Unclaimed Great-Granddaughter Boasted Connections, But My Connections Are Gone

My most beloved granddaughter eloped with that blond punk and died along with her unborn child, and I spent my days drowning in tears.

Because of it, I threw that lowlife's spawn into the orphanage.

Yet the little girl held no grudge against me at all; instead, she wrote to me every day to send her respects.

On holidays and festivals she would even give me gifts she had made for me with her own hands.

Everyone said my great-granddaughter was obedient and sensible, that the one to blame was her blond-haired father, not her.

So I let go of the hatred in my heart and planned to hold a family reunion banquet for her on my eightieth birthday, so she could be restored to the family and take her rightful place.

But just as I stood at the gate of the orphanage, ready to take her home, a speeding motorbike came tearing at me and knocked me to the ground.

A girl who looked like a delinquent leapt off the bike and, without asking a single question, slapped me twice across the face.

"You old bag! Can't you watch where you're going?"

"Don't you know I, Louisa Sanchez, have people backing me up? You dare get in my way, and I'll make you sorry!"

I cupped my swollen cheek and looked at the face in front of me, almost exactly like my little granddaughter's, and let out a cold laugh.

"You've got people above you, do you?"

"What a coincidencethere's not a single soul left above me!"

...

Louisa Sanchez froze for a moment, then burst into exaggerated laughter.

"Hahaha! You old fool! Judging by the state of you, your parents must have died ages ago, right?"

"Maybe you even jinxed your grandchildren to death!"

"An old thing that won't die is nothing but a menacehaving no one above you isn't the scary part; having no one below you is the real misery!"

Louisa Sanchez's words may have been thoughtless, but they truly stabbed the most painful spot in my heart.

As the great-grandmother of the Sanchez family, the richest family in Northport City, I had ruled the business world my whole lifecutting down any god who stood in my way, any Buddha who dared to block me.

My only heartache was that eighteen years ago, my most beloved granddaughter knelt before me and begged me to let her marry beneath her to a blond boy who rode a souped-up motorbike.

I refused, and she went on a hunger strike, attempted suicide, and even threatened to cut all ties with me.

Having run the household for forty years without ever being defied, I flew into a rage and ordered her locked away at the very top of the attic.

I even swore harsh words: that I would agree to her being with that blond boy only over her dead body!

But I underestimated the power of love.

One rainy night, she ran away, climbing onto that blond punk's motorbike, ready to flee with him to the ends of the earth.

But before they even made it out of the neighborhood, the bike collided head-on with an oncoming truck because of the speed, and both of them were killed on the spot!

To this day I still remember her gripping my hand tightly as she lay dying, touching her belly and begging me to save her child.

She said, "Grandma, I've wronged you, but I was separated from my parents when I was little, and I don't want my child to repeat the same fate."

"I know you hate me, but please, please find reliable parents for the baby."

"I don't ask for great wealth or status, but at the very least, let her feel a mother's and a father's love, whole and complete..."

The tears broke like a dam as I watched, helpless, while my most beloved granddaughter breathed her last in my arms.

And the baby girl she left behind became a thorn in my eye, a splinter in my flesh.

After all, without her, my Sylvie never would have died!

The past came flooding back as I looked at this great-granddaughter I had left in the orphanage for eighteen years.

I raised my hand and slapped her hard across the face.

"Don't you dare speak ill of your mother!"

The slap sounded loud, but it didn't actually do any harm.

After all, I'm old, and I wobble just taking a few steps.

Louisa, though, acted as if she'd been gravely insulted. She grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the wall beside us.

"Don't you dare mention my mom!"

Louisa defending her mother gave me a little comfort.

Life in the orphanage had been hard.

Maybe she'd only grown up so loud and brash in order to protect herself.

Once we returned to the Sanchez family, I would hire the best etiquette tutor for her and give her every bit of care and love.

I would do everything I could to make her a worthy heir to the Sanchez family.

But the next second, the words out of her mouth sent me plunging into an ice pit.

A cold snort came from her nose, and Louisa's eyes filled with heavy contempt and disgust as she spoke.

"Let me tell you the truth. My mom was a top-grade slut, a piece of garbage!"

"She had the life of a pampered rich heiress and threw it away to elope with some blond lowlife!"

"It's bad enough she debased herself, but she dragged me down so I couldn't have a good life either."

"My dad was a top-grade idiot too! My mom was already pregnant with his kid, so what did it matter if he left her behind?"

"Once I was born, wouldn't the Sanchez family come begging him to marry that slut? Maybe even the whole Sanchez fortune would have to go to the two of us, father and daughter!"

Louisa's eyes were full of longing for the Sanchez family's enormous wealth.

I could hardly connect her with the girl who used to fuss over me so warmly.

Perhaps this was her true face.

A deep disappointment cut through my heart, and I told her with a cold laugh.

"I'm afraid your little scheme is going to fall through."

"After all, the Sanchez family won't invite a wolf into their home!"

