Early the next morning, before anyone in the household woke, Zoey got up to go for a run.
She returned three hours later to find the whole family gathered in the living room.
Thinking this was a usual thing for them, she made to go upstairs when Henry hollered angrily behind her.
"We painstakingly made the decision to bring you from the countryside to give you a good life in the city, and this is what you do with it?"
Zoey paused and turned to look at them, perplexed.
But noticing the smug smile tugging at the corners of Kate's lips, she immediately knew she'd been slandered.
This witch.
Just what nonsense had she cooked up in her absence?
Pointing at her sports watch, she couldn't help mumbling cluelessly, "I… just went for a run."
Henry's face immediately darkened, and he pointed the phone in his grip at her.
"Walking out on your mother during dinner yesterday wasn't enough? Now you're sneaking off to see a man despite signing the contract to marry into the Leith family? Do you have no shame?!"
Her brows slowly knitted into a confused frown, "What do you mean?"
Thinking she was pretending to be confused, Gina couldn't resist glaring at her.
"It's so early in the morning and you've already gotten your father so angry. Apologize to him right now for being a delinquent!"
As soon as she finished, Kate pretended to be flustered and shot to her feet.
Fidgeting with her fingers, she gently chided Zoey, almost sounding remorseful.
"Do you really have to pretend not to know what this is about, sister? Though it was late, I know what I saw and I even took a picture of you two together."
"I didn't think too much of it at the time and harmlessly showed it to Mom and Dad this morning, thinking they knew who you were meeting so late at night."
"Imagine my surprise when they said they didn't. You're a member of the Smith family now, act like it."
"You were wrong, so apologize to Mom and Dad right now and promise not to go see a man who isn't your husband in the middle of the night ever again!"
Zoey's knitted brows relaxed as she finally realized what was happening.
Ah. So that's what this was about.
So this sneaky rat stalked her all the way outside and ratted her out to their parents by 'mistake.'
How convenient.
Watching her closely, Gina mistook the annoyed look on her face for fear of being o unished and her heart ached slightly.
Though she still loved Kate with all her heart, as a mother, how could she not feel something for her biological daughter?
Thinking of how tough her upbringing in the countryside must've been, her heart softened, and she reprimanded Zoey more gently.
"I know you weren't brought up properly, but as your sister said, you're no longer in the countryside where you can do as you like."
"Here, actions have consequences and as the daughter of the Smith family, you must learn how to bear them."
"Furthermore, you'll be marrying into the Leith family soon, so you need to be mindful of your actions. You should be thankful it was your sister who saw you and not some outsider."
"Otherwise, the Smith family name would've been dragged through the mud, and the Leiths might want nothing to do with us afterward."
Seeing Gina gaze at Zoey so lovingly, Kate's hand slowly curled into a fist. But the next second, she rushed forward and grabbed Zoey's arm, tenderly berating her with a small smile.
"Dad, Mom, take it easy on sister. I've heard people do a lot of things to get by in the countryside. Sister lived there all her life. She must've done those things too to survive."
"I'm sure when she saw a man in such a nice car, she couldn't resist going to him. Tell me, how much did he offer you in exchange for hooking up? I'll triple it!"
Zoey thinned her lips, her eyes twitching repeatedly as she reined herself in from snapping.
How loud.
Zoey made no effort to hide her displeasure at the physical contact and just as she was about to slip out of Kate's grip, the girl tightened her hold and chuckled, leaning her face closer to hers.
"You're too shy to say? Fine. I'll send you the money. It's a whole lot, so make sure to spend it wisely. First, get yourself a new phone with some of it. The one you have is scrap. Now give me your account number so I can send it to you."
Of course it was scrap.
That heartless woman bought her a cheap phone and made her transfer everything from the old one into it because she didn't want her new family thinking she'd been spoiling their daughter.
Raising her eyes, they landed on Kate's twinkling ones.
Looking behind her, Zoey could see the admiration in her parents' eyes and almost gagged.
Of course this wench was doing it for attention. She wanted their parents to see her as the easygoing, thoughtful and generous sister.
But Zoey was already on thin ice with her biological parents.
That woman wouldn't take her in if they kicked her out, so she couldn't afford to refuse this 'generousity'. '
Inhaling deeply, she tried to remind herself this was temporary. In a few months, she'd be married into the Leith family, far away from this bunch.
As she thought like this, she reached to take Kate's phone, but the girl suddenly withdrew it, cackling mockingly as she reached into her school bag and pulled out a wad of large bills.
"Silly me. Of course you don't have an account number. Have you even been to a bank before?"
"Here, this is five thousand. I'll give you the remaining fifteen thousand after school today."
Wait, what?
It was a thousand. And not just a thousand… five thousand and fifteen thousand? That's twenty thousand.
Didn't she call it a whole lot of money earlier?
Since when did a whole lot of money become twenty thousand and not twenty million?