It was like she had died, and her forehead was covered in cold sweat.

The police officers stepped forward and shouted, “Get the security footage, now!”

This time, Mandy no longer dared to say that the security cameras were broken. She scrambled to the back to retrieve the security footage.

The leader approached me and whispered, “There’s no way this is just a coincidence. The woman mentioned your name along with your son’s. She even set up a scam in this shop. Have you offended anyone, or have you had any conflict with anyone?”

I frowned.

If this came from a business competitor, such a cheap tactic would not do any substantial damage to me, aside from making me feel sick to my stomach.

However, it could not have come from a disgruntled family member either.

Who could it be?

As I thought about the watermelon filter, I thought about how she knew me and Apollo.

Suddenly, a ridiculous thought appeared in my head.

In the next second, I grabbed Layla and rushed to the back of the jewelry shop. At the same time, I shouted at the police officers, “Follow me! That woman is still in the supermarket! She hasn’t left!”