Vera Xavier had never been afraid of Rona Langdon. She met her gaze and said, "Betraying my own family? How is using our money to pay for Dad’s treatment betraying our family? Mom, you said there was no money in the account, but Grandma and I don’t believe you. Please, show us the passbook. If there’s really no money, we’ll have nothing more to say."

Rona Langdon snorted. "There isn’t any money. I’m not afraid to show you."

With that, she went upstairs, came back down with the passbook, and threw it at Vera. "See for yourself if there’s any money in there!"

Vera took the passbook and opened it. The balance was only 350, but the line right above it showed a withdrawal of 10,000. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Vera questioned Rona, "Mom, why did you withdraw ten thousand yesterday?"

Rona Langdon barely lifted her gaze. "Your uncle is building a house. I lent him the money."

Her words sparked another uproar among the crowd. Everyone found it absolutely unbelievable!

Her own husband was lying on his deathbed after a cerebral hemorrhage, yet she’d "lent" the money to her own brother to build a house!

Grandma was trembling with rage. She pointed at Rona Langdon and stammered, "You... You knew Zachary was sick, and you still lent the money out!"

"Jiasheng building a house is a joyous occasion. I promised him a long time ago that I’d lend him the money for it. I can’t go back on my word," Rona Langdon said, as if she were completely in the right.

The Jiasheng she mentioned was her brother, the butcher, who had also been the one who tried to force Vera to go work in Corvale.

Grandma was so furious she felt faint, and Vera quickly helped her into a seat.

Rona Langdon said smugly, "I told you there was no money, but you didn’t believe me. Now that you’ve seen the passbook, you have nothing to say, do you!"

"Divorce!" Grandma slammed her hand on the table. "The Preston Family has no daughter-in-law like you! I’m going to have Zachary divorce you!"

"Fine, a divorce it is!" Rona Langdon shouted. "I haven’t had a single good day since I married Zachary Preston! You can’t shortchange me now. He can have the passbook, but the house and everything in it are mine!"

Vera stood up and stared at her. "Mom, Dad is lying paralyzed in the hospital. How can you say something so inhuman?"

Grandma Dixon chimed in from the side, "Now I see it all. Rona Langdon planned this from the start. ’There’s no money,’ ’I can’t visit Preston,’ ’My mother-in-law hit me’—they were all just excuses! She saw that Preston was seriously ill and couldn’t work and earn money anymore, so she refused to pay for his treatment!"

She finished with a long sigh, looking toward the heavens. "How can such a wicked woman exist in this world! It’s bad enough that she won’t pay for Preston’s treatment, but now she wants a divorce and to take the house and everything else? She’s trying to drive him to his grave!"

The crowd of onlookers could no longer remain silent. They started pointing at Rona Langdon and cursing, "That woman is vile! How unlucky did Preston have to be to marry a wife like her!"

"If I had a daughter-in-law like that, I’d beat her to death in a heartbeat!"

"Get out of our complex! We don’t want a wicked hag like you as our neighbor!"

"Get out of the complex!"

Seeing the incensed crowd, Rona Langdon finally felt a flicker of panic. With her hands on her hips, she pointed fiercely at the onlookers and snapped, "This is my family’s business! It’s none of your damn business! Get the hell back to your own homes and stop making a scene here!"