Chapter 4

The one who slapped her was Maria, Diane’s own mother.

“You d*mn girl, what happened to you? Your grandmother said that you were fooling around outside. You better explain yourself.”

“What else is there for her to explain?” Diane’s mother-in-law, Elizabeth Fortner, momentarily swept a loathing gaze over Diane before she turned back to Maria and said derisively, “My dear woman, it’s not that I refuse to lend you any money out of the pure cruelty of my heart. Why don’t you look at the daughter that you birthed instead? Why had she been in the hospital for the past two days? That’s because she had a miscarriage! Norman never touched her, yet she became pregnant. Hah, do you still expect me to lend you money with such a daughter-

in-law?”

Lend her money?

Diane looked at Maria while she covered her face with one hand. “What’s going on, Mom? Why did you run all the way here to borrow money again? Did Dad lose while gambling again?”

Even Diane had lost track of how many times this happened. Before she got married, much of her money had been used to pay off her father’s gambling debts. After marriage, her parents would still come knocking on her door frequently to ask for money, leaving her in a tight spot.

Maria had an ugly expression as she glared harshly at Diane. “Yes, he lost again—100,000 bucks. I was thinking that you should have some money lying around since Norman recently got promoted, but look at you now. How can you be such a disappointment? Norman is such a nice man, so why did you do this?”

Maria’s hand swung again, her punches striking right at Diane. Her body was in complete agony; even her heart was torn to shreds.

“Mom, can’t you be more reasonable? You believe anything that comes out of their mouths. Did you even ask Norman about what he’s done? Don’t you know that he knocked up some other woman?”

Maria froze, her eyes fixed on Diane before she turned her gaze to Elizabeth. Right then, Elizabeth gave a cold chuckle.

“The baby in Stella’s belly is my own beloved grandchild. She’s six months along now. How can you possibly compare to her?” Her face quickly darkened as soon as she said that, and she eyed Diane with a hard gaze. “I’m warning you—you should sign the divorce papers as soon as possible. My darling grandchild is about to be born soon, and he has to have his birth parents clearly listed on his documents. Our Norman is already a director, not a lowly salesperson. With your kind of family, you’re not worthy of him. Meanwhile, Stella’s parents are civil servants, and she is intelligent and cultured; she will be of much help to Norman in the future. You should realize your situation. Don’t make us sue you—it won’t look good for anyone.”

Sue me? Stella is already six months pregnant. The proof of Norman’s infidelity is staring at them right in their faces, so why would they still sue me?

Diane’s rage could not be held back. Just as she was about to retort, Maria suddenly stopped her.

“Diane, hurry and apologize to your mother-in-law. Norman’s cheating is your fault as well. How did you treat your man as his wife? Apologize quickly so that she will forgive you.”

“Mom…”

Diane thought that her mother had gone insane from her greed for money.

“You wretched girl! How dare you stop listening to your own mother?” Maria’s fist struck out again, and it looked as though she was hitting at some unruly animal.

The pain Diane felt in her heart had long since exceeded what she could bear; she couldn’t understand why her own birth mother had never once been nice to her while growing up. Diane was clearly Maria’s daughter as well, but Maria treated Emilia like she was the apple of her eye; meanwhile, she trampled on Diane beneath her foot instead.

“All right—that’s enough, you two. Get out of here.” Elizabeth suddenly grabbed a broom and approached them.

“Get out of my sight. We are not a charity, and we don’t have money for you. Scram.”

Diane ended up getting struck by the broom a few times as the scene before her descended into chaos. With no other choice, all Diane could do was drag Maria with her and make a quick retreat.

Elizabeth swung the door shut with a heavy bang. Maria was beside herself with anger, and she tried to hit Diane again. Not wanting the neighbors to laugh at them, Diane quickly dragged Maria over to the elevator.

They had only just gotten out of the apartment building when Diane ran into her father, George Cornell.

George’s face was bruised all over; one eye was so bruised and swollen that it resembled a panda’s. The moment he saw his daughter, he immediately asked her expectantly, “Did you get the money, Diane?”

Diane ignored him and looked right at the two hulking men behind him.

“You’re his daughter? Great, did you bring the money?”

One of the hulking men stepped over to Diane and stuck his hand out at her. Diane looked at George with a frown. “I don’t have any money with me, Dad. Norman messed around outside, so the Adlers have refused to lend us any money too. I have no other options.”

“What? I came all the way here, yet you guys still don’t have the money?”

Before George could make a sound, one of the men puffed his moustache out and yelled at George while glaring at him. A fist then struck at George.

“Damn it, didn’t you say that your daughter would be able to pony up the cash? We wasted all that time coming here.”

George fell to the ground. Just as the hulking man was about to kick at him, someone else came running up to stop the man.

“Forget it—we still won’t get any money out of him even if you beat him to death. Fortunately, it just so happens that Ms. Lena is short on girls, and you don’t look half-bad. Come with us while your parents go back to raise the money needed. We’ll let you go when they get enough funds together.”

With that, the two men immediately grabbed hold of Diane’s arms, and Diane was so terrified that she screamed.

“What are you doing? Let me go! I won’t go with you!”