The next morning, Joanna was jolted awake by the sound of something shattering.

She pushed open her door, and the scene before her sent the blood rushing to her head.

Lola stood in the center of the living room. At her feet lay a broken jewelry box.

And her mother's necklace was dangling from Lola's fingers, being toyed with like a trinket.

"What are you doing?! Give that back!"

Joanna lunged forward, reaching for the necklace.

Lola watched her. A slow, deliberate smile curved across her lips.

Then she opened her hand.

Joanna's fingers grazed the edge of the necklace. She couldn't catch it.

The imperial jade struck the floor and split into pieces, shards scattering in every direction.

Joanna froze where she stood, staring at the fragments on the ground.

That was her mother's.

All those years, when she'd been too poor to afford a meal, she hadn't sold it. When she'd been too sick to see a doctor, she'd never once considered parting with it.

Now it was gone.

Joanna crouched down, her hands trembling as she gathered the broken pieces.

Lola withdrew her hand at a leisurely pace, leaning against the back of the sofa, watching her with a look that hovered between amusement and contempt.

"Oops. Butterfingers."

She lifted her foot and nudged one of the shards with the toe of her slipper.

"Joanna, I'm not trying to be mean, but you pinch every penny like your life depends on it. How nice could anything you own really be? Cheap knockoff stuff like this falls apart if you breathe on it. How is that my fault?"

Joanna's fist tightened around the shards. The jagged edges bit into her palm.

"Say that again."

Lola straightened up and looked down at her.

"I said, everything you own is cheap garbage. It was bound to break sooner or later. You got what you dese—"

Crack.

A slap rang through the room.

Lola's voice cut off mid-word.

She clutched her cheek, staring at Joanna in disbelief.

"You hit me?"

Joanna's gaze was cold and razor-sharp. She didn't answer. Instead, she pulled out her phone.

"Hello, I'd like to report a crime. Someone deliberately destroyed another person's property. The item is of significant value."

Twenty minutes later.

The police station.

The two women sat in a mediation room. Paddy arrived in a rush after getting the call.

The moment he walked through the door, Lola threw herself into his arms.

"Paddy, I didn't mean to! I thought it was just a necklace. I figured if I accidentally broke it, I could just pay for it. But Joanna wouldn't let it go. She insisted on dragging this all the way to the police station..."

Paddy murmured reassurances to Lola, his gaze drifting to Joanna, who sat off to the side in composed silence.

The officer looked at the jade fragments laid out on the table. "You said this necklace is of significant value. Do you have anything to back that up?"

Joanna took out her phone and opened a folder.

"This is the appraisal certificate."

She handed the phone to the officer.

He took it. The instant his eyes registered the words on the screen, they went wide.

"Imperial jade. Appraised value... twenty-eight million dollars?"

The officer's words made Lola whip her head around.

"That's impossible!"

"How could she possibly own a necklace of that quality? She's nothing but a—"

Lola caught herself, softening her tone.

"Joanna has always been so frugal. She pinches pennies on her own daily expenses. How could she afford a necklace like that?"

Paddy frowned and walked over to Joanna's side, glancing at the shattered jade fragments on the table.

The jade was dull and lusterless, cheap-looking in every way.

Paddy sighed. "Joanna, that's enough."

He pulled out a card and held it in front of her.

"There's a million dollars on this. Is that enough?"

Joanna stared at the card, and all she felt was the absurdity of it.

Paddy actually thought she was using this as an excuse to shake him down for money.

The officer looked at her. "Ma'am, the other party is willing to compensate. Do you accept the settlement?"

Joanna lifted her eyes. Her voice was soft, but unwavering.

"This was a keepsake from my mother."

Paddy froze for a moment when he heard that.

"I won't settle. I want to go through the proper legal channels."

Lola's voice cracked with a sob. "Paddy, I really didn't mean to... It's just a necklace. I can have someone buy Joanna an even nicer one..."

"But twenty-eight million dollars... There's no way that necklace was worth that much."

Paddy's frown deepened. The flicker of unease he'd felt a moment ago vanished entirely beneath Lola's crying, and his voice turned hard.

"If you insist on pressing charges, I'll hire the best lawyers for her. You won't see a single cent in damages, and you'll be on the hook for legal fees on top of it. Think carefully."

His words cut like a knife, driving straight into her chest.

Joanna drew a long breath. Her gaze swept over the two of them, cold as winter.

"I've thought very carefully."

"No matter what it costs, I will pursue this case."

Paddy watched Joanna's retreating figure, and the restlessness churning inside him refused to settle.

He had never seen her like this.

The way she'd looked at him just now. Like he was a stranger.

A sudden pang of regret hit him over what he'd said.

That night.

Joanna stood outside the door of her rental apartment, suitcase in tow.

Her phone rang.

It was the director's number.

She answered, but the voice on the other end belonged to a young girl, choked with tears.

"Joanna! Something terrible happened at the orphanage! Someone filed an anonymous report claiming we've been abusing the children... They're going to shut us down, and the land is being reclaimed..."

A sharp ringing filled Joanna's head.

"What happened?"

The girl only cried harder.

"Mrs. James hit her head during the confrontation. She's in the ER now, and the blood bank is running low... Joanna, please, you have to do something."

Joanna gripped the phone until her knuckles went white.

She'd crossed Lola today. And that very evening, the orphanage was under attack.

Only one person had the power to make that happen. Paddy.

Years ago, after Paddy was welcomed back into the Floyd family, he had voluntarily given up two percent of his shares in exchange for permanent land-use rights for the orphanage.