Louisa let out a snicker.

"Heh, who do you think you are? You think you're fit to discuss Sanchez family business?"

"I'm not afraid to tell youthe people the Sanchez family sent to pick me up are already on their way."

"Once I become the true daughter of the Sanchez family, dealing with a blind old thing like you will be as easy as squashing an ant!"

As if something had occurred to her, Louisa let go of my hair and looked around.

But she never saw the luxury car she'd been imagining.

Instead, she spotted a very dated sedan parked at the orphanage gate.

Frowning, unable to tell it was a rare, one-of-a-kind luxury car worth tens of millions, she walked up to it, meaning to have someone move the beat-up thing.

Only to find the driver wasn't inside.

As the time the Sanchez family had promised to come for her drew closer and closer, and still no one from the family appeared, Louisa grew agitated.

She kicked me hard in the shin.

"I knew it! Nothing good ever comes of running into a jinx like you!"

"If you make me miss becoming the young lady of the Sanchez family, you'll be the first one I kill!"

My lower leg snapped instantly, and cold sweat poured down my forehead like rain.

I'd had surgery on that leg only six months ago, and the doctor had specifically told me not to move around for a full year.

If not for wanting to see, at long last, the great-granddaughter I'd been apart from for eighteen years, I never would have gone out.

I never dreamed that the moment we met she would humiliate me, and raise her hand against me again and again.

My heart went cold all the way through.

Not wanting to tangle with Louisa any longer, I laid my cards on the table.

"Is it at all possible that I am the Sanchez family's..."

Before the words "great-grandmother" could leave my mouth, a sleazy male voice rang out behind us.

"What's wrong, Louisa? Who's got no eyes in his head, messing with you again? I'll hack him to death!"

A pack of delinquent teenagers, all riding souped-up motorbikes, pulled up at the orphanage gate.

They wore skinny jeans and loafers, their hair dyed in a garish mess.

The boy leading them was even worsenot only did he have a third eye tattooed on his forehead, he also had a row of lip piercings.

He looked just like an ancient criminal slave, branded on the face and sent into exile.

My brow tightened and my temples pounded.

But Vera jumped into the boy's arms and wrapped her legs around his waist.

She gave him a deep French kiss right in front of everyone.

The two of them kissed until their lips pulled apart in a slick string, and only then did Vera speak to him in a coquettish tone.

"Bryan, what took you so long?"

"Didn't we agree you'd come back me up, act like some big shot, and squeeze that old bag for a good chunk of cash?"

My brow twitched hard. I hadn't expected Vera to be even worse than I'd imagined.

She was actually scheming to bring in outsiders to swindle money out of the Sanchez family!

Bryan just grinned, slid his arm around her waist, and gave her side a hard pinch.

Only after he'd copped a good feel did he speak.

"Relax. From the time you were little till now, have I ever half-assed anything to do with you?"

He gave a whistle, and a dozen showy luxury cars immediately appeared at the orphanage gate.

I recognized those cars. They were the ones the Sanchez family used back when we first made our fortune.

A while ago I'd decided the old relics were taking up too much space, so I told someone to just get rid of them somewhere.

I never imagined my own great-granddaughter would buy them, refurbish them, and use them to con me.

I was shaking with rage, but Vera slipped into one of the cars.

When she came back out, she'd transformeddressed in a business suit, carrying a Herms bag, looking every inch the power businesswoman.

She even spun around in front of everyone and asked.

"How's this? Do I look like a big CEO pulling in ten million a year?"

Bryan's eyes lit up. He pulled her slender waist to him and bit at her lips several times, hard.

"So classy! Dressed like that, won't you con that old bag out of even her underwear?"

The younger guys around them shouted that Vera was amazing, too.

Only my face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and I tore through her disguise without mercy.

"Don't be stupid! You think the Sanchez family are all fools?"

"With that clumsy getup, you'll be exposed before you even reach the Sanchez doorthrown out onto the street!"

I was telling the truth.

The Sanchez family had been a great house for a hundred years. What kind of people hadn't they seen?

Her little tricks weren't even worth a second look!

Not to mention I was the great-grandmother of the Sanchez family myself.

Now that I'd seen this vile side of her, there was absolutely no chance of ever letting her set foot in the Sanchez home!

But Vera rolled her eyes at me.

"You old bag! I just parked my car at the orphanage gate, and you flopped down under my wheel to fake an accident."

"I get ityou must have heard I'm about to become the young miss of the Sanchez family, and you want to milk me for some cash!"

When had I ever faked an accident?

She was the one speeding at the orphanage gateshe knocked me down!

Yet Vera grabbed me by the collar and demanded two hundred thousand dollars to pay for her motorbike!

Never mind that I never carry cash when I go out.

Even if I had, I would never give a single cent to a piece of trash who'd extort her own great-grandmother!

My refusal angered Bryan. Straddling the motorbike, his face turned vicious.

