Chapter 4

Dad wasn't tall, but standing in front of me now, he was like a wall. He shouted at my uncle:

"Your business failed—what does that have to do with me? That money was for my daughter's education. I'm divorcing your sister. I have no obligation to help you anymore."

At the word "divorce," a calculating gleam flashed in my uncle's eyes.

"Divorce? Grace never mentioned that to me. If you're getting divorced, you'll have to split assets, right? This house, the car, the savings... my sister gets at least half!"

Dad laughed in disbelief.

I stepped forward with a smile.

"Uncle, didn't you check with Mom before coming? She said she won't take a single penny after the divorce. Mom's a professor. She doesn't care about money."

My uncle's eyes went wide.

"What? Has Grace lost her mind?!"

Dad pushed my uncle toward the door:

"You want money? Tell Grace to come talk to me herself."

I smirked. I wanted to see if Mom could stay so proud when facing her greedy brother.

We waited two days. Nothing from Mom.

But things on Dad's end got worse.

His livestream numbers kept dropping. Several brand partners wanted to terminate their contracts. Between the penalties and his previous investments, he was deep in debt.

He couldn't sleep at night. He'd stand on the balcony chain-smoking, jumping every time his phone rang.

It hurt to watch. I spoke up:

"Dad, let's get that fifty thousand back. We can pay off some of the debt."

Dad shook his head, voice hoarse: "That was for you... Dad's useless."

"Dad," I looked him in the eye, "I believe in you. You built everything from nothing before. You can do it again. Let's get through this first. For college, I can earn scholarships or work part-time."

Dad's eyes reddened. He rubbed my head hard.

"I thought... you'd be embarrassed by me. That you'd leave with your mom."

"Silly girl."

In my last life with Mom, I didn't lack much materially, but my heart died.

This life with Dad might be hard for now, but my heart was warm.

"Dad, we need to get that money fast. Someone like Uncle will just throw it away."

With my insistence, Dad finally sent Mom a formal message demanding the fifty thousand back.

Mom replied with one line: "How vulgar."

Then she blocked him.

Looks like we'd need another approach.

I had Dad pull the transfer records and my uncle's so-called gift agreement.

Full of holes, as expected. Mom had only verbally agreed. The transfer was labeled loan.The gift document my uncle typed up didn't even have a fingerprint.

We consulted a lawyer. He said we could absolutely sue to recover the money.

Dad hesitated—"They're still family"—but I had the lawyer send a formal demand letter immediately.

The effect was instant.

The next day, my uncle showed up downstairs, furious, but too scared to come up. He just stood there cursing at the street.

"David! Are you even human? Suing your own brother-in-law over some money?"

"My sister really hit rock bottom marrying you! And your ungrateful daughter is a totally a bitch."

Dad wanted to go down and confront him. I held him back, grabbed my phone, opened the camera, and walked to the balcony.

"Uncle, got the lawyer's letter? That fifty thousand was for my education—we have the transfer records to prove it. Either pay up, or we'll see you in court. If you keep yelling and disturbing the neighbors, I'll call the cops for noise disturbance."

“You— you…”

My uncle pointed at me, his finger shaking, but no words came out.

After a long moment, he finally snapped,

“Just you wait!”

Then he turned and hurried out, looking completely humiliated.

Dad looked at me with a complicated expression—surprise and guilt mixed together.

"Emma, you shouldn't have to deal with this..."

"Dad, we're family." I linked my arm through his. "We'll get through this together."