Chapter 4

"Amelia, it was just a coincidence. We ran into each other."

"Hah! Who do you think you're fooling? You already stole twenty years of my life as a fake Miller. Now you want to steal my fiancé too? Have you no shame?"

Facing Amelia's accusations, I felt a familiar wave of guilt.

In the eyes of the Miller family, I was the imposter who enjoyed their wealth while Amelia suffered in the foster system. And in my current position, fighting back would only hurt me and Leo.

So, I tried to speak to her as calmly as possible.

"Amelia, I am truly sorry about what happened in the past. But please believe me, today was purely an accident. I will never interfere with your and Carter's lives again."

Amelia clearly didn't believe a word.

She mocked, "I really don't get if you're playing dumb or if you're actually stupid. Carter loved you so much back then. If you had stayed with him, you could have had all the money you wanted. But instead, you chose to run away to Europe with some shady foreign billionaire to be his side-chick."

"Tell me, how much money do you want this time?"

I shook my head violently, my voice tight. "I don't want any money. I will never show up in front of you two again."

"Amelia, you are really misunderstanding this."

"Misunderstanding?"

She laughed loudly, cutting me off.

She pulled out a checkbook from her designer purse, quickly scribbled on it, and shoved it against my chest.

"Here. One million dollars."

"Take it and disappear from Carter's life forever."

I frowned, refusing to touch it.

I couldn't understand why Amelia would suddenly act so "generous."

I remembered the day the Millers kicked me out. Amelia wouldn't even let me take more than two changes of clothes. It was pouring rain, and a kind maid had tried to slip me an umbrella and a warm coat.

Amelia had screamed at her:

"Don't you dare give her anything! Every single thing she’s wearing was bought with my family's money! Letting her leave with those rags is already charity!"

Seeing that I wasn't taking the check, Amelia forcefully grabbed my hand and shoved the check into my palm, forcing my fingers to close around it. At the same time, she slipped the open box-cutter into my other hand.

I was startled by her sudden, aggressive movements. I instinctively tried to throw the burning check back at her.

"What are you do—"

Before I could finish my sentence.

"Help! Help me!" Amelia suddenly let out a blood-curdling shriek.

"She’s robbing me! She has a knife! Help!"

My entire body went rigid.

In an instant, I realized I had been set up.

Heavy, hurried footsteps and the shouts of security guards echoed from the entrance of the parking lot.

"Stop right there! What's going on over there?"

"Drop the weapon!"

"Get away from her! We’ve called the police!"

Everything happened too fast.

Before I could even drop the knife, two security guards and Amelia’s personal bodyguards rushed forward.

Someone kicked me hard in the back, sending me crashing face-first onto the dirty concrete.

My cheek scraped against the rough ground, sending a blinding flash of pain through my face. I tasted dust and metal.

A heavy security guard pinned me down, locking my arms behind my back.

I was pressed flat against the filthy ground, my body twisted in a painful angle. It was hard to breathe.

I had absolutely no dignity left.

"Let me go! It wasn't me... she set me up!"

"Shut up! We caught you red-handed!"

The guard pinning me down yelled in my ear, as more onlookers gathered around.

From my position on the ground, I could only see a sea of expensive shoes. I could hear Amelia’s trembling, tearful voice explaining to the guards how I had "threatened her with a knife" and "demanded a million dollars."

Soon, the police arrived. The guards, who had clearly been bought by the Miller family, exaggerated the story, describing me as a desperate, violent criminal.

As the officers hauled me up from the ground, I saw Carter running toward us.

He pushed past the crowd and immediately took Amelia into his arms.

"Amelia, are you okay? Did she hurt you?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.

Amelia buried her face in his chest, sobbing hysterically as she shook her head.

Only then did Carter turn his gaze toward me.

His eyes were filled with absolute, unfiltered disgust, as if he were looking at a piece of rotting garbage.

"Chloe, do you have any shame left?"

"It’s been five years, and you've degraded yourself to this level? I guess the five million wasn't enough, so now you're trying to extort Amelia because she’s gentle?"

I was entirely alone, tears of humiliation and helplessness streaming down my face.

"I didn't do it..." I choked out.

But my tears only made Carter look more disgusted.

"You didn't do what?" he snapped, his voice cold as ice.

"You didn't hold a knife? Or you didn't demand money? Chloe, five years ago you sold yourself to the highest bidder without a second thought. Is it really a surprise that you'd do something this disgusting for cash now?"

"I never thought you could be this pathetic. You are no different from a parasite living in a sewer, crawling around looking for someone else’s wallet. Do you even have a soul left?"

I wanted to scream, to explain, but the officers slammed the police car door shut, cutting off my voice.

Armed robbery was a felony.

That night, I was locked in a holding cell.

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