Fine, Georgette. If you want to play me for a fool, then don't expect mercy.
I pulled out my phone on the spot and dialed the legal department. "Send a team to my parents' countryside estate immediately—"
Before I could finish, Cora snatched the phone out of my hand and hurled it to the floor.
"God, you never stop pretending, do you?" she screamed. "Your parents' estate? This villa belongs to my mom. She bought it for me!"
The classmates piled on, sneering and spitting insults one after another.
"So that's why she never stays in the dorms like the rest of us. I thought she was off doing something important. Turns out she was playing parasite at Cora's house, trying to steal someone else's mother. Disgusting."
"Exactly. Her own parents are dead, so she goes hunting for someone else's rich ones. If her parents knew she was this shameless, they'd be rolling in their graves."
"Some people are just born desperate. The second they see money, they'll do anything to worm their way in. Suck up to a sugar daddy, latch onto a rich godmother, whatever gets them to the top."
"Cora, you're honestly too nice. If someone tried to steal my parents, I'd rip her apart."
I ignored every word. I looked straight at Cora and said, my voice low and firm, "I suggest you call your mother right now and ask her who this villa really belongs to."
Cora's expression darkened. She grabbed me by the collar.
"You conniving little leech. Don't think I don't know what you're doing. You take advantage of my mom's kindness and trick her into giving you everything you want!"
As she spoke, her gaze dropped to my neck. Her eyes lit up.
"That jade pendant necklace looks expensive. Let me guess, you conned my mom into buying that for you too?"
Before I could move, she lunged forward and ripped the necklace from my throat.
Cora was fast and vicious. I didn't even have time to react before the chain was in her hand.
The blood drained from my face. "Give it back!"
My panic only sharpened her cruelty. She studied me with cold, calculating eyes.
"This worked up over a necklace? Must've cost my mom a fortune."
"It was my mother's," I said, my voice cracking. "It's not worth much money, but it means everything to me. Give it back. Now."
I reached for it.
That jade pendant was a talisman my mother had paid for with her life.