That day, he'd held her and said, "Your family is my family. I'll never let anyone drive them out."

He had genuinely cared for those children.

He had genuinely respected the director.

And now?

To vent Lola's frustrations, he'd torn it all down without a second thought.

A sting hit the bridge of her nose. Joanna forced herself to stay composed, but her voice still trembled.

"My blood type matches the director's. I'm going to the hospital. She's going to be fine."

Joanna burst through the hospital doors and headed straight for the blood transfusion department.

She had barely rounded the corridor when a gut-wrenching wail stopped her in her tracks.

Denise Sullivan was on her knees, clutching a doctor's hand and refusing to let go.

Paddy leaned against the wall nearby. He sensed someone watching and looked up. The moment he saw Joanna, his expression turned to ice.

Before Joanna could react, Denise had already charged at her and slapped her across the face.

Denise's eyes were bloodshot. She seized a fistful of Joanna's hair and held on tight.

"You vicious woman, how dare you show your face here! It wasn't enough to spread lies about what happened at the police station and frame my daughter—you had to drag her name through the mud online too, calling her a bully, saying she tried to buy someone off with a million dollars! She has her pride! How is she supposed to live with people talking about her like that?"

Pain seared across Joanna's scalp. Her thoughts scattered. She struggled to pull free, trying to explain.

"I didn't—"

"Enough."

Paddy stepped forward and pried Denise off her.

Joanna steadied herself and met Paddy's cold stare. The words left her mouth before she could think.

"Paddy, it wasn't me—"

"Joanna, when did you become like this?"

His voice was thick with disappointment.

"Are you so desperate for money that you'd stoop to something this low? A million wasn't enough—you had to get greedy and demand twenty-eight million?"

"Do you have any idea that because of you, Lola tried to kill herself?"

Joanna stared at him, frozen.

All these years, he was the one who knew exactly where every penny she saved went. He was the one who knew she never kept anything for herself—that every dollar she scraped together was so those children at the orphanage could live a little more comfortably.

And now the person who knew her best had said the words that cut the deepest.

"Paddy, after all these years, is that really what I am to you? Someone who'd do anything for money?"

Paddy frowned. His lips parted, as if he wanted to say something.

The emergency room doors swung open.

Lola was wheeled out, her face white as paper. The moment she saw Joanna, tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Joanna..."

Her voice was barely a whisper. "I'll pay the twenty-eight million. Just please stop dragging my name through the dirt... I really can't take any more..."

Joanna listened to those words—so carefully wrapped in victimhood, so precisely aimed to destroy—and clenched her fists.

"I didn't do any of it. You're welcome to investigate."

"I have something urgent to deal with right now. I have to go."

She turned to leave.

Several bodyguards stepped forward immediately, blocking her path.

Paddy's voice came from behind her.

"You made a mistake, and you need to own it. You owe the Sullivans—and Lola—an explanation."

Joanna drew a deep breath and turned around.

"Paddy, Director James was attacked. She needs a blood transfusion urgently. I have to get to her right now—"

He hesitated.

He knew better than anyone what that orphanage and its director meant to her.

Joanna would never lie about something like that.

She saw that flicker of hesitation in his eyes and seized it like a lifeline.

"Paddy, I'm begging you. Let me give blood first. After that, you can do whatever you want with me."

Her eyes were rimmed red, but she fought with everything she had to keep the tears from falling.

Seeing her like that, something complicated stirred in Paddy's chest.

Neither side would yield. Then a poised, elegantly dressed older woman walked over.

Lillian Floyd glanced at Joanna, her eyes filled with undisguised contempt.

"Joanna, I always thought you were a sensible woman. I never imagined you'd turn out to be such a liar."

"I had the admissions checked. There is no director among tonight's patients. Not a single one."

Joanna's pupils contracted. "That's impossible—"

Lillian cut her off and turned to Paddy.

"I told you from the start. Women like her put on an act at first—pretending money doesn't matter to them—but give it enough time and the mask always slips. Now do you finally believe me?"

Lillian had never once shown Joanna a kind face. But every single time, Paddy had shielded her. He never allowed his mother to say a single word against her.

He had even moved them both out of the Floyd family estate to spare Joanna from the hostility—the two of them squeezing into a small one-bedroom apartment together.

But this time, Paddy said nothing.

His silence hurt more than any words could have.

In that moment, Joanna heard something inside her shatter completely.

Paddy's voice was flat, utterly devoid of emotion. "Take her home. I'll deal with this later."

The bodyguards closed in. They seized Joanna, and no matter how she struggled, they dragged her back to the Floyd residence.

She was hauled to the ancestral hall. The head housekeeper stood before her, his voice cold.

"Mrs. Floyd has given her orders. As a daughter-in-law of this family, you've made a grave mistake and must be punished accordingly. Since her son can't bring himself to do it, she'll give the command herself."

"Thirty lashes. Afterward, solitary confinement in the cellar."

The whip came down on her back, splitting skin and flesh.

She clenched her teeth and didn't make a sound, but consciousness began slipping away from her.

She couldn't pass out. She still had to save Mrs. James.

When it was over, they dragged her to the cellar.

Her body was a ruin of wounds. She struggled to her hands and knees, then crawled to the door and pounded against it.

"Open the door... please..."

A wrenching cramp tore through her lower abdomen, wave after wave. Joanna looked down. A pool of blood had gathered beneath her.

Her vision darkened. Joanna collapsed.

The door burst open.

Someone rushed in and scooped her into their arms.

She forced her eyes open and saw a face.

"Paddy...?"