Chapter 4

My father, Jules Oliver, called me the next morning.

He sounded exhausted and angry. "Brenna, look at the mess you've made. You've disgraced the Oliver family."

I wasn't surprised.

Connor and Madeline had spent years ingratiating themselves with Jules, and his trust in them was deeply ingrained.

A single press conference wasn't enough to fully wake him up.

"Let's meet," I said. Then I calmly hung up the phone.

Richard was already waiting for me at the door. He glanced at me with hesitation. "Mr. Harrison reminds you to be careful."

"I see."

I knew this meeting was a setup.

But some things had to be said face-to-face.

Originally, I had planned to go to the Oliver family mansion, but after the events of my previous life, anything related to the Oliver family disgusted me.

So, I changed the meeting location to a high-end club owned by the Harrison family.

I had a feeling on my way that the meeting wouldn't be pleasant there.

As I had expected, as soon as I arrived in the room, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense.

Jules sat in the main seat, and his face was livid with anger.

Madeline and her mother, Janice Williams, sat on either side of him. Madeline was crying her heart out, while Janice kept wiping away Madeline's tears. Janice muttered at that same time, "Mr. Oliver, you must stand up for Madeline. She's never suffered such grievances before."

Connor sat below. His face was wrapped in bandages. It was said he was beaten by angry shareholders. He looked utterly miserable.

Seeing me enter, he immediately stood up and looked pained.

"Brenna, you finally came back. Just apologize to Jules, and we..."

"Shut up." I interrupted him coldly. "Do you have any right to speak here?"

Connor's face flushed with embarrassment, and he sat back down, scowling.

"You insolent brat! Is this how you speak to Connor?" Jules slammed the table and roared in anger.

"Dad." I looked at him emotionlessly. "Did you call me back just to scold me?"

"You..." Jules was at a loss for words. His chest heaved in fury.

Madeline saw this and began to cry even harder. "Brenna, I know you're angry with me, but you can't treat Dad like this. He and Connor are doing this for your own good."

"For my own good? For my own good means plotting to steal my shares and send me to a mental institution?"

I took out my phone and played the recording in front of them.

Jules's face immediately turned pale.

He looked at Connor and Madeline with disbelief. His lips trembled as he said, "Is this... is this true?"

"Jules, don't trust her. She fabricated this so she could be with Jacob and framed us!" Connor continued his last-ditch effort to defend himself.

"Yes, Jules, Brenna has lost her mind." Janice chimed in, fanning the flames.

I watched the hesitation and wavering in Jules's eyes, and my heart sank little by little.

That was my father.

Even with irrefutable evidence, he still favored Janice and Madeline.

"Dad, if you don't believe me, you should at least believe this." I tossed a file onto the table.

It was the evidence of Connor's embezzlement. Each transaction was meticulously documented.

The evidence was irrefutable.

Both Connor's and Madeline's faces turned ashen.

Jules picked up the file. His hands trembled while flipping through it page by page. His expression grew darker and darker.

Finally, he hurled the file at Connor's face. "You beast!"

I thought he had finally faced the truth.

But I was wrong.

After cursing Connor, Jules suddenly turned his focus to me. "Brenna, even if Connor did wrong, we are still family. Why did you have to make such a huge scene? Where does this leave the Oliver family's reputation? You'd better issue a statement right now, saying the recording is fake and the financial records were a whim, and then settle the engagement with Connor. Let this matter be over."

The room fell silent instantly.

I looked at Jules, whom I had respected the most, and felt nothing but absurdity and ridicule.

Family?

He still dares to say the word "family"?

I suddenly laughed until I almost cried.

Even with evidence laid out before Jules, he chose Connor and Madeline.

And what about me? Who was I?

"Don't ever talk to me about 'family' again. You don't deserve it."

A pin-drop silence fell over the entire living room instantly.

In an instant, all the blood drained from Jules's face.