Chapter 7: The Reckoning Begins

The laughter stopped abruptly.

Everyone’s face darkened, annoyed at the ruined mood.

Derek shot me a cold glance:

"So you know to come back. Thought you were so tough, yet you slunk back after all."

"Did you know Aubrey was so worried she couldn’t eat or sleep for days because you ran away?"

"Dared to elope? You really have no shame. The Montgomerys lost face because of you."

Aubrey was stunned to see me back, but quickly hid her fleeting hatred.

Biting her lip, her innocent eyes filled with tears, she tugged at Derek’s sleeve, pitifully:

"Derek, don’t say that."

"I don’t blame my sister anymore, even though she drove me out and nearly got me killed. But after all, I’ve enjoyed the Montgomerys’ riches for years, I’m content."

"I suppose the elopement was due to bad influence, now my sister must know she was wrong."

Then she looked at me, as if sincerely for my own good:

"Since you’re back, I think I should return everything to you."

"But you left without a word, making mom and dad worry so much. Don’t forget to apologize to them."

Mrs. Montgomery glared at me fiercely, sneering in refusal:

"I can’t bear it."

"Last time you apologized, you pushed me into the pool."

"If you apologize again, who knows if my old bones will end up in there too."

"Besides, I only have one daughter, that’s Aubrey. Don’t let anyone else curse me."

Aubrey blinked at me in distress.

"Sister, hurry and admit your fault."

Mr. Montgomery, seeing I was unmoved, shouted coldly:

"Kneel now!"

The command cut the air like a switchblade, the kind of demand you only hear in families desperate to control their image.

I didn’t move a muscle, yet my body instinctively felt sorrow and pain.

That was Natalie; even without her soul, her body still grieved.

Staring at them, I gave them one last chance:

"What she has, shouldn’t I have too?"

"You don’t deserve to be compared to Aubrey."

Derek was furious.

"A country bumpkin, ignorant of manners, shaming the Montgomerys time and again. If not for Aubrey protecting you, you’d have been out of here a long time ago."

"Eloped? Who told you that?"

Aubrey, feigning innocence, walked step by step toward me, speaking as she approached:

"Sister, don’t be afraid. Since you’re back, naturally your family will handle things."

"I’ve already destroyed that letter for you. As long as you admit your mistake to mom and dad, you’ll still be the eldest daughter of the Montgomerys, and our family will be harmonious."

"Look at your sister, even now she’s still speaking for you, yet you keep harming her again and again. Blame me for favoring her, but tell me, how do you compare to her!"

"Your mom is right. If you weren’t our flesh and blood, I’d have sent you to foster care long ago."

"Mom and dad are too soft-hearted. Such a burden doesn’t deserve to be a Montgomery."

"Don’t say that, she’ll be sad."

Aubrey affectionately clung to my arm, her gaze darkening, sharp nails digging into my skin.

"Isn’t that right, sister~"

Rip—

She was ready for me to fling her off in pain, falling as planned.

But I didn’t move at all.

Frozen in place, she bit back her resentment, whispering sharply at me:

"You’ve improved. Really something. Lowly wretch, why didn’t you die outside."

Such crude tricks—and they forced Natalie to her death?

I couldn’t help but fall silent.

"So, the story of me eloping came from your mouth?"

A flash of disdain in her eyes, but on her face extreme grievance:

"Sister, are you blaming me? I didn’t mean to…"

Crack. I dislocated her jaw in passing.

The room froze. Aubrey’s scream died in her throat.

"Admitting it is enough. No need to say more."

Too fast—when she clutched her jaw and whimpered in terror, the crowd finally reacted.

At once, everyone swarmed forward to seize me.

But the nanny charging for her was kicked by me, breaking her thigh bone, leaving her howling on the ground.

At the same time, I pressed the blade to Aubrey’s neck, my voice cold. “Try me.” For once, nobody moved.

Crash…

With a flick of my wrist, a finger-long scar appeared on Aubrey’s cheek, blood streaming.

"Ah, it hurts, dad, mom, Derek, Aubrey is in pain. Aubrey is disfigured, Aub—"

"Scream again!"

She dared not. Her bloody ear was sliced off and crushed under my foot.

Her former arrogance was now all fear and shrinking.

Everyone retreated behind Mr. Montgomery, and only then did I step on the nanny rolling on the ground.

