After choosing a screened donor through a private sperm bank and having my daughter, I met someone I actually liked.

For my daughter's sake, I hid my identity as a finance titan and decided to take my time observing him first.

Then he slipped a ring onto my finger. A fake diamond worth thirty dollars, handmade over three sleepless nights.

I was touched and aching at the same time. I made up my mind to tell him everything.

But before I could open my mouth, his female cousin jabbed a finger toward my face and sneered, “I hear you're demanding eleven thousand for a wedding gift?”

“You're used goods dragging some man's bastard around. Where do you get the nerve to ask for money?”

I swallowed my disgust and pushed back. “Eleven thousand is a lucky number. Besides, it all goes right back to the new household. Why shouldn't I ask?”

She looked at me like I was something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

“Used-up women are whores. Since when does a whore get paid to marry?”

“Listen here, you little tramp. Nobody in our family wanted you. You want through the door? Forget a wedding gift—you're paying us two hundred thousand for the trouble of putting up with you. You hear me?!”

The sheer, naked greed of it nearly made me laugh.

That was the best she could come up with?

I'd been planning to hand him hundreds of millions.

……

I couldn't be bothered wasting words on someone this crude and calculating.

If she hadn't opened her mouth just now, I'd already be at the title office signing a villa over to Jacob Matthews.

When she saw I wouldn't even look at her, she let out a cold laugh and lunged straight for my bag.

My daughter was terrified. She came running on those short little legs to shield me and accidentally stepped on the woman's foot.

The screaming started instantly. “You little mongrel! Are you fucking blind? These shoes cost eighteen thousand. Can you even pay for them?”

She'd never been yelled at like that in her life. Her face crumpled and the tears spilled over.

For Jacob's sake, I forced my anger down. “I've let everything you said so far slide. But screaming at a small child like that—is that really how you were raised?”

She fired right back. “You got knocked up before you were married and you want to lecture me about upbringing? Have you no shame at all?!”

I went still for a few seconds.

I'd spent years at the top. The women around me were old-money heiresses and society wives. This was the first time a gutter-mouthed bully had come at me like this, again and again.

Watching her strut with that kind of arrogance, fury climbed my spine. My hand was already pulling out my phone.

Then I glanced at Jacob standing beside me, and forced myself to stop.

I could hold back. She couldn't.

She got right in my face again. “Let me spell it out for you, tramp. Our family never wanted you. You think I can't see it? You latched onto my brother just to get your hands on the redevelopment money!”

“A piece of trash dragging her little bastard along, thinking she'll ride her way to the top. You really think that highly of yourself!”

The moment those words left her mouth, the crowd around us started whispering.

“See, I always say, people who look pitiful are usually the ones who deserve it. Young girl like that, won't walk a straight path, already eyeing someone else's redevelopment payout.”

“Didn't you hear? Got pregnant before she was even married. Kid's already a few years old. A woman like that is never up to any good.”

“No wonder the man's family doesn't want her. If my son brought home a woman like that, I'd beat him half to death.”

This time I really did laugh. Out of sheer disbelief.

I knew Jacob's situation. His bedridden grandmother. His younger brother with an intellectual disability.

Aging parents who couldn't leave the house. Every ounce of financial pressure resting on Jacob's shoulders alone.

Before getting involved with him, I'd watched him carefully. He was poor, but fiercely proud.

So after I started pretending to be poor and moved in alongside him, I quietly funneled money into his hometown to set the redevelopment project in motion. It was the only way I could ease his burden without bruising his pride.

No one in their right mind would touch a place that remote—and now they were accusing me of chasing his family's redevelopment money?

As the whispers around us grew louder, Ella only looked more pleased with herself.

I lifted my gaze to Jacob, waiting to see how he'd handle this.

Instead, he stepped between us, his voice full of helpless indulgence. “Ella, come on, don't be like that.”

Then he turned, ruffled my hair, and made the introduction. “This is my younger uncle's daughter, Ella Matthews.”

He went on, “Roberta, look—I'm the only person from our whole village who made it to college. My family's got a lot riding on me. When my mom heard you already have a kid, she got worried I was being played, so she had Ella come out and… size things up.”

“The timing of us getting together is pretty convenient. It's hard not to wonder if you caught wind of the redevelopment and came for the money.”

“Don't be upset. She didn't mean any harm.”

Not a shred of intention to apologize for Ella's behavior.

The ache flared in my chest, and I forced it back down before it could take hold.

I nodded. “I'm not upset.”

Years of fighting my own battles had taught me to fix the problem first and feel the hurt later.

So I took out my phone and dialed.

“Send the word. The South Bay Village redevelopment project is on hold.”

I hung up. Jacob froze for a few seconds, mouth half-open, but before he could speak, Ella burst into a shrill laugh.

“Oh, cute—what are you even pretending to be, you little tramp?”

“Shut down our village's redevelopment project? You? Who do you think you are!”

She leaned in close to my ear, dropping her voice. “I'll let you in on something. The project manager for the redevelopment is my brother. We skimmed a million off the top. Once the payout clears, my family moves up in the world.”

