Chapter 3

Mrs. Morrison gasped at the sight, then grabbed Helena's hand. Sure enough, there was a reddish mark on her palm where it had been pinched.

She whipped her head toward me. "Melissa, you dare lay hands on Helena? You uncultured thing!"

Garrett was even more direct. He raised his hand to slap my face.

I grabbed his wrist, my voice cold. "Don't you want to check the injuries on this child's body first?"

Garrett froze, then looked at me with disgust. "What? Now you suddenly care about the child? Stop putting on an act!"

I ignored him and reached out directly to grab the boy's hand. He instinctively struggled, a flash of malice crossing his eyes.

I forcefully wiped his arm. Mrs. Morrison immediately pulled him into her arms protectively. "What are you trying to do now—"

"Why does your injury smear off?" I interrupted her, laughing mockingly.

"What..." Mrs. Morrison was stunned for a moment, then looked down at the boy's arm.

Where his arm had shown purple bruises, a clear smear mark now appeared, revealing the originally clean skin beneath.

Before anyone could react, I grabbed Helena's hand and forcefully wiped it.

"Why does your pinch mark smear off too?"

Both Helena and the boy's faces flashed with panic.

I crossed my arms and spoke sarcastically. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you—I always carry makeup remover with me."

The air instantly went silent. Mrs. Morrison and Garrett stood with their mouths open, not knowing what to say for a moment.

After a long while, Mrs. Morrison finally spoke. "That still doesn't prove you didn't pinch Helena. You just didn't pinch hard enough to leave a mark."

"As for the red mark on her hand, she probably got something on it without noticing."

"And the child needs no explanation—you've been abusing him all along. It's only natural that at such a young age, he'd develop some tricks to protect himself."

After this absurd explanation, I almost had to admire Mrs. Morrison.

However, Garrett frowned, looking deep in thought.

Seeing this, the boy immediately pulled out the photo of him and me again.

He spoke with feigned sorrow. "Mom, don't be angry. I only did this to get your attention..."

"Mom has never wanted to be close to me since I was little. I begged for so long before you agreed to take this photo with me."

"I thought that if I got hurt, maybe Mom would pay a little more attention to me..."

Mrs. Morrison sighed. "What a poor child."

Helena recovered from her earlier panic and quickly spoke up to comfort everyone.

"Melissa grew up in such a poor place, so naturally she never received a proper education."

"Although she did something so cruel, I believe she didn't mean it. She just... no one ever taught her better..."

Mrs. Morrison's expression became even more disgusted as she looked at me.

I glanced at the photo and spoke casually. "The photo is photoshopped."

"I don't know this boy, and I'm not his mother."

Mrs. Morrison and Garrett both froze. Mrs. Morrison actually laughed out loud. "Melissa, I never imagined you'd turn out like this!"

"Selfish, cruel, and a pathological liar. If you'd just admitted it honestly, I might have thought better of you. Acting like this only makes me find you more disgusting!"

I had initially intended to deny it outright, but these people kept talking over each other and established it as fact.

I was also curious to see what other tricks this little boy had up his sleeve.

Helena shook her head disapprovingly. "There's even a photo, and you still want to deny it?"

"We'll help you raise this child. Please don't refuse to acknowledge him, okay? That would be too cruel..."

"Don't worry, even if people gossip a little, it's nothing serious. You don't need to take it to heart!"

For Helena, other people's gossip naturally wasn't a big deal—after all, people would only criticize the Morrison family's real heiress for being shameless.

I raised my eyebrows and glanced at her. "Whether the photo is composite or not, just find someone who knows how to photoshop and they can tell at a glance."

"With this level of technique, even an apprentice could spot it immediately."

"Don't worry, this won't take much time."

Helena's face instantly paled, and then she deliberately murmured quietly, "What if the person they find is in on it?"

I scoffed and was about to say something.

But Garrett took the photo and examined it carefully for a while.

"It really is photoshopped."

"Could this little boy actually not be Melissa's child?"

Helena's face grew even paler.

At that moment, the butler rushed in frantically. "Madam, there's a man outside claiming to be Miss Melissa's husband!"

Helena's pale face visibly flushed with color. She subtly curved her lips into a smile.