Chapter 31: A Million-Dollar Chain
[System Notice]
[Host: Helcia Orszebet]
[Body Age: 24]
[Balance: $60,515]
[Debt: $1,000,000]
[Fame: 25 / 100 — Local Buzz]
[Public Favor: -5%]
[Acting Skill: S-Grade]
[Main Quest:
- Become the Nation’s Treasure (0%)
- Earn 100% of Lando Brixton’s Favor (43%)]
When I glanced at the hologram panel in front of me, I noticed my fame had jumped by fourteen points, and my public favor rose from minus fifteen percent to minus five percent.
It seemed people had finally discovered who I was and were already talking about me in online forums.
I checked my phone several times, expecting people from Rosélle Beauty to contact me about the scandal, but nothing came. I didn’t receive any email or message from them. It looked like Lando had really handled everything, making sure I didn’t lose the chance to shoot the advertisement.
But how? He had only just found out about this scandal not long ago. What exactly did he do? I wanted to ask him, but deep down, I knew he would try to hide it from me because it probably had something to do with his secret identity.
I sighed softly. As I thought before, for someone trying so hard to keep his wealth hidden, he was doing a terrible job.
"I might not want the video of my father’s rot to go public right now, and maybe ... I want to see how the public reacts to Madeline a little longer before deciding my next move." I said firmly, "But I do have one request."
"Tell me," Lando replied.
I took a deep breath and locked my eyes on him. "I want to put my stepmother in jail."
I wasn’t joking at all when I said it. Out of everyone in that house, Addison was the one who had tormented Helcia the most.
There wasn’t a day when she didn’t throw things at her or shout at her face. In that house, in her eyes, Helcia was lower than a filthy cockroach. Addison trampled on Helcia’s pride and crushed her self-esteem over and over until she developed a serious eating disorder.
"The reason I put a hidden camera in my room was to catch her rotten behavior." I didn’t even blink as I said it. "I want to use it as evidence, but all this time I couldn’t do anything. They kept me chained, sabotaged my life, and made it impossible for me to even earn money on my own."
"That’s why ... I want to ask you a favor. Will you help me send her to jail?"
I didn’t know much about the law, but I knew hiring a good lawyer cost a lot, and some of them would deliberately milk their clients even when it wasn’t necessary.
There were so many scammers in those firms, and I would be easy to trick if I picked a lawyer carelessly.
Therefore, it would be better if Lando, someone who seemed to understand law and firms more than I did, gave me a recommendation.
After all, a company as big as Zentra must have plenty of lawyers, and it wouldn’t have survived this long if its president didn’t know anything about legal matters.
"I know someone who can help you with this," Lando finally said. "I’ll reach out to them after this."
That "someone" was obviously himself.
"But I don’t only want to report the physical abuse my stepmother did to me," I added carefully. "She actually forced me to take a loan at the bank."
Lando’s face slowly darkened after hearing my words. His hand gripped the armrest of his wheelchair so tightly that the veins in his hand stood out.
"How much?" he asked in a low voice.
I mumbled, "One million dollars." I avoided his gaze because I hadn’t planned to tell Lando about my debt until now. "That much."
For a billionaire like him, one million dollars probably wasn’t a big deal. But if he tried to see it from my perspective, it was clearly a huge—maybe even colossal—problem.
The Davenport family had sabotaged Helcia’s life so badly that she couldn’t earn her own money, and yet Addison still forced her to take out a bank loan, fully knowing that Helcia—now me—would never be able to pay it back.
That loan had only been taken out last month, which meant the first payment was already coming up at the end of this month, and it wouldn’t stop there.
Every single month, I had to pay seventeen thousand dollars, and I would have to keep paying it for five long years.
Like hell I wanted to pay that much money for five years! Seventeen thousand dollars every month? That was no different than paying off a luxury mansion in installments!
"How did she force you? Did she threaten you to sign the loan agreement?" Lando asked quickly. "Did she hurt you?"
Honestly, since Helcia was too soft and kind, it wasn’t hard to threaten her. Addison only said their family was on the verge of bankruptcy, and if she wanted to help pay off all the household expenses, she had to take out the loan under her own name.
Even then, Helcia thought it didn’t make sense because she wasn’t working, so how could she possibly repay the debt? But Addison reassured her that they only needed to borrow her name, and that the family would handle the payments.
When Helcia tried to refuse because of the sudden doubt in her heart, Addison slapped her across the face and forced her to sign the papers, threatening to throw her out of the house if she didn’t.
Helcia, who had no other family or friends to turn to if she were thrown out, was left with no choice but to sign the paper.
She didn’t even have enough money to rent a small room outside, so if Addison kicked her out that very moment, she would have been left wandering the streets with nowhere to go.
When Lando listened to all of that, I could see the rage burning in his eyes, and I felt the same!
How could that bitch force a poor, helpless young girl to take on a debt of one million dollars?!
"I know my family’s finances were in trouble, but still ... wasn’t one million dollars far too much?" I hadn’t meant to beg for his sympathy, but honestly, who wouldn’t be angry hearing this, unless they had no heart at all?
I added, "My stepmother even used that money to splurge on her own pleasures."