"That rebellious daughter still wants to return to the Sterling family? See if I don’t break her legs." Howard’s usually flawless facade finally cracked. He wished he could drag Josephine back right now and beat her. In truth, every single one of them loathed Josephine and constantly tried to scheme against her.
Grace sighed. "It’s only because Liam isn’t home. If he were here, Josephine wouldn’t dare be so arrogant."
In the entire Sterling household, the person Josephine feared the most was her oldest brother, Liam Sterling. He was the CEO of a major construction firm that held broad interests across real estate, entertainment investments, and more. With his explosive temper and domineering personality, his word was absolute law when it came to Josephine. She acted like a mouse spotting a cat whenever she saw him; she would never dare bring up a breakup letter or hit anyone in his presence.
"Liam should be back soon. I’ll tell him everything that happened today," Caleb Sterling said, gritting his teeth as he opened the car door to let his parents in.
Howard waved a hand. "There’s no rush. Wait a few days until Josephine has nowhere else to turn. Then we’ll let Liam deal with her. Once she gets a good beating, she’ll remember how good she had it at home." After all, in the Sterling family, Liam would stop beating her as long as Howard gave the word, sparing her from worse suffering.
The thought of Josephine covered in bruises and cornered by their oldest brother made Caleb laugh out loud. "Dad is right. We need to let Liam teach her a harsh lesson. Then she’ll come crawling back to beg for our forgiveness."
These words significantly improved the mood of the family of three, and they happily returned to the Sterling family’s villa.
Meanwhile, Josephine had already met up with her friend, Clara Sinclair.
The Sinclair Family used to be one of the Noble Houses of Aethelgard. However, a fierce business rivalry had nearly driven them to bankruptcy, gradually marginalizing them from the inner circle. Rumor had it that Clara’s brother’s fiancée had even shown up at their door to call off their engagement, and Clara herself was constantly targeted by the local socialites.
In her past life, Josephine had seen Clara being bullied at a business banquet and couldn’t help but step forward to defend her. After that, Clara had latched onto her. The two became best friends who shared everything, practically inseparable. But the Sterlings had always opposed her associating with Clara, simply because Clara’s older brother was a business rival to Liam.
To please her family, Josephine had voluntarily abandoned the friendship. She had even handed over her personal research patents to Liam’s company for free to help him, which indirectly caused the Sinclair family’s company to go bankrupt.
Afterward, Josephine had been too ashamed to ever face Clara again, assuming her friend completely despised her. It wasn’t until right before her death that the Sterlings finally told her the truth. During the five years Josephine was locked in the basement, Clara had been desperately trying to save her, even going to war with the Sterlings. In response, the Sterlings orchestrated a severe car crash that killed Clara on the spot!
The thought that Clara had died because of her made Josephine’s heart ache with agonizing sorrow. She wanted nothing more than to slap herself fiercely. But right now, she was still alive. It was so wonderful!
"Clara!" Josephine threw her arms around Clara, her tears falling DRIP, DROP.
Clara hadn’t seen Josephine in a long time and had assumed she would never speak to her again for the rest of her life. To her surprise, the moment they met—before Clara even had a chance to demand why she had been ignoring her—Josephine started crying.
"Don’t think this trick will make me forgive you! Do you know how long you’ve ignored me? You actually have the nerve to cry?" Clara’s tone was fierce, but she couldn’t bear to push her away.
Josephine cried for a moment before letting out a laugh. "Just tell me what it takes for you to forgive me, and I’ll agree to it."
"Really?" Clara looked at her in disbelief. "Could you even promise to stop listening to your parents and your oldest brother?"
Josephine nodded vigorously. Those people were no longer her family; there was nothing she couldn’t do. "I can."
Clara clicked her tongue. "TSK TSK. Stop bluffing. Everyone knows you obey your parents and brothers blindly. When they tell you to jump, you ask how high.
"When they told you not to hang out with me, you ignored me for months. How could you possibly disobey them for my sake? I don’t buy it!"
It was entirely Josephine’s fault for being too obedient to the Sterlings in the past; it was only normal for Clara not to believe her.
"I won’t be like that anymore. Look at this!" Josephine had no intention of hiding anything from Clara and handed the breakup letter directly to her. She then explained how the Sterlings had placed her under house arrest, depriving her of food and water just to force her to treat Stella White.
Clara jumped up in anger. "Bastards! Are they even human? You’re their actual daughter, so why are they acting like Stella White is more important than you?
"This breakup letter is perfect! You’re better off without such a biased family. Don’t be afraid, Josie. From now on, I’ll be your family, and I’ll treat you well.
"If you don’t mind, I’ll even share my parents with you. I’ll let them dote on you and love you. There’s my brother, too.
"He’s definitely better than those brothers of yours. He would never be so blind as to like The Saint."
Unable to hold back, Josephine threw her arms around Clara. "I know. I know it all. Clara is the best to me."
She felt incredibly fortunate that, even after experiencing her family’s betrayal, she still had a friend who treated her so well and with such wholehearted devotion. In this lifetime, she would never let anything happen to Clara, nor would she let the Sinclair Family go bankrupt. She was going to right all the foolish mistakes she had made in her past life.
"So, was that five million the compensation they gave you after you signed the breakup letter?" Clara asked. Wasn’t that a little too little to ask for? After all, the Sterling Family were the newly wealthy elites of Aethelgard. They definitely weren’t short on money.
"No." Josephine’s expression turned cold at the mention of this. "I earned that money myself.
"If I’m not mistaken, Howard Sterling has already ordered my accounts frozen. Starting today, I probably won’t be able to transfer a single cent out of the Sterling Family’s accounts."
Hearing this, Clara’s face turned green with anger. "Bastards! Are they really even human? It’s one thing to show favoritism to Stella White, but to actually try and drive you to a dead end? I’ve never seen parents like this in my life."
"Perhaps they aren’t my parents at all," Josephine let out a bitter laugh.
Clara shuddered. "Did you find out something?" Why else would she suddenly sign a breakup letter with them? After all, Josephine used to care about the Sterlings more than anything else. For their sake, she had been willing to endure any hardship and exhaustion. She had even abandoned her best friend without a second thought!
"What could I know? It’s just that what happened this time was far too insulting. It completely killed my hope. It’s either me or her, and since they can’t bear to part with Stella, I’ll clear out and make room for her."
Josephine had no intention of acknowledging her biological ties with the White Family, so she didn’t plan on telling Clara about it, wanting to avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble.
"That’s true. Everyone has a breaking point. The Sterlings really are too disappointing." Clara hugged Josephine sympathetically. "Don’t be sad. You still have me. I promise I won’t ever treat anyone else this well."
"PFFT." Seeing her earnest expression, Josephine felt a genuine surge of joy. "I know. Thank you, Clara."
Clara waved her hand, signaling her not to be so polite. "So, what are your plans next?"