Brenda was a single mother. She worked diligently for my family for 20 years. Before the holidays, she had an appendectomy and had no one to care for her at home. So, I let her bring her daughter over to stay with us through New Year's. On New Year's Eve, I gave Crystal a cash gift in an envelope. She pulled it out and counted it right in front of me. "Tsk, only $2000? That wouldn't even cover one of your handbags." A few days later. I noticed that one of my classic monogrammed LV bags in the closet looked… faded. 1 I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Not until I managed to completely rub off one of the 'L's on the bag's surface. Only then was I certain. This bag wasn't mine. I immediately called Brenda. Half a month earlier, I had gone out of town on business and asked Brenda to take several of my regularly used bags from my closet to be professionally cleaned and conditioned. They were just returned the day before yesterday. "Oh my, what… what happened here?" Having been around me for so long, Brenda knew instantly this bag was a fake. I asked Brenda where the bags were sent for maintenance. "The same place you always go to!" That shop is owned by my best friend Chloe's family. Never mind that she'd have no reason to swap my bag. Even if she did, she wouldn't use such a crudely made fake! "Did you pick up the bags? Did anyone touch them after they were brought back?" "Actually, I didn't pick them up. That day, I mentioned I needed to get the bags, and my daughter said she happened to be going shopping near there anyway. So she brought them back." After Brenda finished speaking, I was silent for a long moment. I still remembered Crystal's first day here. I had worked late and came home to find her upstairs in my room. Staring obsessively at my closet full of designer bags. Brenda seemed to realize something and quickly tried to clear her daughter's name: "It couldn't be Crystal. Sophia, Crystal wouldn't do something like this! There must be some misunderstanding..." "Alright, Brenda, I didn't say Crystal did it. I'm hungry. Can you make me a bowl of simple pasta?" Brenda let out a sigh of relief, agreed readily, and hurried to the kitchen to cook. I checked the recently installed security camera footage. It confirmed that the bag brought back wasn't my original one. Meaning, it had been swapped somewhere along the way. While I was eating, Crystal returned. She acted as if she didn't see me, glanced past without a greeting, and sashayed upstairs. "Crystal." I wiped my mouth and stopped her. "I heard you helped pick up my bags the other day?" Crystal paused, a flicker of panic crossing her face. But a second later, she smoothed her hair, looking nonchalant. "Yeah, what's up? Is there a problem?" I walked up to her, looked her straight in the eye, and said word by word: "One of the bags was swapped for a fake." Crystal instantly flew into a rage. "What are you trying to say?" "Are you saying I swapped your bag?!" 2 Before I could respond, Crystal burst into loud sobs. Wailing that I looked down on her, accusing her without any proof. Brenda quickly arrived, drawn by the commotion. She protectively pulled Crystal into her arms. "Oh honey, what's wrong? Why are you crying so hard?" "You just had surgery, you can't cry like this. Tell Mommy what happened." Crystal sobbed out her version of the story. Brenda shot up, confronting me loudly: "Sophia, didn't you say you didn't suspect Crystal?" "Crystal is my daughter, I know her character best! She would never do something like this!" "You can treat me however you want, but you can't disrespect Crystal like this!" Brenda vented her anger. Afterward, she took a deep breath, stood up, and stared at me coldly. "Even though Crystal didn't take your bag. I won't let anyone look down on my daughter." "I don't want this month's salary. Consider it compensation for your bag." Brenda had worked for my family for 20 years. You could say she watched me grow up. My mother passed away from illness when I was very young. My father remarried quickly. They say when you get a stepmother, you get a stepfather too. When my stepmother mistreated me, and my father turned a blind eye, It was Brenda who stepped up, secretly looking out for me. After all these years, even though she's older and slower, I kept her around, paying her several times more than others. Because in my heart, I considered her family. I thought she felt the same way. But I never expected… Seeing the hostility in Brenda's eyes, a sudden tightness gripped my chest. I did suspect Crystal swapped my bag. Because after she arrived at my house, Two of my necklaces had already gone missing. And now a bag had been swapped. Besides Brenda and me, there was no one else in the house. Suspecting her was logical, wasn't it? "Mom, I didn't take the bag! Why should you give up your salary?" "Didn't you say she's loaded? A whole room of luxury goods, and she makes such a fuss over one missing bag!" "Are all rich people this stingy?" I almost laughed out of sheer anger. Did she have any idea that I had sponsored her college tuition? Stone-faced, I dragged all her luggage outside. "Get out. You're not welcome here." Crystal cried, pleading with Brenda for help. Brenda's heart ached, tears streaming down her face, but she didn't dare step out of the house. Because she could see I was genuinely furious. And besides Crystal, she still had a useless son to support. She couldn't afford to lose this job. 3 After Crystal left, Brenda quickly apologized to me. Saying she spoke foolishly in the heat of the moment and hoped I wouldn't hold it against her. Looking at her increasingly wrinkled face and frail body, My heart softened for a moment. I waved my hand dismissively