The air crackled with tension; the smell of blood and fear was thick as an August thunderstorm on the edge of town. I could almost hear the cicadas fall silent outside.

"Tell me, who drove your lady out, and how did she fall into the pool?"

She sweated in pain, still stubborn:

"Even if you kill me, miss, I can only tell the truth. You couldn’t tolerate the second miss, tried to kill her but failed, so drove her out."

"Second miss was nearly taken by some thugs, her leg still bears the wound."

What a stubborn one.

Interesting.

Just as I lifted my toe, Mrs. Montgomery cried out:

"Unfilial girl, do you want to rebel? Isn’t it just gifts you want, I’ll give them."

"If you hurt my Aubrey, I’ll never acknowledge you in this life, never want you."

So noisy.

Natalie, it really hurts.

Crash, as I tore off Aubrey’s earring, it struck Mrs. Montgomery’s hairpin.

Her only good ear was now cut.

Another supposedly dignified matron, hair disheveled, face pale, all poise lost.

"Next time, I’ll go for your eyes. Useless to keep if you can’t see."

Mrs. Montgomery fell to the ground in fear, not daring to speak.

The others, seeing my methods, dared not act rashly.

Somewhere a phone vibrated with a useless group text—nobody dared answer. For once, even the small-town grapevine was silent, waiting to see what would happen next.

"I gave you a chance, you didn’t cherish it. So don’t blame me."

The tip of my knife pressed on Nanny Wilson’s wrist—a flick, and her tendon snapped.

"Still not telling the truth?"

She dared not answer, only screamed desperately.

I rubbed my numb ear, then stabbed straight into her chest, deliberately twisting the blade.

It wouldn’t kill, but hurt worse than death.

Even the blood flowing out formed a small river, intimidating everyone else into stillness.

In the years fighting for Sean Carter, to find him information, I studied many tortures in the basement.

Using them on a backyard housekeeper today was a bit of overkill.

But methods aren’t about being high or low, just about being effective.

Sure enough, after just two stabs, Nanny Wilson peed herself from the pain.

She was about to speak when Derek shouted:

"What do you want? We’ll give it to you!"

"Is it Aubrey’s room, or recognition as family, or the senator’s son’s marriage?"

"Put down the knife, let’s talk slowly. Don’t cause any deaths, or even I can’t help you."

He rambled on, interrupting my interrogation.

A nameless anger flared up in me.

"Come here, I’ll tell you what I want!"

He hesitated, but under Aubrey’s tears, he came over.

"You…"

The knife behind him wasn’t even drawn before I grabbed his neck, slapping him hard across the face a dozen times.

I slammed him to the ground, he spat out blood and teeth, fainted, and the knife slid from his back.

"Talk too much, you idiot!"

Mr. Montgomery met my smiling eyes, trembling with hatred, but for his children, he had to swallow his anger.

Gritting his teeth, he ordered:

"Do as she says, no one moves!"

I smiled at him, then tapped the cold knife on Nanny Wilson’s face:

"Ready to talk?"

She was no longer stubborn.

She spilled all the grievances and persecution Natalie suffered, like pouring beans.

You could see the truth sweep through the room like a summer storm flattening a wheat field—everyone caught off guard, too slow to find cover.

The girl from the country was never favored at home.

On her first day back, she made the fake daughter cry and was locked in the smallest guest room to learn manners.

Later, she broke the fake daughter’s heirloom, argued with the family, set the room on fire, even pushed the fake daughter into the pool out of jealousy for the senator’s son’s favor.

Finally, using the real daughter’s identity, she drove the fake daughter out of the Montgomerys. If Mr. Montgomery hadn’t found her in time, the fake daughter would have been ruined by thugs.

A fingernail-sized scar on her leg made the whole family drive the real daughter out for a lesson.

But she, in anger, eloped with someone.

"It was all the girl… no, all the second daughter’s orders."

"She couldn’t stand being suppressed by the real daughter because of blood ties, so she wanted the real daughter dead."

"From start to finish, it was all the second daughter’s scheming—the real daughter never did a single bad thing."

"When the real daughter was locked in the attic, the second daughter volunteered to bring her food, but never did. For a whole month, the real daughter survived on servants’ leftovers."

"The birthday gift for the madam was a prayer card sewn by the real daughter, not the junk swapped in by the second daughter."

