Chapter 3I Paid Her Debt She Paid Me in Lies

I thought if I ignored her, the storm would pass. I underestimated Avery’s talent for creating chaos.

A few days later, my company was hosting a gala to celebrate landing a huge new client. The atmosphere in the ballroom was celebratory, the culmination of months of hard work.

Until Avery arrived.

Uninvited, she walked straight into the center of the room, dressed in clothes that looked deliberately worn and faded. As every partner and executive in my company watched, she gave a deep, formal bow.

Her voice, when she spoke, was choked with emotion. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry to interrupt. My name is Avery, and I’m Olivia Miller’s sister.”

She turned to me, her eyes brimming with a carefully crafted blend of helplessness and sorrow. “I didn’t come here to make a scene. I just came to ask my sister one question, on behalf of my dead parents…”

“Olivia… after Mom and Dad adopted you, they treated you like their own daughter. They gave you everything. When they died, they left us to depend on each other. I thought you would be my rock, my support… so how could you… how could you secretly transfer all of my inheritance into your own name?”

She covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking with heartbreaking sobs. “You drive luxury cars and wear twenty-thousand-dollar dresses, living this incredible life. But me? I can barely afford to eat. I just want what’s mine. Is that so wrong?”

The buzzing ballroom fell silent. Every eye in the room was on me, filled with shock and suspicion.

I tried to keep my composure as I stood and walked toward her. “Avery, let’s go home and talk about this. This isn’t the place.”

She flinched back as if I’d tried to strike her, stumbling and collapsing onto the floor. Tears streamed down her face. “Olivia, why do you hate me so much? You threw me out of the house, you froze my bank accounts… I… I’ve been homeless for days…”

Whispers erupted through the crowd.

“I never would have guessed Olivia Miller was that kind of person…”

“She’s adopted and she stole the family fortune from the biological daughter? That’s disgusting.”

Just then, as if on cue, Avery’s face went white. She clutched her chest, gasping for air, and then her body went limp as she slumped to the floor.

“Someone call 911!”

The room descended into chaos.