After years of living abroad without children, I decided to return home to handle my inheritance matters. However, before I could step into my house, I was stopped by a group of people at the entrance.

The woman leading the group pointed at me and started screaming.

"I can't believe someone as young as you is seducing a man old enough to be your father! How disgusting can you be?"

I watched her, noticing how much she resembled my older brother, and I was shaking with rage.

They pulled out my fingernails, broke my ribs, and slashed my face, dragging me around the neighborhood as I begged for mercy. Yet, they remained indifferent to my pleas.

Just as I was on the verge of losing hope, my brother, Edward Grange rushed over. 

Through a mouthful of blood, I managed to choke out, "Ed, I’d rather die than let her inherit my inheritance…”

——

“Oh my God, did you hear? A whole group of people just stormed over to Building 8, shouting about confronting some homewrecker.”

I had just returned from the mall when I overheard the whispers as soon as I entered the neighborhood.

A homewrecker? This was one of the most expensive areas in the city, so it would not surprise me if some rich guy had a mistress hidden away here.

While wondering which family was behind the scandalous mess, I quickly walked home. However, just as I unlocked my door, I was stopped from entering.

“You’re Molly Benois, right?” The woman in front sneered, her gaze cold.

Behind her was a guy with dyed blonde hair and a few big, burly men.

“Jenn, it’s her. I saw her on Dad’s Facebook post. She looks exactly the same,” the blonde guy chimed in.

Facebook? Could it be the post that my brother Edward Grange shared yesterday after we sorted out the house transfer?

Along with a photo of us and the deed to the property, it captioned: [It’s finally returned to its rightful owner.]

That was the house I had bought for him. However, when I returned home, Edward, worried about his two kids fighting over the property, transferred it back to me.

I was about to explain when the woman kicked me hard in the chest with her ten-inch heels, grinding the heel in for good measure. I collapsed instantly, a sharp pain piercing my chest as I coughed up blood.

Two of the burly men quickly grabbed my phone and dragged me into the yard while the blonde guy looked around the property with disgust.

“Well, look at that. The old man is always crying poor to us, but here he is, living in luxury and keeping his little mistress in this nice place. Meanwhile, his real kids get nothing.”

Kids? That was when it hit me why the woman and blonde guy seemed so familiar. They were Edward's children, Jenny and Marcus Grange.

“You’re Jenny and Marcus, right? I’m not some mistress. I’m your aunt–”

“Shut up! How dare you pretend to be my aunt?” Marcus slapped me across the face, twice, leaving me dizzy, stars flashing in my eyes.

“Don’t give me that crap. My aunt’s been abroad, and she’s over fifty! You barely look thirty. If you’re going to lie, at least try harder.

“My dad’s over seventy years old. How could you stomach being with that wrinkled old man? You really would do anything for money, huh?”

I had always taken care of my appearance with cosmetic treatments, skin care, keeping fit, and always dressing well. Naturally, I looked younger than I was.

“Guys, shut her up,” Marcus ordered.

One of the burly men then pulled off his sock, getting ready to stuff it into my mouth.

The stench of his sweaty sock was overwhelming, making me gag.

“No, stop! What are you doing? I’m telling the truth! Is this how you treat your elders? I’m really your dad’s sister. You can call him and confirm!”

I tried to run toward the door, but two more men grabbed me, and the sock was shoved into my mouth.

“Sister? Ha! You’ve got to be kidding me. Playing some twisted game with an old man, calling each other siblings when he’s thirty or forty years older than you? You’re pathetic!”

I wanted to throw up again because the smell was unbearable. However, with the sock crammed in my mouth, it got stuck in my throat, making it even worse.

After my mother divorced her ex, she remarried my dad and had me. That was why I was much younger than Edward and I took my mother’s last name.

“I’m here to take back what’s rightfully mine,” Jenny sneered. “Everything in this house, including the property itself, is mine. Unless you sign these papers, you won’t be walking out of here standing.”

Then, she tossed a stack of documents in front of me.

Looking at that vicious woman, it was hard to believe she was the same Jenny Edward talked about. He used to tell me how kind and well-behaved she was over the phone during the holidays. He said Jenny was sweet and responsible, though Marcus could be a bit of a troublemaker.

However, this? This was not the “well-behaved” Jenny I had heard so much about. Instead, she was ungrateful and unreasonable and clearly treated the law as if it did not exist!

I had returned home to handle my inheritance. It had not been easy for me to make a living abroad, so I had always believed in supporting other women. I thought that if I was going to name an inheritor, it would be Jenny, my niece.

Yet now, I was furious. I never imagined my chosen inheritor would treat me that way. Did she really think they were above the law?

I struggled, refusing to cooperate, but Marcus grabbed my hand and held it up for everyone to see.