"The medicine for the master was prepared by the real daughter, but she was stopped at the study door, and the second daughter added a laxative to frame her."

"The painting of the heir—the real daughter only looked at, never touched. It was the second daughter, with her free access to the study, who ruined it herself."

Grounded, locked in the attic, beaten, even driven out to fend for herself—Natalie suffered so much in her own home.

Never having felt love, she returned home full of hope.

Only to find that the love she yearned for had already been enjoyed by someone else. And her own flesh and blood, who should have loved and protected her, only gave her endless hatred and malice.

Betrayed, despised, even expelled and suppressed by her own family.

How helpless she must have been.

I sighed and continued:

"What about the elopement?"

Nanny Wilson shuddered, terrified:

"The real daughter didn’t elope. The parents, after the second daughter ran away, drove the real daughter out to let her know how hard it is for a woman without family protection. The second daughter had already bribed thugs to have the real daughter assaulted and killed outside the city."

"As for the letter, it was written by Cindy—she’s good at imitation."

When I locked eyes with Cindy in the crowd, she was terrified.

Before I could raise the knife, she fell to her knees, confirming Nanny Wilson’s words, and added many details.

Finally, she begged on her knees:

"The second daughter forced me—how could we servants disobey?"

"Spare me, miss, spare me."

See, when the knife is in your own hand, everyone submits to you.

Natalie, you just lacked a knife.

Aubrey’s guilt was almost certain.

"Take Aubrey away—make her pay!"

"Who dares!"

A cold hush hung in the air, the kind of silence that lingers before the police arrive at the scene of a family dispute gone too far.

The servants I deliberately released brought the furious senator’s son, Sean Carter Jr.

How to put it—not nearly as clever as Sean Carter.

Even his looks, he didn’t inherit a third of his mother’s.

As a child he was somewhat cute, now he was just hateful.

"You still dare face me, Natalie? You’re truly despicable."

Hugging the nearly broken Aubrey, surrounded by guards, he shouted at me endlessly:

"Severely injuring a prominent family and my fiancée—Natalie, you must be crazy, looking for trouble!"

"Men, seize this wicked woman, send her to the county jail for harsh punishment!"

"Oh? Arresting the Montgomerys’ daughter in their own home—did you ask their permission?"

Even knowing the truth, even knowing all Natalie suffered, the Montgomerys, faced with the senator’s son attacking their poor daughter and sister, still chose silence.

A daughter’s grievance was less important than the Montgomerys’ wealth and future.

Natalie, they’re not worth it.

I gave them a chance—now they must bear the consequences.

Sean Carter Jr. smiled, arrogant just like his father:

"If I say you’re not the Montgomerys’ daughter, who dares say otherwise?"

Mr. Montgomery lowered his eyes, acting unconcerned.

Mrs. Montgomery hesitated for a while, then fell silent.

Only Derek, battered, snarled viciously:

"Get rid of her! I only have Aubrey as a sister!"

Sean Carter Jr., with a look of ‘see, no one will protect you’, looked down on me:

"You think injuring Aubrey means you can marry me? Dream on!"

"Now the Montgomerys don’t want you, and I will make you wish you were dead to atone for Aubrey."

"If you know what’s good for you, kill yourself before Aubrey, and I’ll spare your corpse."

I gasped:

"The senator’s son, to play hero, ignores the law and wants me dead even knowing the truth?"

He sneered, disdainful:

"What scheme by Aubrey? It’s always been you going crazy in the Montgomerys’ house."

"Aubrey only tried to stop your madness and was disfigured by you. The Montgomerys tried to persuade you to be good, and you knocked out his teeth."

"That’s the only truth."

If he could turn black into white in public, I could rest assured.

Seeing my inexplicable smile, he waved grandly:

"Men, take her to the county jail, tell the sheriff as I said, have him interrogate her harshly."

"I’m sorry, sir, I’m powerless."

The sheriff stepped out of the shadows. Unfortunately for him, he was on my side. His badge flashed in the overhead light, and for the first time, the Montgomerys looked afraid of something real.

I smiled, cold as ice:

"Sorry, acting on a court order. Everyone present—those who pervert justice to kill me, lock them all up in the holding cells."

For once, justice cut through the lies like a blade of light in the dark. Out here, on the edge of this American town, tonight, the truth was louder than money. And nobody in this house would ever forget it.