and sent her away. I thought that with Crystal gone, life would return to its quiet, stable, uneventful routine. But I never expected that after returning from another business trip, Two more bags were missing from my house. My first instinct was to check the security footage, only to find it was blank for the days I was away. I found the camera – the plug had been pulled out. Suppressing my anger, I found Brenda busy in the kitchen. "The chicken soup is almost ready, Sophia. Have some water and rest for a bit." I stared at Brenda's busy figure and spoke calmly: "Brenda, have we had any guests recently?" Brenda's hand paused. "N-no." "Then how did two bags disappear from my closet?" "What? N-no way. There are so many bags in the closet, m-maybe you miscounted?" I walked over and turned off the stove. Brenda froze on the spot. She hesitated, turned, glanced at me, then quickly looked down. "Brenda, things are disappearing from the house for no reason. You need to give me an explanation." "Well, I really don't know..." "Then I'll have to call the police." Brenda immediately grabbed my arm. "Don't! Don't call the police!" "Look, Crystal said she needed to start her internship, entering the workforce, and she was afraid people would look down on her." "So she came over, wanting to borrow a couple of bags from you." "You happened to be out of town, so I made the decision myself and let her take two you don't use often." "But don't worry, Sophia, Crystal said she just needed them for interviews." "She'll return them as soon as she gets a job." I opened my mouth, but before I could speak, Brenda's phone rang. She answered immediately. A minute later, Brenda hung up, her face beaming with excitement. "Sophia, Crystal said she found a job!" "She said she's coming over for dinner tonight, asked me to make a few extra dishes to celebrate!" "Oh, right, she knows you're back. She said she'll bring your bags back then too." Brenda turned the stove back on and got busy cooking again. She muttered to herself, a hint of disdain in her voice. "See? Told you not to worry. Crystal said she'd return the bags once she got a job! She doesn't lie." I stood there, watching Brenda's bustling back. She was even humming happily. I finally believed that sometimes, you get so speechless you actually laugh. Fine. Let's wait for Crystal to arrive. I really wanted to hear what she had to say. 4 At seven in the evening, Crystal arrived fashionably late. She carried a large shopping bag in her left hand and a bottle of red wine in her right. Her expression was incredibly arrogant. As soon as she arrived, she sat down at the dining table. "Oh my god, I'm starving. Mom, when you look for your next job, can you find someone who doesn't live in the middle of nowhere?" "The driver didn't even know the way, it was pitch black the whole drive. What kind of rich person lives in a dump like this?" Brenda immediately ran out upon hearing her voice. She glanced nervously at me, then quickly told Crystal to watch her mouth. "What did I say wrong? Didn't you tell me she's broke now, that she's selling this house to pay off debts?" "Anyway, you won't be working here much longer, what's there to be afraid of!" It dawned on me. No wonder Brenda's attitude had changed so drastically recently. Turns out she overheard me calling a real estate agent about selling the house. Yes, that's right. I was planning to sell this house. Because it held painful childhood memories – My mother's death, the abuse I suffered, and later, the birth of my father and stepmother's son… My life became even harder then. Soon after, my father took his new wife and son abroad to pursue opportunities, transferring the deed of this house to me. And now, I had already bought a penthouse in the city's most exclusive new high-rise. I was just waiting to finalize things here and move. But I had been too busy with work recently and hadn't had a chance to tell Brenda. I never imagined she'd misunderstand and think I was broke, needing to sell the house to cover debts… "Sophia, since Crystal already mentioned it, I won't hide it from you either." "Someone has already helped me find a new family. I'll be starting there at the beginning of next month." "Look at you, already having to sell your house. You won't have money to pay my salary soon anyway." "Let's just part ways amicably." I looked at the mother-daughter duo before me. After a long moment, I chuckled softly. "Alright, no problem." "But Crystal, you took my things. Shouldn't you return them first?" Crystal sneered, then tossed two bags out from her large shopping bag. "Aren't they just a couple of worthless bags? Here, take them back!" Worthless bags? I almost burst out laughing. Brenda had indeed been considerate. She knew to give her daughter two bags I didn't use often. Except these two "infrequently used" bags were ones I had spent a fortune and jumped through hoops to acquire. And now Crystal was calling them worthless bags. I carefully inspected the bags. The light wasn't bright enough, so I went and turned on every light in the room. Crystal became even more dismissive, eyeing me scornfully. "Is all this necessary?" "You used to have money, after all. It's just a bag. Anyone who didn't know better would think this bag is worth millions!" "It doesn't even have a logo! I was too embarrassed to even take it out for my interview today!" Seeing the obvious scratches on the hardware and the greasy stains inside, my heart ached. I looked up, staring coldly at Crystal. "You're right, this bag isn't worth millions. Just eighty to ninety thousand dollars." "And now you've ruined it." "Tell me, how are you going to pay for it?"
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