“I told you from the start—her sudden return was definitely fishy!”

“Exactly! I mean, come on. Someone who disappeared for five years just shows up out of the blue? And we’re supposed to believe it’s just to check in on her sick father?”

“If she really cared, where was she all this time?”

“Right? It’s such a fake act! When he was alive and well, she was nowhere to be found. Now that he’s on his deathbed, suddenly she remembers she has a foster father? Give me a break!”

“If you were really here just for your dad, no one would say anything. But you came back for the Lloyd family’s fortune!”

Yvette was covering her mouth, sobbing tragically as she spoke. “Yes, Rachel. No matter what, you shouldn’t have forced Dad to give you part of his inheritance. If you were truly in need of money, you could’ve just told us. We were a family once. We wouldn’t have let you struggle. You didn’t have to make a scene like this.”

Sasha, too, dabbed at her eyes with a tissue, crying so hard she looked like she could barely breathe. “That’s right, Rachel. You’re being much too heartless. Even before your dad got sick, he was always thinking about you. Honestly, the reason his health declined over these years? It’s because he never stopped worrying about you.”

“You disappeared for five years. Even back then, we all thought you were still in a coma. He blamed himself constantly, thinking that if only he had stayed by your side in the hospital, maybe things would’ve turned out differently. But who could’ve guessed…”

Rachel furrowed her brows. None of this was part of her plan.

Sure, she had expected Yvette and Sasha to try to defame her, but she had ways to fight back.

What she didn’t expect was for William to suddenly produce a vague, misleading video that painted her in a terrible light, claiming she was forcing Jim to sign a will she had supposedly prepared long ago.

It was all based on nothing but Jim’s visible distress in the footage.

That was outright slander.

“Yes, the footage does show me and my father, but the document wasn’t a will. It was a contract for a charitable donation in his name. And there’s no audio. Making such a serious accusation from a silent video? That’s insane,” she said, trying to defend herself.

“You don’t need sound to see what’s happening. If you weren’t pressuring him, why did he get so agitated?” One of the shareholders shot back.

“That’s because Sasha and Yvette got to him before I did. They forced him to sign a forged will. When I confronted him about it, that’s when he got worked up!” Rachel snapped.

Yvette looked at Rachel with tears brimming in her eyes, her expression pitifully innocent. “Oh, Rachel! Even if you’re trying to clear your name, you can’t drag me and Mom down with you. If you’ve already decided to throw away the bond we once had as sisters, I can’t keep covering for you. I wouldn’t be able to face Dad if I did.”

She stopped crying, her tone one of helpless resolve: “Since we can’t seem to get anywhere by talking here, I say we call the police. Let’s hand over Mr. Lewis’ video and let the police decide what has really happened.”

Someone in the crowd agreed and began dialing the police.

Rachel pursed her lips. Her fingers clenched around the document in her hands. Even if she could eventually prove that William’s video was a setup, it would be too late for her after the cops dragged her away.

Sasha and Yvette would absolutely take advantage of her absence to go after Jim. Since everyone believed he didn’t have long to live, they could easily kill him, with no witnesses left to challenge them.

Just as Rachel was frantically thinking of a way out, a deep, commanding male voice echoed from the hallway.

“Quite the crowd in here. Mind if I join the party?”