I pressed a hand to my forehead and swallowed a laugh.

So those delusional lines from cheesy short dramas actually came from real life.

I couldn't be bothered to argue, so I just said it.

"Then call your Dirk right now and we'll settle this face to face!"

Ina snatched up her phone at once.

But she didn't dial.

"No. If I call him now, Dirk will think I doubted him. He'll think I didn't trust what he said, that all I care about is his money."

"Tania, you're so cruel!"

I had nothing to say to that.

I just picked up my bag and left.

"Fine."

"Then wait until the baby's born and come stake your claim."

"By then you can promote yourself straight from mistress to wife. You go be the proper Mrs. Dirk Gray to that imaginary husband, and I'll be the cast-off wife and stay out of your way!"

With that said, I gave none of them the chance to react and walked straight out of the private room, without even getting the chance to hand over the gift I'd brought for Darren.

It seemed someone in the room wanted to come after me.

But Darren wouldn't let anyone move.

He only said, "Let that ungrateful girl get as far away as she wants. As far as I'm concerned, I don't have a daughter like her!"

I let out a sigh.

They say a stepmother turns your father into a stepfather too, and that was exactly Darren. Ever since he married Paige, my own father had basically become my stepfather, Darren.

So I didn't look back. I went straight past the front desk and had the driver pull away. Since you don't have a daughter like me, you can foot that bill yourself, all hundred-plus thousand of it.

Just as I'd expected.

Within the hour, the calls and texts came one after another. I didn't pick up the calls, and the texts, though plenty, all said about the same thing.

They wanted money.

Of course I wasn't going to give them any.

I used to be a fool, hungry for the scraps of family love that barely existed.

I'd even told myself Darren just favored Ina a little, that deep down he still cared about me. But today made it clear that wasn't it at all. He'd stopped seeing me as his daughter a long time ago.

And on top of that, every single thing from all the years before was still vivid in my mind. One thing piled on another, and it only hardened my resolve to cut these people off for good.

So I blocked every one of their contacts and severed all ties.

Not only did I stop sending the driver over with things now and then, I also cut off the monthly allowance I'd been giving them.

I thought that would buy me some peace for a while.

But not even two months passed.

Ina dragged Darren and Paige along and made a whole scene barging into my company. The moment she got in, she started shouting.

"I'm here for Tania Summers!"

"I'm here for Tania Summers's husband!"

"If you don't come out, I'll bleed all over this floor right here!"

Ina hadn't brought any weapon, but the sight of her still rattled the employees at their desks, and they immediately moved to call the police.

Ina panicked.

"Anyone who dares call the police, I'll have you fired!"

"The baby in my belly is the owner of this company. Treating me like this, do you all not want your jobs anymore?"

The staff exchanged looks, unsure whether to call 911, call a psychiatric ward, or just sit back and watch. In the end it was my assistant who walked over.

"Ma'am, since you're pregnant, we don't want to call the police or have you thrown out."

"But you've clearly got the wrong company. Our boss, Ms. Summers, is a woman. There's no way she's the father of the baby you're carrying."

"So please leave!"

Darren clicked his tongue.

"What kind of nonsense is this?"

"This company belongs to my son-in-law, and Tania Summers is my daughter. Hand my daughter over, now. I need to speak with her!"

That was when the assistant finally placed him. The man making a scene was my own father.

Annoyed as I was, calling the police over this would have been a real hassle, and on top of that we were blood, so I had no choice but to come out and face them.

The moment they saw me,

Ina seemed to let out a breath.

"Tania, I didn't come here today to fight with you. We came for one thing only, and that's money!"

"You stopped giving us our allowance over a month ago, but I can't have my baby going without, so we went and took out some loans to get by!"

"Now the repayment's come due, so don't you dare play dead."

I shook my head, smiling.

I'd been wondering why I hadn't heard a word from them since my birthday. So this was the other way they'd found to support themselves.

I took Ina's statement and ran the numbers in my head. It came to nearly a million.

They certainly hadn't let themselves suffer.

But not one cent of this money was going to them. I'd earned every dollar the hard way, so why would I hand it to a pack of ungrateful leeches who'd never be satisfied?

Seeing that I had no intention of paying, Paige panicked.

"Ina got pregnant to help secure your position. You can't repay her like this!"

"If you won't give us the money now, don't come crying once the baby's born!"

Inwardly, I rolled my eyes.

"I've already told you, I'm single. I don't have a husband at all!"

"Tell you what, Ina. Right here, in front of every employee in my company, I'll make you a promise. The moment you bring my husband here, I'll divorce her on the spot and let you take my place!"

Ina didn't refuse.

"I regretted not slapping you last time."

"So this time I called him the second I got here. By my count, he should be arriving any minute now."

The words had barely left her mouth.

A man pushed through the crowd and made his way to Ina's side.

"Ina, are you and the baby all right?"

The moment Ina saw him,

she dropped the furious act in an instant, tears spilling down at once.

"Dirk, thank goodness you're here."

"You have no idea. If you'd come any later, that vicious witch Tania would have been the death of me and the baby."

"I know being with you was wrong, all of it my fault, every bit of it, but the baby is innocent!"

The man froze.

He shot a quick glance at me, then dropped his voice and demanded,

"Didn't you tell me Tania wasn't here? Why did you lie to me?"

Ina hadn't expected him to react like this. She forgot to even keep crying.

Paige couldn't stand to watch.

"Son, we had no choice."

"Ever since Tania found out about you and Ina, found out about the baby, she cut us off and stopped paying for everything."

"We only came here for the money because we had nowhere else to turn. You have to set things right for us."

Darren chimed in too.

"That's right, Tania's gone too far."

"Ina never tried to take anything from her. It's Tania whose heart is rotten. I'm in poor health these days, son, so go on and teach Tania a good lesson."

"Otherwise, once the baby comes, there's no telling what other tricks she'll pull."

Ina gave the man a light push.

The meaning was clear enough.

She wanted him to hit me.

"Dirk, she's the canary you keep. When the bird won't behave, it needs to be put in line!"

I didn't flinch, because by now I had a pretty good idea what this whole farce was about. Just as I'd thought, this man wouldn't dare lay a hand on me. He didn't even dare look me in the eye.

So I smiled.

"Dirk Gray, why don't you tell them. Am I some canary you keep?"

Dirk opened his mouth and couldn't get out a single word.

In the end his legs just gave out, and he dropped to his knees in front of me.

"I... I can explain."