Chapter 53

“Erin, you said so, right?” Erin’s face turned pale, then flushed. She looked at Ophelia in disbelief. Over the years, Ophelia had loved her most, even more than Samuel. She had never defied her, let alone spoken such heart-wrenching and harsh words! Her eyes instantly turned red as she said to Samuel, “See, I told you I couldn’t handle this child anymore. I helped her mediate, and if she doesn’t appreciate it, that’s one thing, but she even complains that I’m not doing a good job…”

Seeing his wife’s expression, Samuel was furious. He slammed the table and stood up, “Ophelia—”

“Dad, you are my real dad!” Ophelia also slammed the table and stood, her momentum even stronger than Samuel’s. “Erin didn’t care about me, didn’t care whether I had been wronged, and that was because she was my stepmother!” “As my own father, did you really have to, like an outsider, unconditionally think it was your daughter’s fault?!” Her voice was louder than Samuel’s. Samuel seemed stunned, looking at her in astonishment.

Bessie: “Ophelia! How could you speak to Dad like that…”

“Shut up!” Ophelia snapped coldly, annoyed by Bessie’s innocent demeanor. Bessie’s expression froze; she was startled by the force of her own three words.

“Gianna, what exactly happened back then? I’m giving you another chance to tell the truth!” Ophelia’s gaze was cold, her eyes fixed on Gianna.

Gianna avoided eye contact. “What truth? What I said before was the truth! You knew very well that I didn’t have any money, yet you tricked me into buying something and deliberately refused to help me pay for it…”

“Do you not have a brain? Or do you think I don’t have one?” Before Gianna could finish, Ophelia interrupted, “Do you think there are no cameras in the store? Do you think those employees are all dead?” Gianna’s expression froze.

“What are you doing? You dared to threaten and intimidate my family’s Gianna in front of everyone?!” Penelope stood up sharply.

Hudson also stood, unhappy. “How could my Gianna possibly lie? Ophelia, stop this and quickly apologize and compensate!”

Ophelia: “You don’t believe me? That’s fine. I’ll contact that store right away and ask them to retrieve the surveillance footage so you can all see whether I tricked Gianna into buying something, or if she was trying to show off with my money and ended up getting herself into trouble!”

Gianna’s expression changed. “You, don’t talk nonsense!”

“Talking nonsense? Which word of mine was nonsense? Let me think, at that time you brought along your five or six classmates, and you were quite extravagant, waving your hand and letting people choose freely in the luxury goods store. Was I trying to deceive you?”

“I didn’t want to be that fool, didn’t want to spend my money to make you look good, and yet I was wrong?” Samuel had already frowned. Did the luxury goods store allow people to choose freely? How did he not know when the Herrera family became so wealthy? Gianna looked flustered and wanted to argue back.

Ophelia had said earlier, “Am I really talking nonsense? We would know if we just had them send over the surveillance footage!” Gianna’s palms were sweaty. She knew Ophelia could deliver on her promises; she really could get the surveillance footage! At this point, she could no longer continue to lie.

“But I had asked you to lend me money at that time, and when I bought the clothes, you deliberately refused to lend it to me. Wasn’t that intentionally setting me up?”

Penelope reacted quickly. “Gianna is your cousin. What’s wrong with borrowing some money? You just refuse to lend it to her and watch her make a fool of herself. Isn’t that intentional?”

Hearing this, Ophelia laughed coolly. “That’s a good question. What’s wrong with borrowing some money? Why shouldn’t I lend it?” She had been prepared and took out a printed list. “Let’s take a look at this first and then talk!”

“What was it?”

“Your Gianna borrowed money from me. It’s strange, every time we go out shopping together, she always forgets to bring money, and then she asks me to pay for her first. Every time she said she would give it to me when she got home, but now so much time has passed, and it’s over ten million. It seems like she has amnesia; she hasn’t returned it even once!”

Ophelia’s words were too obvious, causing the Herrera family to feel somewhat embarrassed. Samuel glanced at the Herrera family and felt a bit unhappy.