"What? She's pregnant?"

Susan and Grandma showed up, dropping the bombshell.

Linda, smug, caressed her belly.

"That's right, the last heir to our family. If you want this baby, you know the drill."

Grandma looked pained and uncertain, her eyes darting between me and Susan.

"It's true... he was the last of our line. Jack's gone."

Her implication was clear—we should keep supporting Linda until the child was born.

We all knew that agreeing was a one-way ticket to endless financial drain.

The cost of future baby formula and Linda's retirement care... these expenses are substantial.

Desperate, Grandma turned to her daughters, "Are you heartless? This is our family's future! Agree now, or are you trying to kill me with worry?"

I thought about how Grandma had squeezed everything she could out of her daughters.

Now, with her son gone, she still expected them to prop up her daughter-in-law. Ridiculous.

Grandma's gaze then landed on me, filled with more accusation, "You and your haircut! It's your fault! Jack was too decent to just go out and drink and drive!"

Realizing this was going nowhere and bracing for more fallout, Susan and Mom shared a look and finally said, "Mom, go back home. Let us think this through."

With that, Grandma and Linda left.

Once they were gone, Susan revealed a staggering secret to my mom.

Jack had been infertile all along!

After much prodding, Susan finally spilled the beans, "During a routine work physical, it came out that Jack had fertility issues—his sperm count was too low to get anyone pregnant."

I was stunned and blurted out, "So Aunt Linda must've cheated on him."

Our top priority was finding proof of her affair.

"Look at this!"

Mom gasped, showing us her phone.

It was a video Linda posted. In the clip, she was dressed in tattered clothes, looking pitiful.

Odd, since she'd been wearing a fancy fur coat when she left our place.

"My nephew and my husband had a fight, and that brat went and cut his hair during the New Year! Everyone knows starting the year with drastic changes brings bad luck to your uncle! My husband died the day after he did it!"

The internet was divided.

Some called it out as outdated superstition, saying this whole hair-cutting curse was nonsense.

Others sided with the grieving, pregnant widow, lashing out at us for not supporting her.

[Everybody knows utterly changing your look in New Year is a jinx! This is a long-standing tradition! And yet here comes some disrespectful kid messing with fate. What a tragedy!]

[Look how shabby her clothes are; clearly, she's being mistreated by her in-laws. I support her! The family should pay up!]

[How are people supposed to enjoy the holidays like this? Pay her off already! You can't just kill someone and walk away! Actions have consequences!]

Seeing public opinion shift in her favor, I knew Linda was playing her cards.

She was trying to use the media to corner us into signing a custody deal.

We had to act fast and put a stop to this.

Early the next morning, I set out to visit Linda's hometown.

But as soon as I opened the door, there she was.

She was holding a can of red paint, scrawling "An eye for an eye!" on our front door.

"Give me back my husband! Give me back my happiness!"

I scowled, stepping closer, and she quickly backed away.

I wasn't about to hit a woman.

Instead, I pulled out my phone and recorded her vandalism.

She saw me filming and tried to snatch my phone, desperate to stop me.

"What the hell are you filming? You can't invade someone's privacy!"

"And you think splattering paint on someone's doorstep isn't illegal?"

My smug smile rattled her, and knowing she couldn't take me on, she dropped the paint and ran.

I sent the video to our family group chat with the caption.

[Mess with us, and you're in for a fight.]

After putting my phone away, I noticed her getting into a sketchy black car.

My gut told me this was a lead worth following.

I hailed a cab and trailed her.

Sure enough, Linda got out with some guy, and they were arguing, tugging at each other.

I was too far away to hear them clearly, but I caught bits about "the baby" and "inheritance."

That perked me up. I realized that the house had been paid for in full by my mom, and the car was bought outright by Susan.

Legally speaking, with Jack gone, we had every right to reclaim these assets.

Linda was probably afraid we'd seize the house and car, so she was trying to squeeze as much compensation from us as possible.

At that moment, it hit me—I remembered seeing a shadow in the passenger seat of Jack's car the night he died.

There were definitely two people in that car.

Maybe Jack's death wasn't just an accident.

Jack's death was suspicious; the guilty must face justice.