But they had gone too far.
"He's not home. Come later," Dulcie said, not wanting to waste any more words and moved to close the door.
Ofelia, anticipating this, quickly pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Ofelia, what do you think you're doing? Get out of my house right now!" Dulcie shouted, her anger flaring.
"Mom, who's that?" Odelia asked as she descended the stairs. Seeing Ofelia, her face twisted in annoyance. "Ofelia, what are you doing here? This is my home."
Despite being blood relatives, their disdain for Ofelia was unmistakable.
She felt a stab in her heart but maintained her composure. "I'm just here to collect the reward for saving Mr. Howard."
Her words elicited a mocking laugh from Dulcie. "It was Odelia who saved Mr. Howard. What does that have to do with you?"
Even though Ofelia was her biological daughter, Dulcie, who had always lived a life of luxury, looked down on Ofelia, who had grown up in the countryside. She saw Ofelia as uncouth, unreasonable, and unrefined, someone who could never fit into high society.
If people found out about Ofelia existence, it would surely ruin the perfect image Dulcie and Odelia had built in the public eye.
Ofelia glanced at Dulcie, then at Odelia, and smiled. "You two really are mother and daughter. You lie without even batting an eye. The Great Wall has nothing on the thickness of your faces."
"Ofelia, shut up!" Odelia snapped, clearly not wanting to hear Ofelia's words. She turned to Dulcie and said, "Mom, she's just here for money. Give her fifty thousand dollars and make her leave."
"Yes, You're right baby," Dulcie nodded. "I'll go get it now."
"If the Griffins family isn't short on money, then give me the ten million dollars for saving Mr. Howard. After that, we're even," Ofelia's words were shocking.
"Ofelia, don't be so greedy," Odelia glared at her. "We'll give you at most a hundred thousand."
"Take the hundred thousand and leave Fortune's City immediately. As for the Howard family, they only recognize Odelia as the savior. Besides, do you have any proof that you saved young Mr. Howard?" Dulcie asked.
"Do you think deleting the video and stealing the ring means I can't prove it? Don't forget, I have records from the delivery app showing I was at that intersection that day," Ofelia said, waving her phone.
"While the delivery records might not be absolute proof that I saved Daniel, Odelia didn't even have a delivery order that day. Won't Daniel be suspicious? But instead of causing a scene and possibly not getting the reward from Daniel Howard, I'd rather let Odelia have it."
In reality, Ofelia's delivery that day never reached the customer, so she couldn't prove she had passed that intersection. That's why she didn't refute Odelia's lies in front of Daniel. Although the delivery app records weren't solid evidence, they were enough to scare the guilty Griffins family.
"You..." Odelia didn't expect Ofelia to have a backup plan. Afraid that Ofelia might expose her to Daniel, she asked, "How much do you want?"
"Considering Mrs. Griffins gave birth to me, I'll give you a discount. Just ten million dollars," Ofelia said.
Dulcie scoffed, "Ten million? You're dreaming."
Odelia added, "Ofelia, you must be out of your mind."
Coming from a poor, remote area, how dare she ask for such an outrageous amount? Of course, Odelia and her mother couldn't accept Ofelia's threat.
Ofelia didn't waste any more words. She stood up and made a move to leave. "If you won't agree, I'll go find Mrs. Howard. As the matriarch of the Howard Family, she'll make the decision."
Odelia still couldn't understand how the elder Mrs. Howard knew Ofelia and why she favored her so much. Ofelia's presence felt like a significant threat to her.
"Wait," Odelia called out. "My mom and I need to discuss this with Dad. You wait here."
With that, Odelia pulled Dulcie along. "Mom, let's go upstairs and call Dad."
The mother and daughter went upstairs, leaving Ofelia waiting downstairs. However, knowing how deceitful the Griffins Family could be, Ofelia was worried they might be plotting something underhanded. She decided to follow them upstairs.
Since Long Creek Villa was an old house, the soundproof wasn't great. Ofelia could vaguely hear their conversation from outside the door.
After listening for a while, she didn't catch any signs of them planning something dirty against her or her foster parents. She couldn't help but mock herself for being overly cautious, realizing she might have been a bit paranoid.
Ofelia was about to head downstairs when she suddenly heard the words "adoptive parents... car accident."
Curious, Ofelia pressed her ear against the door to listen more closely.
"Ofelia is uncontrollable and looks exactly like me. Keeping her around is a threat. Besides, with the elder Mrs. Howard so fond of her, how am I supposed to marry Daniel?"
"Odelia, I understand, but we've already crippled her adoptive father to force her to donate bone marrow to your brother. Do you really want to go further?"
"Mom, are you out of your mind? As long as Ofelia is alive, she'll be an obstacle to me marrying into the Howard Family. Unless... unless you can turn her into a vegetable too!"
At this point, Odelia's voice rose sharply, filled with urgency.
Standing outside, Ofelia heard every word clearly. A chill ran down her spine, and she felt a surge of blood rush through her veins.
A little over two months ago, Flynn and Dulcie Griffins had suddenly appeared before Ofelia, claiming they could take her back to the Griffins Family, but only if she agreed to donate bone marrow to her leukemia-stricken brother.
Since Odelia's bone marrow didn't match her brother's, they had no choice but to turn to her.
Naturally, Ofelia had refused.
Then, a month ago, her adoptive parents were suddenly involved in a car accident. While they were critically injured and hospitalized, Flynn and Dulcie reappeared, offering to pay for her adoptive parents' medical expenses if she agreed to donate bone marrow to their younger son. At the time, Ofelia had been suspicious of the sudden accident and the Griffins' reappearance.
But she had ultimately dismissed the idea, thinking that her biological parents couldn't possibly be so cruel.
And now...
She had been too naive.
Ofelia was furious, shaking with rage. She gripped the doorknob tightly, ready to burst in and confront them!