After My Stepson Threw Hot Soup on Me on Christmas Eve, I Bankrupted His Entire Family Chapter 05
The window rolled down.
It was my college friend, Vivian Reed.
She held a cigarette between her fingers and narrowed her eyes at Brandon yelling upstairs.
Then she gave the litter at the apartment entrance a cold once-over and spat onto the ground.
“Pathetic.”
She turned to me.
“Olivia, get in. Why waste words on that father and son? Ten years was already too long to put up
with them.”
“Thanks, Vivian. I owe you one.’
I opened the door and helped Lily in first.
Vivian gunned the engine hard enough to shake the street.
Then she shouted up at the window.
“Kid – don’t let me see your face again. If I do, I’ll bury you in lawsuits.”
“Come on. I’m taking you to a big house. You need somewhere you can breathe.”
The black Mercedes pulled away, leaving only exhaust and a swirl of snow behind us.
Through the rearview mirror, I saw Brandon and Robert rush out of the building in slippers.
They stood in the snow, watching the taillights disappear.
I could almost hear Brandon swearing.
The old hag got into a luxury car?
Then he’d probably freeze, point at the receding taillights, his voice cracking.
A black Mercedes S-Class? Since when does she have friends who drive cars like that? She must
have rented it to show off.
Inside, the heater was on full blast.
Vivian offered me a cigarette. I shook my head and nodded at Lily.
Lily was still shaking.
Her fingers gripped the strap of her backpack.
“Mom, did we really give them the apartment?” she asked carefully.
“That apartment was bought with the money Grandma left us. What are we going to do if they get
it?”
I took out my phone and opened the property registry app.
“Lily, look at this.”
I handed her the screen.
On it was the listing for the school-zone apartment in the old downtown district.
Unit 201, Building 3, Fairview Gardens.
Under registered owner, it showed one name.
Lily Carter.
Below it, a smaller line.
Registration date: February 6, 2024.
Three days ago.
Lily’s eighteenth birthday.
“Mom…”
Lily stared at me, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“That’s my name?”
I stroked her hair and looked out at the snow flashing past the window.
“Silly girl. Did you really think I’d hand your future to two men who only know how to take?”
“Lily, do you remember three days ago, when I took you to the community service center and said we were applying for a single-parent education grant? I had you blink at the camera, nod, and
complete identity verification.”
Lily finally understood.
“I remember. I thought it was weird a grant application needed so many signatures.”
“That was the online identity verification and the electronic signature authorization for the property transfer.”
I smiled.
“I’d had everything in place well ahead of time.”
“Then the deed in Robert’s hand…” Lily still looked confused.
I watched the city slipping backward outside the window and gave a cold laugh.
“Six months ago, I noticed the safe had been tampered with. The old deed was gone.’
“I kept quiet about it. I went straight to the property registry, reported the deed lost, and had a new one issued.”
“Under the law, once the new deed is issued, the old one becomes void.”
“The deed in Robert’s hand is just a piece of useless paper now. When they go to the property registry, an ugly surprise is going to be waiting for them.”
“They want the apartment?”
“Maybe in their next life.”
On the seventh day after Christmas, my phone buzzed.
An old classmate at the property registry had sent me a surveillance clip with a message.
Olivia, watch this. I laughed so hard I cried.
In the video, the property registry’s entrance was almost empty.
Robert and Brandon had arrived early, stamping their feet in the cold, clutching the old deed.
Brandon sniffled and asked, worry written across his face, “Dad, do you think that old hag will go back on her word?”
“Too late for that.” Robert patted his bag with smug satisfaction.
“The agreement’s signed. The deed’s in our hands. She can’t win anywhere
Relax, Brandon.”
—
not even in court.
“Once the transfer goes through, this is your marital home. Madison’s finally going to feel secure
with you.”
When the registry doors opened, the father and son were the first to rush in.
Brandon slapped the old deed onto the counter.
“Property transfer. Hurry up.”
“Put this apartment under my name.”
The young clerk flinched at his tone, took the deed with a frown, scanned it, and tapped at her
keyboard.
Her frown deepened.
She looked up at them.
“This transfer can’t be processed.”
