Chapter 1

My husband's mistress sent me a video to rub it in, claiming she had just beaten my "pathetic, begging mother" bloody and kicked her down the stairs.

I froze, glancing up at my actual mother sitting right across from me, quietly sipping her coffee.

Bewildered, I zoomed in on the video.

When I made out the scar on the wrist of the woman lying in the pool of blood, a cold sweat broke out over my body. I frantically called my husband.

But he interrupted my plea with extreme impatience: "Shut up! Roxy was right to teach her a lesson. She was just taking out the trash for me!"

Since he insisted on indulging his precious mistress's death wish...

I wonder if he'll still be able to say she was right to teach her a lesson when he sees his own grandmother's corpse.

 ......

The camera shook violently. My husband's mistress—Roxy, the casino's top hostess—was viciously kicking a woman curled up on the floor.

My entire body went ice-cold, and my stomach churned.

That wasn't my mother, Martha.

My mother was currently visiting my aunt out in the country, three hundred miles away.

Even though the woman in the video was covered in blood and her clothes were torn to shreds, the moment her sleeve rode up, I saw the bizarre, twisted burn scar on her right wrist.

That scar came from a house fire fifteen years ago, left by a red-hot beam when she dragged Julian out of the flames.

It was Odette.

Julian's grandmother. The Alzheimer's-stricken woman was the only person in the world he truly loved—his one untouchable weakness, a life he valued even more than his own!

Without wasting another second, I dialed Julian.

"Julian, tell Roxy to stop right now!" I took a deep breath, shouting into the phone as fast as I could. "The person she's hitting isn't—"

"Enough, I know what you're going to say." Julian cut me off, his tone laced with undisguised disgust. "Your deadbeat mother came causing a scene at my casino and ruined the vibe for my VIPs. Roxy was just taking the trash out for me. What, are you going to beg for that old leech?"

"You have no idea what's going on!" I raised my voice in sheer panic. "Look at the video Roxy just sent me, right now! That's not my mom! That's..."

"I said enough!" Julian let out a cold sneer. "Sienna, you're always so full of lies. Let me tell you, I think Roxy did exactly the right thing. Bottom-feeding parasites like you need to suffer a little to learn your place."

I froze.

Through the phone, I could faintly hear the mocking voice of Julian's crony, Brad: "Julian, is your wife really still defending her broke hag of a mother? If you ask me, Roxy did a brilliant job."

"Yeah, Roxy was just defending your honor, man," another voice chimed in.

My knuckles turned utterly white as I gripped the phone.

Back in the day, Julian was just a penniless nobody who couldn't even afford college tuition. It was my mother, Martha, who emptied her retirement savings, and it was me, working three jobs, who paid his rent and saved up the seed money for his first business venture.

But the moment he became a billionaire casino mogul, he morphed into a total stranger.

Now, he was endlessly humiliating me over a cheap casino hostess.

"Julian," I suppressed the roaring fury in my chest, making one last attempt to save the situation. "You had better go and confirm the identity of the person bleeding on the floor. Otherwise, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

"Regret?" Julian laughed uproariously, as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world. "Sienna, have you lost your damn mind? The only thing I regret in this life is marrying a worthless woman like you. Let me tell you something: even if Roxy beats your mother to death today, I have enough money to make it all disappear. So shut your mouth and don't kill my buzz!"

Just then, the sharp clicking of high heels echoed from his end of the line.

"Who is it, honey?" Roxy's voice floated over, and a second later, she clearly snatched Julian's phone. "Oh, if it isn't my dear sister Sienna?"

"Roxy, you're out of your mind! Look closely at who you're actually beating!" I warned her sharply.

"Oh, I see her perfectly fine." Roxy giggled into the phone, her voice shrill and grating. "She's a stinking, senile old beggar. Sienna, how do you even have the nerve to call? Your mother was just crawling on the floor begging me, looking exactly like a stray dog. Oh, right, she kept mumbling Julian's name, hoping he'd save her? Dream on!"

I squeezed my eyes shut.

That was Odette having an episode. She couldn't recognize faces; in her absolute terror, she was instinctively crying out for her beloved grandson.

"She was crying and screaming so much it got annoying, so I conveniently kicked her down the stairs," Roxy said nonchalantly, her tone dripping with sadistic pleasure. "She's stopped moving now. Sienna, if you don't drag your ass over here to collect her corpse, I'm tossing her out with the trash."

Immediately after, a coy whine came through the speaker. Roxy had clearly turned her head to complain to the man beside her. "Babe, you have no idea how crazy this old hag is. When I told security to drag her away, she actually sank her teeth into me and wouldn't let go!"

"Don't be mad, baby." Julian's voice instantly softened, but the words that followed were like they came from a demon out of hell. "Since she loves biting so much, throw her into the kennels out back. Let the Mastiffs teach her some manners."

I gasped sharply. "Julian! You can't do that! You're going to kill her!"

"Listen to me! That person is truly not my mom, Martha! Look closer at the video—that is your grandmother, Odette!"

"Sienna, are you out of your damn mind?" Julian let out an extremely mocking scoff. "My grandmother is in the best nursing home in the state. To cover for your shameless mother, you actually dare to use my grandmother in a lie?"

"I'm not lying! Roxy kicked her in the head, and Odette is so old—she is going to die!"

"Julian! You'll regret this! You will absolutely regret this!" I screamed in utter desperation.

"The only thing I regret is being blind enough to marry a bottom-feeder like you."

With that, Julian hung up the phone.

Listening to the dial tone, a flicker of dark curiosity rose in my chest.

When Julian realizes that his beloved grandmother was beaten to death by his precious mistress, what exactly will his reaction be?