A group of unexpected guests suddenly barged into my relative’s funeral.

The woman, Xena Carter, leading them claimed to be my husband’s girlfriend and declared that she was here to punish me, the supposed mistress.

Out of respect for the funeral, I did not want to make a scene, so I calmly suggested she wait until it was over.

But out of nowhere, she lashed out and ordered her group to shred all of my clothes.

My relatives around us did nothing and watched coldly as it happened.

I calmly dusted myself off, stood up, and led her over to the urn.

"This urn for my mother was bought by your boyfriend. It cost nearly a million!"

As expected, the mistress flew into a rage, smashing the urn to pieces.

"You shameless family of lowlifes! Don’t think you’ll get a single cent from my boyfriend, even in death!"

What she did not know was that when I said "mother," I was referring to my husband’s mother, my mother-in-law.

She was causing a scene at my mother-in-law’s funeral, and she had just smashed her urn to pieces.

My husband, Zac Quinn, and I had been estranged for years, living separately as if we were strangers. So, it was quite unexpected when his family called me out of the blue.

"Layla, Sally has passed away. We can’t reach Zac, so you need to come back and handle the funeral arrangements!"

Hearing that my mother-in-law, Sally Quinn, had passed away, my heart skipped a beat.

It was not sadness I felt. Instead, it was as if the tight string in my heart that had been holding everything together suddenly snapped.

It was about three years ago that Zac and I separated.

Since the separation, he had been like a ghost, disappearing from my life. He spent his days attending various business gatherings or hitting up bars and clubs, but he never responded to my messages or answered my calls.

I frowned and felt a growing frustration. Zac had become so reckless. Even when his own mother passed away, he was nowhere to be found.

I stared at the voicemail for a long time before finally deciding to cancel all my meetings for the next week and head back to my hometown.

My assistant, Ruby Fisher, did not say a word, but she arranged for ten bodyguards to accompany me.

All the way back, I could not reach Zac on the phone. Who knew what he was busy with.

Out of curiosity, I checked his social media. Just an hour ago, he had posted a picture showing off his new sports car.

Relatives told me that Sally had specifically requested a custom-made urn before she passed away. It was worth nearly a million dollars, and she had argued with the family several times about it.

The faces of Zac’s relatives were full of sorrow and regret, yet when it came time to pay, they were the first to disappear.

After thinking it over, I swiped Zac’s card to pay for it.

Almost immediately, Zac, who had been unreachable until now, called.

"What did you buy that cost so much? Return it right away."

I was not in the mood to argue about money, so I just urged him, "Come back home quickly. Something has happened in the family."

Zac finally heard the funeral music playing in the background and his tone changed slightly, "Who?"

I answered calmly, "An elder in the family has passed away."

He did not say another word and hung up.

I was really curious. Since I did not mention it was his mother, would he assume it was someone from my family and decide not to bother coming?

After handling all the arrangements, I opened my phone to get some work done, only to have a notification pop up from a forum I followed.

"My boyfriend's card suddenly had eight hundred thousand dollars charged. Could something be up?"

Posts like this, designed to grab attention, were pretty common. Thus, I was about to close it when I noticed I was following this influencer.

Curious, I clicked in to take a closer look and then remembered it was Xena Carter, someone who worked at Zac’s company.

Back when Zac’s company was just getting started, our relationship was still strong. I had helped him with almost everything, including hiring the first batch of employees.

She was recommended to us, and I followed her social media account while doing a background check on her.

As I scrolled through the post, I saw there were already many comments.

Most were warning her that her boyfriend might have been spending money on another woman, probably a gold digger, and that she should be cautious.

I was not too interested and was about to unfollow her when Xena posted an update.

"Guys, it’s confirmed. There’s a mistress. My boyfriend is rushing to meet her, and I’m on my way to catch them in the act."

Attached was a screenshot from a couple’s tracking app, showing that her boyfriend had a new trip planned, and the destination was none other than my and Zac’s hometown.

I sighed and put my phone away.

Another person hurt by love. If there was anything I could do to help, I might as well.

Zac still had not responded to my messages or returned my calls.

Sally had already been cremated. I sent Zac one last message. 'I'll wait for you until the end of the day. If you don’t come by tonight, her ashes will be buried without you.'"

After all, it was the old family home, and keeping the deceased around too long just did not feel right.

Meanwhile, Zac’s relatives had already started gathering in small groups to play cards, with peanut shells scattered all over the floor.

I purposely sat far away from them. Noticing they were ignoring me and showing no intention of stirring up trouble, I sent the bodyguards at the door off in shifts to get some food.

The lingering smell of smoke in the house was giving me a headache.

I frowned, thinking of stepping outside for some fresh air, but then I heard a growing commotion approaching the door.

As I opened the door, I came face to face with Xena.

She had seven or eight people with her. She held a phone in one hand and gripped a stick in the other, looking fully prepared to cause trouble.

I was surprised. “Xena? What are you doing here?”

Xena was taken aback at first but then put her hands on her hips and shouted to the people behind her, "That's right, she's the mistress! Otherwise, how would she know my name?"

Before I could react, Xena slapped me across the face.

Having stayed up for days handling the funeral arrangements, I immediately saw stars and fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Xena screamed and lunged at me, grabbing my collar.

"My boyfriend isn’t even here yet, and you’re already pretending to be weak, you shameless woman!"

With that, she slapped me again, her sharp nails cutting the corner of my eye, causing blood to flow.

Not fully understanding what was happening and having been inexplicably beaten, my anger flared up. I got up and slapped Xena right back.

She held her face, staring at me in disbelief.

"You dare hit me? You, a lowly mistress, dare to hit the rightful woman?

