Chapter 349 Beautiful illusion

If she’d known even a little bit that Alana wasn’t doing well, she wouldn’t have done nothing about it, and she certainly wouldn’t have let her relationship with Alana become so strained.

It was Miranda who created this beautiful illusion for her.

She was told that Alana was happy and content every day, that she was grateful to her as a mother, and that she was grateful for the 100,000 dollars her mother sent her every month, making her life better and brighter with each passing day.

Little did she know that it was only Miranda’s family whose lives were becoming brighter and more hopeful.

She really was a complete and utter fool!

Agnes said, “Miranda, just you wait. Once we get back, I’ll settle the accounts properly. The money I’ve transferred to you over the years must be no less than thirty million. I want you to pay back every penny... principal and interest!”

The moment Miranda heard the word “settle accounts,” her heart sank.

Goodness gracious, thirty million... even if they sold their entire family, they couldn’t pay it back.

Besides, all the money Agnes had transferred to them over the years had been squandered, there was no way they could pay her back.

“Oh, come on, sister. We’re all family... why quibble over this? At worst, we’ll just treat your daughter well from now on, won’t we? There’s really no need to make such a fuss. Besides, you married a rich man... you’re not exactly short on thirty million!”

Joan chimed in, “Exactly! Just the other day, my mom and I asked you for ten million, and you transferred it to us within a couple of days... that proves you’re not short on cash!”

When Agnes heard about the 10 million she’d transferred to Miranda a couple of days ago, she instantly realized what was going on.

“Miranda, was the ten million I transferred to you really for Mom’s medical expenses?”

Miranda felt a pang of guilt again. “Of course it was. Who else would it be for?”

She couldn’t help but glare at Joan, she really had to bring up the one thing she didn’t want to hear.

Seeing Miranda’s reaction, Agnes’ heart sank even further. Perhaps before she’d learned that Miranda had embezzled so much money from her, she might have been willing to believe her.

But since Miranda had dared to deceive her and extort so much money from her, it wouldn’t be surprising if she continued to lie, claiming it was for her mother’s medical expenses... to keep demanding more.

“Miranda, I won’t believe a single word you say now. I’ll get to the bottom of this. If you didn’t spend that money on my mother’s medical bills, I’ll make you pay it back!”

Miranda flew into a rage. “Oh my, sis, how can you be so heartless? We’re family!”

Agnes laughed bitterly. “Family? You have the nerve to call us family? I treated you like family, but you treated me like a sucker... and you’ve been deceiving me for over a decade! Everything your family owes me, you’ll have to pay back!”

Seeing that Agnes wouldn’t budge, Miranda quickly backed down. “Sis, I really was wrong. I was wrong. Please forgive me. I won’t do it again!”

Agnes snapped angrily, “Since you know you’re wrong, then give me my money back!”

Miranda stammered, “I... I don’t have any money. I’ve already spent it all.”

Agnes snapped, “If you’ve spent it, find a way to raise it. Either way, you have to pay me back every single cent I gave you!”

Miranda, having given up all hope, retorted, “I don’t have any money. Even if I sold my whole family, it wouldn’t be enough!”

Agnes said coldly, “Then your whole family can go sit in jail.”

Hearing this, Miranda stopped even pretending and, placing her hands on her hips, snapped, “Agnes, How dare you?! I’m your sister-in-law! And besides, I’m doing this with my husband’s tacit approval. Do you dare defy the first son of the family?!”

Agnes felt a chill run down her spine. Even Miranda’s husband knew about this, and had tacitly approved it.

“Once I’ve settled the accounts, if you can’t pay it back, I’ll call the police.”

Not wanting to waste any more words, Agnes stood up and left.

Miranda was furious and immediately launched into a tirade against Agnes.

She accused Agnes of being ungrateful, heartless, and a thankless wretch, someone who, once she’d made it big, had forgotten her own family.

