?Chapter 457:


    Tori’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Stop trying to fool us. Just tell me if you are rich or not. Aren’t you a famous designer now?”


    “Fine. I’ve earned some money over the years,” Ellie admitted.


    Tori’s face underwent a miraculous transformation, a smile as fake as a three-dor bill spreading across her lips as she pulled Ellie onto the couch. “That’s my girl. Now, you’ll support us financially. We don’t ask for much. You just need to buy two houses, one for me and your father, one for Hank. And you need to give us some money.”


    Leif spoke with authority. “Listen here, Ellie. Raising you was no pic, and your college education bled us dry. Here’s the deal—keep twenty thousand for yourself and give the rest of your savings to us. Your mother and I will manage the money for you.”


    Ellie, her voice as cold as ice, replied, “That’s not going to happen.”


    “Don’t be so ungrateful!” Tori shrieked, pinching Ellie’s arm with force. “We have raised you! You’d rather give your money to that bastard and not us? You need to tell me, who is the father of that bastard?”


    Ellie’s irritation boiled over. Her family’s sudden intrusion had caught her off guard. She knew her parents well—they were vain people who only valued their son.


    She wanted to get her parents and brother out of here immediately. She didn’t want them toe back ever again.


    But their greedy eyes, like vultures, picked apart the apartment, especially Hank’s.


    He conducted a mental inventory of every fixture, every piece of furniture, clearly wanting to im them as his own.


    Tori poked Ellie’s ribs, her voice dripping with venom. “Why are you staring at Hank like that? Do you think we’d stoop to taking your things?”


    Hank, havingpleted his tour of the bedrooms, eximed, “Three guest rooms, each a pcepared to our master bedroom! Ang has already agreed to live here with me after the wedding.”


    He then turned to Ellie, adopting a mock-solemn tone. “You’ll give me this apartment, right? Consider it a debt repaid to Mom and Dad.”


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    “I’ve told you already. This ce is not mine. I can’t give it to you,” Ellie retorted, her voice sharp as a shard of ss. “I’m renting this ce from a friend.”


    Her family members’ faces darkened in an instant.


    Hank roared, “Liar! The whole vige sings your praises as a money-minting designer! And you im to still live in a rented ce? I don’t believe you!”


    Tori also eximed, “After all our sacrifices for you, you turn your back on us! We ask for a mere apartment, and you refuse us? You’ve left the family for years, and now that you are finally back, you need to repay us! Just tell me how you will repay us!”


    Leif, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, said to Tori, “Perhaps the bastard’s father owns this ce?”


    Tori’s eyes gleamed with understanding. She nodded before saying to Ellie,


    “Tell me who is the father of your child!”


    Ellie red at them. She didn’t want her family to know Jayceon’s identity. If they knew that Patrick’s father was Jayceon, who belonged to one of the four powerful families in Shirie, they would just push her to marry him.


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