"My boyfriend is the big boss of Quinn Corporation! And you, a country bumpkin living in this rural place, dare to seduce him, thinking you can climb your way up? Are you tired of living?"

Only then did I realize that her boyfriend was none other than my lawful husband, Zac.

At first, I thought she had mistaken me for someone else, but it turned out she had not.

Unfortunately for her, she was the shameless one she was talking about.

Given that we were in the middle of a funeral, I did not want to escalate things further, so I tried to calm her down.

“We’re in the middle of a funeral. It’s bad luck. You should leave now. We can sort this out after the funeral is over.”

Xena hesitated at my words, then looked up to take in the surroundings.

There was a memorial portrait hanging in the living room, and a small urn adorned with diamonds sat on the table, glinting in the light.

The relatives inside had stopped their card game and were watching the scene unfold with amused expressions.

Xena grew nervous, raising the stick defensively, "Don’t come near me! I’m just here to punish a mistress. This has nothing to do with you! If you touch me, I’ll call the police!"

The relatives remained still, their faces displaying a playful smile.

After a long while, Xena glanced at me. I was still lying on the ground, with no one offering to help. Suddenly, she realized something. She pointed at me and burst into laughter.

"Shameless woman, look at you! Even your own family won’t stand up for you. Who’s going to help you now? Watch me deliver justice today!"

Xena glanced at the memorial portrait and then at the gifts scattered around the room.

She sneered, "The person in the photo is your mother, right? And all these gifts on the floor are from my boyfriend, aren’t they?"

"Making money off the dead, do you have no shame? Your whole family of shameless people won’t get a dime from my boyfriend, not even in death!"

With that, Xena ordered her group to smash everything in the house to pieces.

It was only then that I noticed she had brought a large crowd with her. There were at least twenty or thirty people, all armed with sticks.

The memorial photo was knocked off the wall and landed face down on the floor, scattering shards of glass everywhere.

The expensive porcelain vases I had just bought for the old family home were worth tens of thousands of dollars. They toppled one by one, sending shards flying and cutting my legs.

I wanted to stop them, but when I glanced at the newly installed security camera on the wall, I swallowed my words.

"Xena, the things you’re smashing are worth over a million dollars. If you can afford to pay for the damages, go ahead and keep smashing."

Xena, thinking I was insulting her, suddenly went berserk and slapped me hard across the face.

"What’s with your attitude? What’s with your attitude? You’re spending my boyfriend’s money! I’ll smash it all! What are you going to do about it?"

She grabbed my hair and dragged me across the floor. My silk dress was torn apart by the porcelain shards, and the sound of fabric ripping filled my ears.

Instinctively, I covered my chest, but I noticed the crazed look in Xena’s eyes.

"This dress looks expensive too, doesn’t it? My boyfriend bought it, didn’t he? Take it off! Give me back everything my boyfriend bought you!"

Realizing something was terribly wrong, I desperately held onto my dress, trying to appeal to Xena’s conscience.

"Even if your boyfriend cheated, you should be taking it out on him, not on me!"

But Xena had already called over a few people to pin down my hands and feet, violently tearing at my clothes.

"If you hadn’t seduced Zac with that slutty body of yours, he wouldn’t have fallen for it! It’s all your fault! What did he do wrong?"

Just as she finished speaking, the last piece of clothing was ripped off me.

She laughed as she raised her phone, taking pictures while muttering, "Aren’t you such a tease? Let’s see what your family thinks when they see this. Let’s see what the internet has to say about you!"

Hearing this, the relatives who had been watching with amusement now wore lecherous smiles, and several people pulled out their phones to film me.

My head spun as a familiar feeling of dread washed over me.

Years ago, I had been in this exact situation. Sally had treated me the same way.

I never expected that, at her funeral, I would be humiliated like this again.

Just as I was about to close my eyes in despair, Ruby burst in with five bodyguards.

The bodyguards were all highly trained fighters, and in a few swift moves, they knocked down several people and surrounded me protectively.

Now the relatives began to stir.

"What are you guys doing, hogging all the fun? We haven’t had our fill yet!"

"Exactly, why do you get to watch, but we don’t? What kind of nonsense is that?"

One of the bodyguards, enraged by these words, backhanded a middle-aged man who had been spewing obscenities. The man clutched his stomach in pain, crying out as blood trickled down his face.

Seeing the brawl spreading to them, the crowd erupted, grabbing whatever they could find and charging in. In no time, the small room was packed with people, and chaos ensued.

Even the most professional bodyguards could not hold their own against so many. Zac’s relatives and the people Xena brought suddenly teamed up, fighting off the bodyguards to keep them from reaching me.

Xena crouched down next to me, a triumphant smile on her face.

"Oh, look at the queen bee with her bodyguards! Let me guess, you used Zac’s money to pay for them too?

"You really think you’re marrying into wealth? Have you lost your mind?"

My gaze swept past Xena and over the ugly, wicked faces around me, finally landing on the glittering urn.

I raised my hand and gave Xena a defiant smile.

"So what if you’re losing it? Zac still chooses to spend his money on me.

"See that urn? It cost eight hundred thousand dollars! Zac paid for it in full! If you’re so tough, go ahead and smash it!"

Xena looked in disbelief at the spot I was pointing to, then suddenly stood up.

"So that eight hundred thousand dollars really was spent by you, you shameless woman!

"And for what? A worthless funeral for your family? Why should my boyfriend pay for that?

"Does your family deserve something so nice? Do you deserve a single cent of my boyfriend’s money?"

Cursing as she went, Xena walked over to the table. She grabbed the custom-made urn and hurled it to the ground with all her might.

"I’m smashing it on behalf of my hubby! Your whole family can go to hell!"