Chapter 5

My parents immediately wanted to give me the rest of the money, but I refused.

Because even though Jake had abandoned me, I was still legally married.

If they transferred the money to me, it would become marital property, and there was no way I was letting my parents' money become that scumbag's money.

Soon, the lawyer contacted me, saying he'd found Jake and his family of five.

They were living it up in a lavish resort in the Caribbean, and the lawyer immediately sent me the address.

To be safe, I set off for the Caribbean with my legal team.

My parents wanted to come too, but I worried they'd get even angrier if they saw Jake's family.

When we arrived at their place, it was truly luxurious!

A sprawling villa, a huge parking lot, and a yard that looked like an entire forest.

When I saw them, they were splashing around in the large swimming pool in the yard!

So, they were this happy after ditching me. Had they forgotten I even existed?

Wait. No, there were six people.

The closer I got, the more my rage surged, threatening to burst when I finally saw clearly.

I wanted to unleash a bomb on that pool, to blast them all straight to hell.

The lawyer noticed my emotional shift and quickly pulled me back.

He warned me not to be impulsive and to follow his instructions.

I took a moment to compose myself, exchanged a glance with the lawyer, and walked forward again.

They saw me and stopped playing.

Jake, his potbelly sticking out, jumped out of the pool in a flash.

He strode towards me.

"What are *you* doing here?"

"What am *I* doing here? Shouldn't *you* be explaining what *you're* doing here first?"

"You were away on your trip, so we came to have fun. How did you find us?"

At that moment, his parents also walked up to me, followed by Mark and Brenda.

"Your family is truly harmonious, aren't you? Did you forget you even *had* a wife? Did you two forget about your youngest daughter-in-law? Did you two forget about your sister-in-law?

"This place must cost a fortune, right? Where did you get the money to stay here? What happened to our house? What about your old house, you two? Explain everything to me!"

"Why are you so loud? Your tone is so crude, so beneath this place.

"Besides, what kind of daughter-in-law talks to her mother-in-law like that? Speak to us in a softer voice. You're not worthy to yell at us."

His mother spoke first.

"You still remember you're my mother-in-law? I thought you'd already erased me from your family records! I remember my residency was tied to yours, all four of you, after we got married."

Hearing me mention the residency, their faces showed a mixture of panic and a strange expression.

I almost laughed at the sight.

"What residency? Why are you bringing that up?" his dad said.

"Why am I bringing up residency? You all know perfectly well why."

"You found your way here, so you must already know about my parents' old house redevelopment. That's right, the compensation was twenty million dollars.

"But that money belongs to my parents, not to us. What does it matter if your residency was tied to ours? Don't even think about claiming a single cent of it."

"I wasn't trying to claim your paltry compensation money. But what you did was utterly shameless, wasn't it?"

"What's shameless about it? And you said 'paltry' compensation money? That was twenty million dollars!

"You, a penniless nobody from that humble bakery, have you ever even *seen* that much money? You probably couldn't even comprehend it, could you?"

His mother started to verbally attack me.

She was beyond unreasonable.

"Forget about the twenty million for a second. What about our house?"

"That wasn't *our* house, it was my parents' house! They bought it for me *before* we got married. You have absolutely no claim to it."

"No matter who bought it, that was our home! We're still married, and you sold the house without telling me? I come back from my business trip, and you vanish, not even asking where I'm eating or sleeping?"

"You're a grown woman; why would I ask? If you're hungry, just go back to your parents' run-down bakery and munch on their pathetic little pastries! Hahahahaha!"

After my worthless excuse for a husband said that, the rest of those shameless people all burst into laughter.

I clenched my fists, wanting to punch him square in the face. He was infuriating!

"When was *our* house bought by your parents before marriage? Clearly, they only paid a $100,000 down payment before marriage, and I transferred the remaining mortgage payments to you every month.

"The title was in your name, but I was the one actually paying the mortgage. How can you say it's theirs?"

"Since they made the down payment, it's *theirs*. And sure, you paid the mortgage, but our money was marital property, so it's basically like *I* paid it. So, I say the house is *mine*."

"Now you know about marital property? Then do you know that the redevelopment compensation money is *also* marital property? Is your family so incredibly hypocritical?

"Do you know that I also have a share in that compensation? You ran off just to avoid giving me my share? Are you planning to hide in the Caribbean for the rest of your lives? Never going back home?"

"Go back home? Of course not! The old houses were demolished, our house was sold, and I even quit that pathetic $3,200 a month job. See this villa in front of you? We bought it. We've decided to live here from now on."

"Bought it? Your 'whole family' will live here, and those words don't include me, do they?"

"And who's that woman in the pool? I've never seen her. Don't tell me she's part of your family now too?"

"Don't worry about it so much. I'm going inside to get something. You just wait here."

With that, he walked towards their grand villa.