Chapter 139: Settling Old Scores
They took the elevator to the tenth floor. Riley Perry used her fingerprint to open the door. Ruby Marshall was astonished when she saw the living room, which was about forty square meters, and the spacious kitchen to its north. She walked around the entire apartment and asked, "Riley, did you really buy this place?"
"Mhm, would I lie to you about this? The property deed is already issued. Do you want me to go get it for you to see?"
Ruby Marshall said, "Then let me see it." She wouldn’t feel at ease until she saw it.
’Weren’t Dragonspire’s housing prices supposed to be sky-high? And that all the apartments were like pigeon coops? How much must a place this big cost?’
Riley Perry found the property deed, which she hadn’t received long ago, and handed it to Ruby Marshall. "Here, take a look."
Ruby Marshall took the red booklet, opened it, and glanced inside. It really was her daughter’s name on it. "Something’s not right. Even if you’ve been busy with work lately, there’s no way you could have earned enough for a large flat. Tell Mom the truth, where did you get the money?"
Faced with her mother’s questioning, Riley Perry wasn’t flustered in the slightest. "I took a spin on the stock market with a friend, and now I have this apartment. Don’t worry, Mom. There are plenty of ways to make money here in Dragonspire. One of these days, I’ll take you out and show you around, and then you’ll understand."
’The stock market? That sounds so unreliable. It’s great if you make money, but what if you lose it all? Isn’t that just gambling?’
Money was a good thing, but she was afraid her daughter couldn’t handle it.
"From now on, you..."
Riley Perry cut her off. "Don’t worry, Mom. I already pulled the money out of the stock market. After buying the car and the apartment, I invested the rest in a pharmaceutical company. I’ll be getting dividends by the end of the year."
Hearing this, Ruby Marshall finally felt truly relieved. She plopped down on the sofa and watched as Samson Sinclair carried their luggage into a room. When he came out, she initiated a conversation with him. "Young man, come sit down and rest. Thank you for your hard work."
Samson Sinclair shook his head. "It was no trouble. It was the least I could do."
Riley Perry opened the fridge, washed some fruit, and placed it on the coffee table. "Sean, go check out your room and see if you like it."
Shane Perry got up and walked in the direction his sister pointed. The apartment had three sun-facing rooms, all of a similar size. Riley Perry had given the middle bedroom to her brother. A desk and bookshelf were all set up, and she had even bought him a few new sets of clothes.
The room was spacious and bright, with a carpet laid out on the floor. Stepping on it felt like treading on a cloud—it was so soft and comfortable that Shane Perry almost kicked off his slippers to roll around on it.
To top it off, his sister had even gotten him a computer, which was sitting on the beautiful desk in the room.
Of course, it would have been even better if there wasn’t a huge stack of study materials on that desk.
Riley Perry followed her brother in, deliberately ignoring the fleeting stiffness on his face. "So? Is it okay? See if anything’s missing, and I’ll buy it for you."
Shane Perry shook his head. "Nothing’s missing. Besides, I can’t stay for long this time. We only have a seven-day break in total, and I have to go back to school a day early."
The high school he attended was the one with the best teaching quality and the strictest management in their county. He went home twice a month and could only stay for a little over a day each time. During the few minutes they gathered for morning exercises, students would be there memorizing things from their booklets. Lunch was like a battle; if you didn’t walk fast enough, you wouldn’t even be able to buy any decent food.
Even though there was over an hour for a lunch break, he didn’t even dare to take a long nap, terrified that other students would be studying secretly while he slept and leave him in the dust. The competition among students was just too intense.
So, when his sister said he could only play for two days, he feigned refusal but was completely compliant on the inside. He even felt that two days of playing was a bit too much.
"Well, take your time enjoying the room. I’m heading out now. If you’re tired, take a nap. We’ll all go out for lunch later."
In the living room, Samson Sinclair said his goodbyes and left. With the outsider gone, Ruby Marshall relaxed a little. Riley Perry sat down next to her mom and took her arm.
Ruby Marshall turned to look at her daughter and started to bring up old scores. "You damn girl, so now you know how to be clingy with me? Weren’t you the one who said you never wanted to see us again in this lifetime?"
"You also complained that I was crude and unpresentable. I’m not a dish, so what ’presentation’ am I supposed to have?"
"You complained I was fat and an embarrassment to you, and told me to stay away so your fans wouldn’t find out you had a mother like me and unfollow you."
As she spoke of this, Ruby Marshall’s eyes reddened. Her voice lost its usual loudness, and her words were tinged with a sense of grievance.
What could Riley Perry do?
’I never said a single one of those things. I adore my wonderful, one-of-a-kind parents. But I still have to take the blame for all of it!’
"Mom, aren’t you usually pretty formidable? When she said that to you back then, you should have just slapped her right across the face. A few good slaps would have knocked some sense into her. How dare she say such awful things?"
The couple was both a little stunned. Ruby Marshall looked Riley Perry up and down. That strange feeling returned—the feeling that the person from the past three years, the one who had shown her no respect and only ever answered her with vicious, disdainful words, had been a fake. The girl in front of her now was her real daughter, and that feeling was growing stronger and stronger.
Perhaps only her husband knew what she had truly been through these past three years.
The sweet girl she had raised so well had, as if she’d suddenly lost her mind, never had a single good thing to say every time they spoke on the phone.
She must be a glutton for punishment; even though the girl had been so disgusted with her, she still missed that child.
She could only keep telling herself: ’The kid’s just going through a rebellious phase. Don’t stoop to her level. She’ll get over it...’ But every phone call with her daughter just left her more and more heartbroken.
Honestly, if she didn’t have such a strong heart, her daughter would have angered her to death by now!
Patrick Perry stepped in to smooth things over. "Look at you. Seeing our daughter should be a happy occasion, but you just had to bring up the one thing we shouldn’t talk about!"
"Riley, don’t listen to your mother. Dad understands. The entertainment industry is stressful. It’s better to vent your frustrations on us than on outsiders. Don’t say any more. What if your mom really decides to hit you? Whose side am I supposed to take?"
He had resented his daughter over the past few years, too, but he always got over it. She was his child, after all. How could he hold a grudge against his own kid?
Ruby Marshall shot her husband a glare. "If I’m going to hit her, I’ll hit her. Do I need to check the calendar for an auspicious day?"
"Hey, Patrick Perry, are you trying to mediate here, or are you just fanning the flames between us?"
Riley Perry said, "That’s right, my mom’s the best. She could never bear to hit me." To be honest, she’d rarely ever been hit growing up. Her little brother, on the other hand, had certainly gotten his fair share of spankings from their dear mother.
Ruby Marshall immediately rewarded her daughter with a huge eye-roll. This girl of hers had always been smart and lovable. Even at three or four years old, she could coax them into being cheerful all day long, and she only grew more sensible as she got older. That was why she suspected that for the last three years, her daughter had been replaced by someone else.
"Stop trying to flatter me. It’s useless. I’ve already written it all down in my little black book. I’ll be watching your performance from now on."
Riley Perry said, "Alright, alright, alright. You can watch all you want. I’ll definitely be on my best behavior."