The next morning, Moana was startled by a loud banging sound from outside. The banging and shouting woke up everyone in the house.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"OPEN THE DOOR!"

Moana jolted awake. Outside her room, she could hear her mother’s panicked voice and hurried footsteps.

"Freddy! It’s the bank guys again!"

"Tell them to leave!" Mr. Freddy snapped from downstairs.

Moana hurried out of her room. In the living room, two neatly dressed men stood at the door with cold expressions. One of them was holding a thick folder full of documents.

"Mr. Freddy still hasn’t paid the five months of overdue loan payments," the man said firmly. "We’ve issued warnings multiple times."

Mrs. Freddy tried to force a small laugh. "My husband is taking care of the money."

"Your car was repossessed last week. Now we’re here to seize the next asset."

Her mother’s face went pale instantly.

"What do you mean, seizure?" she asked in a panic.

The man opened his folder. "This rental house is also behind on payments."

Moana froze in place.

"What?" she whispered softly.

Mr. Freddy suddenly appeared. He immediately pointed at Moana quickly.

"My daughter will pay for everything. She has the money."

All eyes immediately turned to Moana.

The woman laughed softly in disbelief. "Me?" her voice was faint. "I don’t even have a place to go back to now."

"Didn’t you say you had a secret about Sean’s company?" her mother whispered quickly, pulling her arm. "Use that!"

Moana looked at both her parents one by one.

And now, that frustration turned into something darker.

Moana wasn’t sad. She wasn’t afraid. She was angry.

Because in the home that was supposed to be her final refuge, she was still seen as nothing more than a cash cow that hadn’t yet been fully milked.

Moana roughly brushed Mrs. Freddy’s hand aside. Her chest rose and fell as she struggled to contain the emotions that had been burning in her head ever since.

"You people are completely insane," she hissed softly. "I just got here last night, and now you’re already trying to take advantage of me again?"

Mrs. Freddy immediately glared at her. "Watch your mouth! Don’t act like you’re the one suffering the most in this house!"

Moana laughed sarcastically, shaking her head slowly. "Oh, so now I’m the one to blame?"

"It is your fault!" snapped Mr. Freddy as he stood up from the sofa. "If only you hadn’t been so stupid and kept Sean under control, we wouldn’t be living like this!"

Moana glared sharply. "Control him? Dad, Sean is a human being, not a pet dog!"

"But he used to be crazy about you!" Mrs. Freddy retorted quickly. "You’re the one who failed to keep him! We even failed to produce an heir to that wealthy Weasley family! Idiot!"

Those words made Moana chuckle in disgust.

"How funny," she said coldly. "What kind of parents are you? You actually treat me like a child. You’re crazy!"

The room fell silent.

The two bank employees still standing near the door exchanged awkward glances. Even they were starting to feel uncomfortable hearing the family’s argument.

Mr. Freddy walked over and pointed at Moana’s face harshly. "Don’t forget who raised you in luxury!"

"Whose money paid for that luxury?" Moana retorted quickly. "Haven’t you been the ones living in luxury? While you’ve always neglected me?"

SMACK!

A hard slap landed on Moana’s face.

The woman gently held her cheek while staring at her father with an expression of disbelief. But a few seconds later, she actually let out a small laugh.

"Why are you angry?" she said softly. "Because I told the truth?"

"Don’t forget, if we hadn’t taken you in, you’d have been a homeless person your whole life!" Mrs. Freddy whispered.

"You guys?" Moana gasped. She remembered a fact that had long been obscured—the truth about her status as an adopted child, a secret they’d kept hidden all this time.

Mr. Freddy clenched his fists in anger. "You think you’re so pure? You enjoyed all of it too! The designer bags, the apartment, the parties, the sports car! You slept with Sean while laughing at Clara’s suffering!"

Moana fell silent for a moment.

Yes. That was true.

She had indeed enjoyed it all.

Sean had once made her feel like the most precious woman in the world. And Moana had gladly taken Clara’s place without a shred of guilt. Even when Clara had cried back then, Moana still felt like she was the winner.

But now everything had turned around too quickly.

