He Called The Heiress A Gold Digger

Chapter 2

Back in the storage room, Mom clutched her stomach and mumbled over and over, "Hungry... I'm so hungry."

She had developed a severe stomach problem from years of going hungry back in the day. If she didn't eat something soon, she'd definitely end up writhing on the floor in agony.

I gritted my teeth and snuck quietly toward the kitchen, hoping to scrounge up a leftover roll or two. I had barely lifted my hand toward the counter when a wooden rod came slamming down hard on my hand. A searing, sharp pain exploded through my hand instantly, and my fingers trembled so bad I could barely move them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" a shrill voice demanded.

I snapped, whipping around so fast my neck burned.

Riva stood in the doorway, hands propped on her hips, a cruel, gloating smirk stretching across her face. "Figures an unwanted little bastard would be born with sticky fingers," she sneered. "Don't you dare touch anything that belongs to the Mercer family!"

Mom stumbled unsteadily out of the storage room, fumbling her way toward us, and spoke up with slow, earnest seriousness. "My little girl isn't a bastard. She's Richard's daughter. He's gonna come find us soon..."

The smug grin on Riva's face vanished in an instant. She spun around, grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors off the counter, and charged straight at Mom. She slashed at her hair with the scissors, hacking off clumps as fast as she could.

Mom just clapped her hands and grinned, having no clue what was actually happening. She thought Riva was playing a game with her. But thick, silky locks of her hair kept falling to the floor in clumps, piling up like a thick, tangled wad of black fog.

Mom lifted a hand to pat the top of her head, and only felt her smooth, bare scalp under her fingers. "AHHH—" An ear-splitting scream ripped through the air.

I lunged forward to yank the scissors away from her, but Riva kicked me hard before I could get close. The back of my skull smacked against the edge of the table, and my vision swam, spots bursting across my sight.

By the time I managed to stumble back to my feet, Mom's favorite long hair was already gone, shaved clean off. She was huddled on the floor, picking up each stray lock of hair one by one and trying to press them back onto her head.

When none of them would stay, she burst into loud, heaving sobs like a little kid who'd lost her favorite toy. "They won't stick... it's all gone..." She sobbed.

Riva pointed at her and cackled so hard she doubled over. "Dad's never gonna pick you up now, not when you look like a bald stray dog! You two are just a couple of mangy street mutts. Get the hell out of my house right now!"

Mom let out a loud, wailing cry and scrambled backward, shrinking away from Riva in terror. "You're mean... you're a bad person..."

"What is all the racket out here?"

Richard and Rosalie stepped out of the master bedroom, both still in their pajamas.

Mom clutched the silver pendant around her neck and yelled out her complaint as loud as she could. "Richard, look what they did! She cut my hair! Yell at her for me, please!"

It hit me all of a sudden that that pendant was their old love token, the one Mom and Richard had exchanged back when they were together. Back then, Richard had been dead broke, too poor to buy any fancy jewelry. He'd spent six whole months carving that necklace by hand. He'd told her the necklace would never fade, and neither would his love for her.

Mom had believed every word. Once, when the necklace fell into a reservoir, she didn't even think twice before diving in after it, even though she couldn't swim. She'd almost drowned that day.

Richard's gaze sharpened instantly, and he moved half a step forward on instinct.

But Rosalie curled her arm through his, dropping a casual, pointed reminder. "Richard, doesn't that necklace string look like a newly replaced colored thread to you? Elena's lost her mind, but how interesting that she'd still keep this necklace after all this time, don't you think?"

With a loud clatter, Riva threw the scissors on the floor, sobbing like she was the most wronged person in the whole world. "Daddy, this lady called me a bastard! She even shoved the scissors in my hand after she cut her own hair! I didn't touch her at all!"

Richard shut his eyes for a second, then ripped the necklace right off Mom's neck and hurled it as hard as he could toward the swimming pool. It broke through the surface of the water in an instant and sank down to the pitch-black bottom of the pool.

The smile froze on Mom's face. She stared blankly at Richard, then at the pool where only faint ripples still spread across the surface. Big, fat tears suddenly started pouring down her cheeks. "You… you threw the necklace away… I need to find it. I need to go get it and tell Richard…" She started sobbing harder and scrambled up onto the railing, half her body already hanging over the edge of the water.

I screamed in terror, "Mom!"

Richard's face turned thunderous. He lunged forward, yanked her roughly off the railing, and slapped her hard across the face. "Have you had enough of this nonsense? Stop acting like a raving lunatic!"

Mom froze, stunned. A thin line of blood trickled from the split in the corner of her mouth.

A sharp buzz went off in my skull. I sprinted forward and planted myself directly in front of Mom, shielding her with my body. "Leave my mom alone! You don't get to treat her like that!"

His eyes went dark and cold, and he let out a cold, mocking laugh instead of flying into a rage. "And why the hell not?"

The words burst out of me before I could think, "Because Rosalie is the one who targeted Mom until she lost her mind! And because I, Estelle Garrick, am your biological daughter!"

Dead silence slammed down over the room all at once. Rosalie and Riva's faces drained of color, turning as pale as sheets.

Richard, on the other hand, let out a low, cold chuckle and stepped closer, his fingers closing around my throat in a vice grip. "Your mom stole the Mercer family's money and ran off years ago. What goes around comes around—she got targeted and ended up pregnant with you as a result. You're a bastard through and through. What makes you think you're good enough to claim you're part of the Mercer family?"

His hold lifted me clean off the ground. I couldn't get a single word out, only hoarse, rattling gasps scraping out of my crushed throat.

Mom was frantic with terror. Tears streamed down her face as she clawed frantically at Richard's hand, trying to pry it off me. "Let go of my baby… I don't want the necklace anymore, just let go!"

But Richard didn't move a muscle, his eyes burning with unbridled, feral rage. "You came here to call me your daddy out of nowhere, didn't you? You're just like your mom, just dying to mooch off the Mercer family's fortune and live a life of luxury. Both of you are nothing but cheap, disgusting trash. Just looking at you makes my skin crawl." With that, he hurled me onto the floor like I was a piece of garbage, and stormed off without a second glance.

Rosalie and her daughter shot me a smug, triumphant look before hurrying after him.

I lay sprawled on the ground, hacking and coughing for what felt like forever, before I finally managed to lift my shaking hand and press the number on my phone.

The second the call connected, I burst into loud, heaving sobs. "Grandpa, they hit me, they hit Mom too. It hurts so bad."

Grandpa's voice went icy the second he heard me cry, sharp with barely restrained rage. "I'm heading to the city right now. Just hang on one more day, Estelle. I swear I'll make him pay for this a hundred times over."