Chapter 4

Michelle's voice rang out once more inside the room. There was a tremor of excitement in her voice. "Vivian, how did you manage to win over those people? Teach me!" Vivian laughed out loud and scrolled lazily on her phone. "That's easy. The Kingston heir loves helping 'young women who have gone astray' that he finds at nightclubs. I pretended to be a female student who had gone to the wrong place, and he was hooked after I let out a few sobs." She tapped on the screen, and the photo changed. "This Internet tycoon thinks that he's providing financial support for a female college student from a rural area. I used a fake ID and put on a t-shirt that only cost 30 dollars when I went to see him. He was so touched that he immediately said that he would treat me like his own younger sister." "Four… When did you meet them?" "This one was the first." She zoomed in on a group photo that had been taken on a yacht. She was wearing a white dress and was leaning back in the embrace of a man. "I slept with him six years ago. He asked me last week if I wanted to go to his private island." Six years ago? That had been the year we first met. I realized that she had treated me as a fool right from the beginning. "The Internet tycoon is the funniest." Vivian began giggling. "I always put my hair in a ponytail and wore no makeup whenever I met him, and I just carried a canvas tote bag. That's the outfit Rowan likes the most. Men always fall for it when I put on the innocent act." She had been dressed exactly the way she had just described when she first met Mom and timidly addressed her as "Mrs. Selleck". My mother had felt so sorry for her that she had immediately slipped an emerald bangle onto Vivian's wrist, even though it had been an heirloom that Grandma had passed to her. "Can you manage financially? There are four of them," Michelle asked in a low voice. "Of course. The day before yesterday, I had a fancy dinner with a business owner in the mining industry. Yesterday, I played golf with Chief Burke. It's become even more convenient now that I'm pregnant. Some people have a preference for this." I stood outside, feeling my blood run cold. Mom woke up before dawn every single day to make nourishing soup for Vivian. Dad had secretly taken money out of his retirement savings so that I would be able to give her the wedding gift she'd asked for. I worked late desperately so that I could give her and the babies a better life. Now I realized that she only saw my family as the provider for her and the babies.