The slap was loud and crisp.

Penelope’s actions were swift. After she slapped Walter, she started scolding him loudly, “What did I tell you before we left the house? You have to behave and not touch other people’s things."

“You completely ignored me, didn’t you? Hurry up and hand the documents over! You must be tired of living. Do you want to end up in jail? You disobedient little brat…”

No one had time to react.

Walter was stunned, and his parents were dumbfounded. Even Miranda froze in shock.

“Waahh! Grandma hit me!” Walter finally regained his senses and burst into sobs. This time, he was genuinely crying, unlike his crocodile tears from before. “I didn’t take it! I don’t know where the papers are!”

“Say that again? Do you think I won’t beat the life out of you?” Penelope was both furious and scared.

“I won’t tell you! I’m not saying anything!”

“You brat! How dare you be disobedient and take things without permission! Hurry up and hand it over!” Penelope didn’t hold back and started smacking Walter’s bottom repeatedly.

Reggie and Camie tried to intervene the entire time. They pleaded and pulled, but to no avail.

“Old hag, how dare you hit me! You should just die already!” Walter screamed.

Penelope almost fainted from anger at his words. In the end, she only backed off after the police officers stepped in to stop her.

Fortunately, Walter had been beaten into submission. He tearfully fished out a stack of documents from under the couch.

An officer said, “Ms. Sutton, please check the documents.”

After verifying that the papers were indeed her missing documents, Miranda nodded. “Yes, these are my reports.”

“Good.”

As Miranda put her documents away, she turned to Walter’s parents after some hesitation. “My room was locked. Your son climbed in through the window. The second floor is at least 30 feet off the ground."

“Have you ever considered what the consequences would have been if a young child like him slipped and fell? At that point, it wouldn’t just be about some missing documents. It could’ve been a matter of life or death!”

Reggie and Camie’s faces turned pale. Feeling guilty, Walter kept his head down.

That night, Penelope and her family packed their belongings to return to the village. Given that it was almost midnight, Lionel offered to let them stay another night and leave in the morning.

Penelope sighed and said, “Lionel, your family has always been generous, unlike your mother… You should be careful in the future…”

With that, she left with her entire family.

Lionel frowned. Be careful? Be careful of whom?

That night, Miranda and her parents finally had a good night’s sleep. Early the next morning, Mindy hired three housekeepers to help clean the house.

By noon, the whole villa was spotless, both inside and out. Every corner and crack had been thoroughly cleaned.

Miranda had her breakfast and went out for a stroll. She remembered going to a private bookstore on West Street and coming across a limited-edition book that was highly relevant to her major. Unfortunately, the owner wouldn’t sell it, so she had only been able to read it in the store. Miranda hadn’t finished reading it before returning home. Today, she decided to go back and finish reading the book. However, she couldn’t find the book after searching the store twice. She asked the store manager who replied, “Oh, that book? It was sold yesterday.”

Miranda said in surprise, “What? Wasn’t it a part of the owner’s private collection and not for sale?”

The manager nodded. “It was, but the person who came yesterday was a close friend of the owner. Apparently, they had been through life and death together, so the owner personally told me to sell the book to him. I’m sorry about that.”

Miranda waved it off and said it was fine, but she couldn’t hide the disappointment in her eyes.

At some point, it had started raining outside. Miranda browsed around the store once more, but she still couldn’t find another copy of the limited edition book.

She sighed and prepared to leave. However, she saw through the floor-length windows that the rain was still pouring outside with no signs of stopping.

Great! Now, she was stuck in the store.

Just then, her gaze landed on a man standing outside the bookstore, seemingly waiting for the rain to stop.