Joan couldn’t help but grab Miranda’s hand. “Mom, what should we do? If she really makes us pay her back, we can’t afford it. What if she calls the police and we end up in jail? I’m still young and not married yet, I really don’t want to end up in jail!”

Miranda didn’t know what to do either.

“Let’s go home first and see how much money we have left. Oh, right! Grandma still has the deed to the house back home. If it gets demolished, that’s over four million dollars. Plus, she must have quite a bit of cash on her. Back then, that man paid her two million just to buy out her parental rights over Agnes. And there’s her dowry from back in the day. All told, we should be able to scrape together a decent sum!”

Joan gasped, “My goodness, so Grandma had that much stashed away!”

Miranda snorted coldly, “Exactly. How else could she have managed to take care of Joan all these years?”

Besides, Grandma’s assets weren’t just on her family’s mind.

“Come on, let’s go in and ask her where she’s hiding all that stuff. If we get our hands on it, we won’t have to worry about repaying Agnes’ debt!”

“Right, right, right! We’ll definitely find a way to get Grandma to give us her money!”

The mother and daughter made their plan and entered Grandma’s hospital room together.

***************

Upon returning to the Gordon household, Agnes immediately tallied up the total amount she had transferred to Miranda and the others over the years.

She also tapped into some personal connections to check Miranda’s bank statements from the past decade or so.

Sure enough, just as Alana had said, not a single penny of the money she had sent to Miranda had ever reached Alana.

It had all been embezzled by Miranda’s family.

Miranda’s family eats and drinks well every day, enjoying meat at every meal.

They’ve bought cars and a house in the city, and both their daughter and son attend elite schools.

Tuition runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. They were decked out in gold and silver jewelry.

Especially during the few days, the mother and daughter have been in the capital, they’ve been shopping at all kinds of luxury brand stores, splurging hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

All of this was funded by the money she had just raised from selling her jewelry.

All that money went straight into Miranda and her daughter’s pockets, where they’ve been free to squander it as they please.

This is outrageous!

Agnes was furious.

She truly hated herself for trusting Miranda, that hypocritical little schemer!

Thinking about how she had wrongly accused her own daughter and refused to believe her based on just a few words from Miranda, Agnes felt like she could slap herself to death.

No wonder Alana wouldn’t want to acknowledge her as a mother!

What kind of sins had she committed all these years!

Agnes truly regretted her past actions...

**************

As soon as Alana left the hospital, she sent a message to Stephan.

Alana: [What would you like for dinner tonight? I’ll cook it myself.]

Stephan was in a meeting, but when he saw Alana’s message, he lost all interest in listening.

He asked with a smile, [Why the sudden urge to cook for me?]

Of course, she wanted to properly thank him.

Alana felt heartbroken thinking about how he had done something so dangerous just to avenge her.

His hand must have been injured when he accidentally crashed into Darla’s car. And that fool wouldn’t even tell her the truth... he just didn’t want her to worry about him.

How could he... be so foolish?

[Hurry up and tell me, this is your only chance.]

Stephan replied immediately:

[Sweetheart, I’ll eat anything you make.]

Alana curved her lips. [Just wait. Tonight, I’ll treat you to something special.]

Stephan: [I’m really looking forward to it. I’m in for a real treat tonight. I love you.]

Alana had been in a bit of a bad mood, but seeing Stephan loving and heartwarming reply, even her heaviest heart was healed.

[Me too. I love you, so, so much.]

After replying to Stephan’s last message, Alana sent another message to Eve.

[Are you free later?]

Eve: [Sure! Where should we meet?]

Alana suggested meeting at a bubble tea shop.

That milk tea shop was a place she and Eve had frequented often back when they were in college together.

When Alana and Eve arrived at the shop, the owner still recognized them. She even complimented them, saying they looked even more beautiful than before.

Eve returned the compliment, “You too, ma’am, you’re just as radiant as ever!” The owner beamed with delight and said, “You have such a sweet tongue.”

“It’s been so long since you graduated, have you both found boyfriends yet?”

Alana and Eve nodded in unison.