Veronica stepped into Hillside Vi. She was surprised for a moment that the <b>fingerprint </b><b>lock </b>on the front door still worked for her.


    The moment she entered the house, a young girl’s piercing cries rang out loud.


    “I don’t want to recite the sos anymore. I don’t want to write! I don’t want to memorize the etiquette rules!”


    “Five more to go. Finish them, and then you can have dinner,” Laura said firmly.


    From across the room, Miriam spotted Veronica standing at the door. Her eyes lit up with delight when she saw her mother.


    It seemed that Veronica had finally finished throwing a tantrum and was back to serving and caring for her again. In that case; there was no need for Miram to keep tolerating Laura.


    I


    “Old hag, I’m calling the police! This is child abuse!” Miriam raised her voice deliberately, exaggerating every word. She was sure that once Veronica heard, she’d take her side and sh with Laura without hesitation.


    Back when Miriam first started preschool, she once identally fell asleep during ss, and the teacher scolded her. She reported it to Veronica right away. That very day, Veronica had apanied Miriam to the school to confront the teacher in person.


    After that, the teacher never dared to say a single harsh word to her again.


    A glimmer of mischief flickered in Miriam’s eyes. She thought that watching that old hag go up against Veronica would surely be entertaining


    Laura had also noticed the figure standing in the doorway. With just one nce, she knew that this woman was the true mistress of the house.


    Her brow furrowed slightly. From what she knew, the children’s biological mother doted on them immensely. Given the current situation, any mother would likely find this intolerable.


    Thus, Laura figured that she would need to exin the situation to her properlyter. Laura quietly braced herself for Veronica’s usation as she watched thetter walk into the living


    room.


    As Veronica walked past them, she simply gave Laura a polite smile as a gesture of greeting. Then, without saying a single word, she headed straight up the stairs.


    Miriam stood frozen in shock, wondering why Veronica hadn’t said anything. She couldn’t believe it.


    “Mom!” she shouted, about to run after her.


    “Sit.” Laura ced a firm hand on Miriam’s shoulder, her tone even stricter than before. ‘


    “1


    <b>Disrespecting </b><b>your </b>elders and <b>Ignoring </b>discipline Five <b>more </b>sos for <b>you </b>today.”


    <b>Miriam’s </b>mouth trembled, and she was on the verge of tears. But the stern look in Laura’s eyes made her swallow it all back down<b>. </b>


    She could already foresee what would happen if she started crying. Her homework would only double again.


    Why had Veronica not spoken up for her? Had Veronica really forgotten about her?


    Veronica reached the second floor and headed straight into Heath’s study.


    Back then, Heath had taken their marriage certificate from her right after their wedding. He didn’t even let her take a photo to remember it by


    Upon further thought, she figured that he had probably wanted to prevent her from revealing that she was his wife and hurting the feelings of his precious first love.


    Veronica searched the filing cab where he usually kept essential documents, but found nothing. Then, she remembered the time he had taken out their prenuptial agreement from the safe.


    She started to form a theory. She entered Eleanor’s birthday as the passcode, and as she expected, the safe opened easily.


    She retrieved her copy of the marriage certificate from inside. Then, she ced the two certificates side by side and took photos and videos as backup.


    After returning Heath’s copy to its original ce, her gaze fell upon a wrinkled, yellowing piece of paper in the corner, which had been glued back together.


    It was the same prenuptial agreement she had once torn to shreds.


    ????