“A slut who got knocked up before she even had a ring? You could spread your legs in the middle of the road and we still wouldn't look twice. You want into our family? Try your next life.”

I looked at her sharply. “Skimmed a million?”

She didn't catch the shift, still riding high on her own smugness. “What, jealous? You could sell yourself on the street and never make that kind of money in your whole life.”

I laughed—short, cold—and dialed again.

Brief instructions. Then I looked at her.

“I hope you're ready to stand behind what you just said. The Legal Department's legal notice should arrive this afternoon, and an investigation will follow.”

“I hope you're still smiling then.”

Ella threw her head back and laughed again, louder this time.

“Legal Department? A legal notice? God, you really can't stop with the act, can you, you little tramp?”

My upbringing simply didn't leave room for that kind of language.

But in all my years, no one had ever stood in front of me and called me a tramp to my face. Not once, let alone over and over.

My patience was gone. I took my daughter's hand and looked at Jacob.

I told him plainly, “Jacob, I'm disappointed in you.”

“We're done for today. The proposal? I need to reconsider.”

I turned to leave, but Ella grabbed my arm and yanked me back.

“You don't get to walk without paying up! Jacob saved for three months to buy me these shoes, and your little bastard just stepped all over them—pay up!”

“Plus two hundred thousand for emotional damages. Every last cent!”

Ella arched a brow, eyes sharp and calculating. “The house is covered—we've got one in the village. But the wedding car should be on you. A man of Jacob's caliber deserves at least a BMW, three hundred thousand minimum.”

“Add it all up, that's five hundred and eighteen thousand, not a penny less. You don't hand over the cash today, you don't leave.”

I barely even heard the rest of what Ella said.

My ears were ringing. I raised my head and asked one more time to be sure. “You said those shoes—Jacob saved three months to buy them for you?”

Ella lifted her chin, face bright with triumph. “He took me to the boutique counter himself—picked these out just for me!”

“You and I are not the same. A thirty-dollar fake diamond ring? That's about all you deserve.”

I looked at Jacob. Said nothing. Just looked at him.

His eyes flickered, and he turned away from mine. “You said you didn't mind the fake ring. I told you I'd buy you a real one once I had the money.”

I understood now.

Eighteen hundred dollars on shoes, just like that.

But in his heart, a thirty-dollar fake ring really was all I was worth.

The suffocation pressed hard against my chest. I kept going. “And the three-hundred-thousand-dollar car she mentioned? The two hundred thousand in emotional damages? You think I should pay that too?”

A long silence. Then Jacob finally spoke.

“Roberta, Ella's just looking out for me.”

“She was worried I'd get taken advantage of, so she rushed over to set these conditions.”

“I mean, it's all going to be shared marital property anyway, right? You're just handing it over to me a little early—letting me hold on to it for us.”

My whole body went numb. I stared straight into his eyes.

Calm. Untroubled. Not a trace of shame.

He genuinely agreed with everything Ella had done. Every word he'd just said was what he actually believed.

I had thought Jacob was steady and resilient and driven—considerate to me, endlessly patient and gentle with my daughter. The kind of man who would make a perfect husband and father.

I'd been wrong.

There was no point wasting another second.

I didn't bother with one more word. I picked up my daughter and turned to leave.

What I never expected was that Ella would be crazy enough to rip her straight out of my arms.

She gripped the back of Mia's collar, face twisted with disgust.

“Until that money hits the account, you and this little bastard aren't going anywhere!”

Mia's face went white. She burst into tears, screaming for me, struggling to reach my arms—and Ella slapped her so hard she hit the ground.

“Cry again, you little mongrel. Try me.”

From the day she was born, my daughter had been treasured by everyone around her. I had never once raised my voice at her.

And now a stranger had hurt her, again and again.

Rage hit me like a wall of heat.

They wanted money that badly? Fine. I'd give it to them.

Not just the money. The redevelopment project would go forward too, and I'd release the funds immediately.

I wanted to see if they could actually claw their way into high society.

I took out my phone, made the call, then reached for my daughter.

Ella saw me move without a word and assumed I was trying to grab Mia back without paying. She raised her hand and charged at me.

But at the last second, a ringtone cut through the room.

Ella picked up. From the other end, a man's voice bellowed, “Something huge just happened!”

She stood frozen for a few seconds, then blurted, “What happened? Is it the redevelopment project?”

As she spoke, her eyes slid toward me, and for once, a flicker of hesitation crossed her face.

The voice on the other end rushed through the news in a panic, paused for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. “It is the redevelopment thing, but I don't know what the hell got into the people up top. They just pushed the funds through, clean and fast, out of nowhere.”

“Didn't even go through the usual process. And get this, they sent down an extra five million!”

His voice dropped low. “And I already moved on it. Skimmed the whole five million for us.”

Ella gasped. “All five million……?!”

Her gaze darted around the room. She cupped the phone close, lowered her voice. Then, slowly, the shock on her face curdled into something harder. She turned and looked at me the way someone looks at trash.

“You heard all that, right? That's the league my family plays in now. And you? You're not even in the same category.”

I let the corner of my mouth curl, and I smiled at her.