"Adjustments?" I sneered. "Which part? The part where we bring my parents here, or the part where we buy a house?"

Ryan opened his mouth. Before he could speak, Mrs. Lambert jumped in.

"All of it! I'm telling you right now, Joy—don't even think about buying a house…"

She shot Ryan a pointed look.

"Ryan, tell her! Tell her whether that so-called house fund even exists anymore!"

My mind went blank.

Ryan's face cycled through pale and green. His lips moved a few times.

"Joy… the house fund we saved… I had an emergency a while back, so I already… diverted it."

One light sentence.

The last shred of hope shattered with it.

So all those promises about our future had never weighed more than a feather to him.

I looked at this mother and son—one vicious and smug, one spineless and fake.

They took my contributions for granted while grinding the family I loved into the dirt.

On one hand, they brushed off my parents with counterfeit liquor. On the other, they helped themselves to my savings.

And now, facing a fabricated five million dollars, they revealed their true colors—pure, ugly greed.

So this was how rotten the human heart could get.

My voice came out surprisingly calm.