“Jenn, check out her nails! She’s got gold and diamonds on them.”

“Custom nails from Moonlight cost eight grand a set, and I’ve never even gotten that done. But look at her, living the life! That old man sure didn’t hold back when it came to her. Guys, the diamonds and gold on her nails are your bonus. See if you can pull them off.”

I stared in horror as the men approached me like a pack of wolves, their eyes gleaming with greed. In a moment of desperation, I shoved Jenny to the side and tried to run.

“You little bitch, did you just push me? Guys, beat her up! If anything happens, I’ll take the blame!”

Fists and kicks rained down on me like heavy stones. The searing pain spread across my body as I felt several of my ribs snap. Soon, they tied me up and started kicking me around like a soccer ball.

My face scraped against the rough gravel in the yard, tearing my skin until it was raw and bloody. Small stones embedded themselves into my flesh and, mixed with my tears, caused excruciating pain—like salt being rubbed into my wounds.

I writhed on the ground, howling in agony like a mad dog on the verge of death, while they laughed and mocked me.

“An estate worth millions, and she thought she could take it from us. Let’s see if she lives long enough to spend a dime.”

“Jenn, she’s not moving anymore. Do you think we went too far? What if this gets messy?”

I felt a flicker of hope—maybe Marcus still had a shred of conscience left.

However, Jenny quickly snuffed that out. “I can’t believe you’re such a coward, Marcus! Who cares? If anything happens, our dad will take the fall. We’re his only children. Do you really think he’ll let anything happen to us? Worst case, he’ll beg our aunt to smooth things over with money.

“And don’t think Daddy’s going to come save you. We’re his only flesh and blood. He’s too old to have more kids now. No matter how much he might like you, me and Marcus are his real family.”

I closed my eyes in despair. They really were lawless.

How could my gentle and educated brother, who taught many students over the years, have raised such monsters?

Did Jenny not realize that my brother was just a schoolteacher? Where did she think all the money came from?

This was all my own doing. I, having felt bad for my niece and nephew, had sent quite a bit of money to Edward over the years to help him out, and now, it was back to bite me in the ass.

One of the men, finally tired from kicking me, stepped forward. I frantically shook my head.

Jenny yanked the sock out of my mouth and sneered, “You’re hideous now. Will you sign it or not?”

“I’ll do it! I’ll do it!” I nodded frantically, dragging my broken hand across the paper, trembling as I scribbled my name.

“Please, can you let me go now?” I begged.

“Hahaha!” They all laughed like it was the funniest thing they had ever heard.

“Do you think I’m stupid? Letting you go so you can run off and get me in trouble? No way. And I still haven’t paid the guys their bonus yet,” Jenny spat.

“Please, I beg you… I won’t say a word. Just let me go,” I pleaded desperately.

However, Jenny was unmoved, and the group of men began closing in on me again. Panic overwhelmed me.

“Help! Somebody help me!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“Shut up, you bitch!”

One of the men punched me square in the face, dislocating my jaw, and the implant in my nose flew out.

The man froze for a second before bursting out laughing. “No way! Her nose was fake! I knew it. No one has a nose so perfect unless it’s fake!”

Rage burned inside me. My nose had always been the one feature I hated. It was flat and ugly, and I had spent years getting surgery after surgery to make it look right, only for those animals to ruin it.

They were real, living demons; they were simply evil!

If I could get out of this situation, I would make them pay a thousand times over.

“Damn, look at this! I've never seen anyone with diamonds and gold in their nails before. Being a mistress must really pay off,” one of the men said.

I watched in terror as the burly man stepped closer, and I instinctively tried to back away.

In my head, I screamed, ‘No! No! No!’

I was not wearing fake nails; those were my real nails. If he ripped the diamonds and gold embellishments off, it would be like tearing my nails out of my flesh.

However, seeing my fear only made them more excited. One of them grabbed my hand and yanked hard on the gold embellishment in my nails.

“Aaaah!” I screamed in agony.

It felt like someone had driven a stake straight into my heart. I thrashed on the ground, writhing in pain as the men closed in and ripped out the rest of my nails, one by one.

I curled up on the floor, clutching my bleeding hands, rolling in agony. The pain was unbearable, and eventually, I started to go numb.

“J-Jenny Grange… Y-You’re all going to hell…” I choked through my tears.

“How dare you curse me, you bitch? Shut her up again!” Jenny kicked me hard, and they stuffed the filthy, vomit-covered sock back into my mouth.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that they were not going to let me out of there alive. Those monsters were going to kill me.

I struggled to resist, but no sound came out anymore.

“Hey, Jenn. Look at this!”

“Dad wouldn’t give us a cent, but he bought this bitch a whole wall of Hermès bags!”

“What?”