"Vera, why are you wasting your breath on her?"

"Street codeno money, we take parts!"

"Seeing as she's so old, let's just leave her one leg!"

They'd gone mad!

This could get someone killed!

I struggled with everything I had, but Vera pushed me under the wheels with her own hands.

I watched as the roaring motorbike was about to run right over my legs.

My personal chauffeur, who had just come back, saw all this and instantly dashed over to stop it.

"Stop!"

"Great-Grandma, are you alright?"

Marcus helped me up, my face pale, and got ready to take me to the hospital.

But Louisa stopped him with a raised hand.

"Who are you?"

"Playing the hero for some old ladydoesn't that disgust you?"

Marcus glared at her, furious.

"How dare you! How dare you treat Great-Grandma like this!"

"Do you even know who she is"

Louisa cut him off with a scornful laugh.

"Great-Grandma this, Great-Grandpa that. She gets a little old and really thinks she's somebody."

"Want to be some knight riding to the rescue? Fine! She wrecked my carshe owes me two hundred thousand dollars."

"You pay that money for her, and this old thing is all yours!"

Of course Marcus couldn't come up with that kind of money.

Besides, I was so old I could barely walk without tremblinghow could I possibly have wrecked her car? I spoke up without thinking.

"You've got it wrong, haven't you? Great-Grandma was walking, not driving. How could she have wrecked your car?"

"And from the look of her right now, it must have been you who hit her with your car, isn't that right?"

Marcus was telling the truth, but Bryan grabbed him by the collar and, without a word, slapped him across the face several times.

Marcus's mouth was full of blood from the blows, and he even lost a few teeth, but Bryan's eyes were practically spitting fire.

"What makes your worthless eyes so sure it was Louisa who hit her?"

"It was this old thing who couldn't watch where she was going and threw herself right under Louisa's wheels!"

"If Louisa didn't have such a kind heart, she'd have been a puddle of mush long ago. Is two hundred thousand a lot to ask?"

"Broke and still poking your nose into other people's business. Today I'll teach you what happens when you meddle!"

Dragging Marcus along, Bryan hauled him over to his motorbike, had his men pin him down, and ran straight over him.

"No! I'll give you the money! Just let him go!"

My heart nearly stopped, and terrified this would end in a death, I quickly cried out for them to stop and pulled out my black card.

But Louisa held up five fingers at me.

"Fine! Five hundred thousand dollars. Pay that and I'll let him go right this second!"

Five hundred thousand?

My vision went dark, and I nearly fainted on the spot.

It had only been a momenthow had two hundred thousand turned into five hundred thousand?

Even the most ruthless con shop wasn't this cutthroat!

I hesitated for only a second, but Bryan, on the bike, lost his patience.

He twisted the throttle and shot straight toward Marcus.

Blood sprayed everywhere, and one of Marcus's hands was crushed off on the spot.

Agonized screams filled the whole place, and the shock made me stagger and fall to the ground.

I shouted that this was a crime! That they would be held legally responsible!

But Bryan seized me by the collar and dragged me under the wheels too.

"Give it a rest, you old thing. All that talk is just about having no money and wanting to skip out on your debt."

"You're lucky. The Sanchez family will be here soon, so Louisa doesn't have time to deal with you."

"Breaking one of your legscall it a lesson! Don't provoke people you shouldn't provoke from now on!"

Louisa nodded along, praising Bryan for a job well done.

The roar of the motorbike was right in front of me.

Sprawled spread-eagle on the ground and pinned down, all I could do was declare who I was again, shouting at the top of my lungs.

"Let me go! I am the great-grandmother of the Sanchez family!"

"Louisa! Tell your people to stop! Otherwise you'll never set foot inside the Sanchez house as long as you live!"

But Louisa found me too loud, and she grabbed some gravel and rotten leaves and stuffed them into my mouth.

Marcus, forcing back the pain, crawled over to shield me, and even remembered to tell me:

"Great-Grandma, don't worry. I already fired off a signal flare."

"Help will be here soon."

That only drew laughter from Louisa and the rest of them.

But the next second, more than a dozen luxury cars pulled up in front of the orphanage.

Everyone went dead quiet, and someone muttered under their breath.

"Someone actually came?"

"Could this old thing really be somebody after all?"

But Louisa cut them off flatly.

"However important they are, could they beat the Sanchez family?"

"I'm the eldest young lady of the Sanchez family! Even if something goes wrong, the Sanchezes will have my back!"

Even so, the way she looked at those car doors couldn't hide her nervousness.

Only when she saw that the person stepping out was the Sanchez family's butler, whom she knew, did Louisa finally breathe a sigh of relief.

She'd known it all alongwhat background could a half-buried old woman with one foot in the grave possibly have?

The Sanchez family, on the other hand, had probably come to back her up, seeing that she'd been up at the orphanage on the hill for so long without coming down.

Buoyed by that thought, Louisa went to greet them with a beaming smile.

"Alfred..."