The bank employee finally cleared his throat softly, trying to stop the situation from getting worse. "Sorry, we just wanted to discuss the overdue payments."

The man opened the folder in his hand. "The total debt, including interest and penalties, is currently nearing one hundred fifty thousand dollars."

Moana turned her head sharply. "What?!"

Mrs. Freddy looked away. Meanwhile, Mr. Freddy looked annoyed that the amount had been stated so bluntly.

"What did you use all that money for?" Moana asked in disbelief.

"That’s none of your business!" Mr. Freddy snapped.

Moana laughed sarcastically. "Oh, of course it’s my business. You called me back because you need money, right?"

The bank employee then placed a business card on the table. "We’re giving you three days. If there’s no payment, the foreclosure process will proceed."

After they left, the house fell silent again. But this silence felt even more suffocating.

Mrs. Freddy immediately approached Moana. "Didn’t you just say you had a secret about Sean’s company?"

Moana closed her eyes for a moment; she was truly sick of hearing her mother’s words.

"Even now... all you think about is money?"

"Yes! Because money is so important!" Mrs. Freddy snapped. "Don’t be naive! Do you think we’ve loved you all this time for what? For sincerity?"

Moana glared at her mother. Those words struck right at the deepest, most painful part of her.

Mrs. Freddy snorted lightly and crossed her arms over her chest. "We spent a lot of money after adopting you. So, you have to give us money as a way of thanking us."

Moana clenched her fists tightly. For the first time since everything fell apart, she truly felt alone.

Not because the world hated her. But because she realized that she came from a family even more broken than she was.

******

Moana sat silently in the living room, staring at the bank’s business card still lying on the table. The house had fallen silent again after the earlier commotion, but the atmosphere felt even more suffocating. Mr. Freddy had been smoking nonstop, while Mrs. Freddy fiddled with her phone, her face creased with worry.

"Three days," Mr. Freddy muttered softly. "If we don’t get the money in three days, it’s all over."

Moana didn’t answer. Her thoughts were still in disarray. Sean had cast her aside, the public had torn her down, and now her own family saw her only as a way out of their financial troubles.

Mrs. Freddy finally turned to her. "You still have copies of Sean’s company documents, right? You still have plenty of Sean’s company secrets, don’t you?"

Moana slowly raised her gaze. "Why?"

"Because that’s the only valuable thing you have left."

That sentence made Moana laugh bitterly. Even after falling this low, her worth was still measured by what she could provide.

Before the tension could rise again, her phone suddenly rang.

An unknown number.

Moana hesitated for a few seconds before answering. "Hello?"

"You finally picked up."

Moana’s body tensed instantly upon recognizing the voice.

Sean.

The woman hurriedly stood up from the sofa and moved a little away from her parents. "What do you want?"

"I’m just curious," Sean replied calmly. "How does it feel to be poor again?"

Moana clenched her teeth. "If you just want to insult me, hang up."

Sean chuckled softly on the other end. "You sound tougher than you did yesterday. Good. At least you haven’t completely fallen apart yet."

Moana stared blankly out the window. "Why didn’t the poison work?"

There was a few seconds of silence.

Then Sean replied casually, "Because I replaced it."

Moana froze instantly.

"What?"

"I’ve known you’ve been hiding that poison for a long time," Sean continued. "So I had my people swap it out before you went back to your dorm room."

Moana’s breath suddenly felt heavy. "You’re crazy..."

"No," Sean replied softly. "I just don’t want to see you die yet."

Moana clenched her phone tightly. "You hate me, but you’re still controlling my life?"

"I discarded you because you deserved to be discarded," Sean said coldly. "But if you die now, everything ends too easily."

Those words made Moana’s chest feel even tighter.

Sean was really toying with her.

"I’m not your toy," Moana whispered, full of anger.

"Really? You’re a fun toy. Now, kneel before me and beg. Maybe I’ll give you some allowance to buy a burger and a soda. Hahahaha." Sean laughed.

"Sean! You’re a jerk! Crazy!" Moana screamed.

"Damn it, Moana! Don’t speak badly to your husband. Speak sweetly and gently." Mrs. Freddy immediately snatched Moana’s phone.