Chapter 5 The Pathetic Setup

"It's… nothing."

Eileen tried to pull her hand away, but no matter how hard she tugged, she couldn't budge Juliet at all.

"Let go! Let go of me… What are you trying to do?"

Juliet calmly pried open Eileen's fingers, one by one. Just as she'd expected, Eileen was clutching a diamond necklace, its center stone easily over 20 carats—a small fortune.

Eileen panicked. "I… I just took it off, I wasn't trying to do anything…"

Juliet looked her dead in the eyes and said coolly, "Eileen, didn't I warn you not to try these little tricks on me?"

Four years ago, Eileen had cut up Coral's gown and pinned it on her, and she'd nearly beaten Eileen to a pulp over it. And here she was, still pulling the same nonsense.

Even if Eileen somehow managed to frame her, what would it prove? Accuse her of stealing the necklace? Anyone with a halfway decent IQ would see right through that pathetic setup.

"I didn't—!"

"You wanna say that again?"

"I…"

Juliet's smile grew wider. Under Eileen's terrified gaze, she grabbed her by the chin, forced her mouth open, and stuffed the diamond necklace right in.

"You swallow this necklace, and we'll call it even."

Juliet honestly found it beneath her to even bother with someone like Eileen. With her strength, one solid slap would have Eileen's head spinning 180 degrees, swapping her face and the back of her head.

Of course, she wasn't actually planning to end Eileen right now—but giving her a bit of a lesson? That was fair game.

"Mm! Mmm… help! Help…"

Juliet clamped her hand over Eileen's mouth, preventing her from spitting the necklace back out. Eileen's eyes went wide, filling with tears.

"Really, Sister, haven't you learned your lesson?" Juliet's tone softened. "People have brains for a reason. Why do you seem to be missing one?"

"Mm… mmm… help!"

Just then, Bowen and Coral came rushing over, alarmed by the commotion. They froze when they saw the scene in front of them.

"Stop this right now!"

Juliet acted like she hadn't heard, landing a swift kick to Eileen, sending her sprawling. Eileen collapsed in front of them, coughing desperately until she finally spat out the diamond necklace.

Coral quickly crouched down, helping her up. "Eileen, are you alright?"

"Mom!" Eileen choked out, collapsing into Coral's arms, sobbing.

"Juliet, this is too much!" Bowen's face was livid as he stepped forward, raising his hand to slap her.

Juliet calmly sidestepped him, unfazed. "I'm still your biological daughter, right? You're gonna hit me over Eileen?"

With that, Juliet let out a long, weary sigh, as if genuinely hurt. "Do you really hate me this much?"

Either Juliet's acting was just that convincing, or Coral was just that oblivious, because Coral didn't seem to catch the sarcasm in her tone at all.

Coral had quietly reassured Eileen a few times before looking up at Juliet and saying, "Juliet, it's not that Mom and Dad don't care about you. As long as you change that bad temper of yours, we treat you and Eileen equally." Of course, that was as long as Juliet handed over her inheritance rights.

"Equally? You mean the kind of equal treatment where you tell everyone I'm just the adopted daughter of the Black family?" Juliet blinked.

She hadn't been this angry with her so-called family from the start.

Four years ago, after finishing her training and returning home, she sought out the Black family. The outcome was obvious. Bowen and Coral publicly announced that she was their adopted daughter.

Eileen had ruined a dress that Coral planned to wear to an important banquet and then falsely accused Juliet of the damage. Just like that, she was quickly sent back overseas by the Black family.

Juliet had known since she was little that it was a dog-eat-dog world, and if you wanted to survive, you had to fight for it. But this whole reunion experience had slapped her right in the face again. Turns out, people were just as unpredictable as the family could be.

"What do you mean by that?" Coral's voice was laced with anger. "Eileen isn't you. If people found out she wasn't a real Black family daughter, how would you expect her to get by? You couldn't stand her four years ago, and now what has Eileen done to deserve this? Why are you picking on her again?"

"Fine," Juliet chuckled lightly and nodded. "Let me tell you something. Four years ago, Eileen ruined your dress and blamed it on me. Now, she wants to put that diamond necklace in my pocket. Why don't you ask her what she plans to do with it?"

As soon as she said that, Coral furrowed her brow and looked at Eileen. When she spotted the diamond necklace on the floor, she gasped. "Eileen, isn't this the birthday gift I gave you with your dad? What's going on…?"

Eileen had clearly prepared her response long ago. With tears in her eyes, she said, "I… I just wanted to give this necklace to Juliet. I didn't mean any harm! I don't know why Juliet hates me so much…"

With a dark expression, Coral snapped at Juliet, "Don't think everyone is as twisted as you are just because you are!"

Juliet, "…" It seemed like she really couldn't reason with these people…

Coral was about to lecture Juliet some more when she noticed Juliet leaning against the doorframe, head down, slowly rolling her wrist. Coral's right eyelid started twitching—she had a sudden bad feeling. 

At that moment, Juliet dashed forward like lightning and slapped Eileen several times in quick succession. Her speed was so fast that Coral and Bowen thought they saw double.

Eileen was left dazed and speechless.

"You!" Coral nearly ground her teeth in fury.

Juliet laughed and said, "I was actually planning to give her eighty slaps, five at a time, in eight sets, switching it up in between. But it's getting late, so I'll just put the remaining seventy-five on hold and catch up when I have time. Now get lost."

"Juliet, you son of—" Coral couldn't contain her anger and lunged forward but nearly got her face slammed by the door when it shut suddenly.

"Juliet! Get out here!"

Juliet listened to the commotion outside, a smirk of derision curling at the corners of her lips. If this weren't Country A and if she didn't have important business to attend to, she would've definitely rearranged Eileen's face and the back of her head!

After booting up her computer, the group chat was still buzzing with messages. Juliet couldn't be bothered to chat anymore, so she went straight to a private message for Ghost Tiger.

Ghost Leopard: [Send the drug transfer straight to me.]

Ghost Tiger: [?]

Ghost Tiger: [Where did you just go?]

Ghost Leopard: [I went to reason with someone.]

Ghost Tiger: [?? Reason… with someone?]

When had Leopard ever been reasonable?

Ghost Leopard: [I just realized this world is way too harsh… hugging my weak self. jpg]

After sending the emoji, Juliet quickly recalled it.

Ghost Tiger: [???]

Ghost Leopard: [Let's leave it at that. I'm going to handle the transfer now.]

Ghost Tiger: [By the way, when are you coming back?]

Ghost Leopard: [Not coming back for now. I'm enjoying some family warmth.]

Closing her laptop, Juliet leaned back in her chair and shut her eyes.

Meanwhile, at a training base on a southern Pacific island, a man in camouflage sat on a speedboat, staring at the messages on his phone with a confused look on his face.

Family warmth?

If he remembered correctly, Leopard had gone home four years ago. After coming back, she'd been bursting with energy, drilling the rookies over and over. That year, the death rate in Zone 25 had gone off the charts, and Leopard got suspended for two years.

This family warmth seemed a bit excessive, right? Wasn't it more like a crematorium?

After staring blankly for nearly three minutes, Ghost Tiger finally tucked his phone away and adjusted the loudspeaker, shouting at the rookies swimming in the shark zone. 

"Ghost Leopard is out on a mission, and you're lucky to meet me, the Chief Instructor of Zone 19! Zone 19 has the lowest death rate in the entire base. I believe under my training, you'll all leave the base in one piece!"

The rookies were like, "…"

DAMN!