Chapter 9 No Dowry

• “I said Dad's not home!” Penelope curled her lips smugly. “Dad forgot that you were going to visit home today. Still, how could you ask Dad to hold a party for your return if that's the kind of man you're marrying? Ha! Aren't you ashamed?”
• “I don't need any party!” Calliope leaped to her feet and stood in front of Penelope. “I want my dowry!”
• “Your dowry?” Penelope lifted a brow and grinned. “What dowry? I've never heard anything about that.”
• At that, Calliope froze. Her heart was beating loudly in her ribcage.
• Sorrow, resentment, and fury rushed into her chest. She knew that she did not have the best birth circumstance—the second she was brought into this world, she was branded as an illegitimate daughter. However, her birth circumstance was not something she could choose. Even though she had been living in the darkness all these years, she had been doing her best to move toward the light.
• No ordinary girl would agree to an absurd request like substituting the bride in marriage.
• All Calliope wanted to do was save her mother.
• Why must they destroy this tiny flame of hope for me?
• Penelope scoffed and turned to head up the stairs, but Calliope grabbed her.
• “Don't leave! Explain to me what you meant!”
• “What's there to explain?” Penelope snapped as she cruelly pinched Calliope's arm.
• Gasping in pain, Calliope took hasty steps back and hit the back of her head against the wall. Immediately, a buzzing noise filled her mind.
• When she raised her head again, she saw the smile on Penelope's face growing darker and darker. “Calliope, you've married into another family. You're no longer part of the Gingrich family, so stop trying to get involved with the Gingriches!”
• “But... Dad promised me!” Calliope gritted out. “He said he'll give me a hefty dowry if I took your place in marriage. He said he'll let my mother—”
• “Let your mother be in a better ward and be treated with imported medicine instead?” Penelope burst into laughter. “Oh, my silly little sister, do you remember why Dad kicked you and your mother out of the house back then?”
• Calliope fell silent as an icy tendril crept around her heart.
• “It's because your mother lived a disorderly life and got pregnant with a pair of bastards! She infuriated Dad! Calliope, b*tches belong in hell. Did you really think that Dad was going to save her? Ha! Dad would be delighted if she were to drop dead on the streets!”
• “No, that's not...” Calliope's eyes reddened as she tried her best to recompose herself. Alas, her tears still fell from her eyes.
• “My mother isn't someone like that. Someone set her up...”
• “Are you saying that my mother set your mother up?” Penelope roared, glaring at Calliope.
• Calliope stared at her icily. Her mother once told her that the guiltier a person was, the fiercer they would pretend to be.
• “I didn't say that,” Calliope responded as she wiped away her tears. “You and I have no idea what happened to our parents, so please mind your words from now on. If you disrespect my mother again, I won't show you any mercy.”
• “Hah! That's only if you're capable of doing anything to me.”
• Penelope scoffed. She then flipped her hair to the back to reveal her newly-bought diamond necklace.
• “How does it look? Is it pretty?” she asked as she looked at Calliope provokingly. “I just bought this, and it wasn't cheap. It was three hundred thousand.”
• Calliope stiffened.
• Penelope continued to utter, “I bought it with your dowry.”
• “You—”
• “I'll be frank with you. Dad has never thought of giving you any dowry. He's already being nice to you by giving you a chance to be my replacement in marriage. Don't push your luck, Calliope.”
• Calliope bit down hard on her lower lip as anger shook her body. Yet, there was nothing she could do.
• As she stared at Penelope's gleeful expression, she heard the housekeeper “politely” asking her to leave. In the end, Calliope trudged out of the house. The sky was gray, and she could smell the incoming rain.
• The ever-changing weather meant that the rain came abruptly.
• Calliope could only quicken her footsteps as she walked toward the car.
• “Mr. Silv, Ms. Gingrich is out.”
• “Mm.” Dominic took off his boxing gloves and threw them aside. As he unwrapped the bandages on his knuckles, he asked, “How is she?”
• “She... doesn't look good.”
• The man's brows snapped together.
• “Ms. Gingrich doesn't look too happy. I'm guessing that she had a bad time at her family's place. I asked around a little, and the Gingrich family's housekeeper said that she failed to get her dowry and was even humiliated by her elder sister.”
• At that, Dominic tightened his fists as a vicious glint flashed past his eyes.
• “How much is her dowry worth?”
• “Three hundred thousand, I think.”
• “How much is the plot of land that the Gingrich family is bidding for?”
• “One billion.”
• “Very well.” Dominic sneered. “We'll use the land to sober up those foolish Gingriches.”