Chapter 65 You... you posted the video on the school forum?
Daniel Lutz's expression turned somber. Gabriel's questioning of his intelligence hit him hard. “Nísia, tell the truth now,” he ordered, with an intimidating look.
Nísia looked at her father, but, feeling her mother's tacit support, she kept up the lie: “I really didn't steal anything. It was a mistake, I thought it was trash. I'm innocent!”
Gabriel was stunned. Did she really think he was stupid? The atmosphere in the room was heavy, about to explode. Daniel Lutz took a deep breath and, trying to salvage what remained of the hospitality, changed the focus.
“Mr. Gabriel, we don't need to take this so seriously over a few papers. A man must have a sense of perspective and courage. Since it's your first time here, let Katherine show you around the property.”
Upon hearing the command, all eyes turned to Katherine. She was sitting casually on the arm of the sofa, oblivious to the drama, focused on her cell phone. Her indifferent posture was a silent insult to everyone present. She didn't say a word, but her presence there, motionless and uninterested, screamed that she already knew exactly how this charade would end.
Faced with the deathly silence that had fallen over the room, Katherine raised her eyebrows indifferently, slid her finger across the screen of her cell phone, and commented casually: “How exciting! The video was posted just a minute ago and already has over three hundred comments.”
The blood drained from Nísia's face instantly. “You... you posted the video on the school forum?” She almost shouted, her voice failing in sheer desperation.
Katherine Lutz flashed a cold, ironic smile. “If you're as innocent as you say, why are you so nervous? Shouldn't the truth set you free?”
Nísia began to sob, attempting one last dramatic move: “Why are you treating me like this? I swear I didn't do anything! You're destroying me on a whim! Dad, she's slandering me!”
“Stop it, both of you, right now.”
A frail voice, yet one laden with ancestral authority, echoed through the hall. Katherine looked back and saw Old Lady Lutz, the matriarch of the family, being supported by a maid. Her eyes, tired from decades but still sharp, fixed on Katherine.
“Child, is this what you're looking for?” The old woman held out her hand, revealing two folded pieces of paper.
Gabriel Park stepped forward, surprised, and received the papers with both hands, treating them like relics. “Yes! These are the notes I borrowed from Katherine!” He turned to Nísia with a look of pure mockery. “Didn't you say you threw them away as trash? How did they end up inside the house, safe and sound?”
The Old Lady sighed deeply, looking at her favorite granddaughter with bitter disappointment. “If you make a mistake and admit it, there is a cure. But if you make a mistake and lie to cover your tracks, the mistake becomes your character, Nísia.”
Nísia Oliveira stood frozen. Her throat was dry, and she felt as if all the blood had been drained from her body. Her face burned as if she had been slapped hundreds of times in front of everyone. She didn't dare look at Daniel, much less her grandmother. Inside, her hatred for Katherine Lutz reached a pathological level; all she could think about was how to tear her cousin apart.
Daniel Lutz, seeing his mother, bowed his head in respect. “Mom... what are you doing out here?”
The elderly woman ignored her son and walked past Nísia as if she were invisible, addressing only Katherine. “It's rare for you to visit us. Have dinner with us tonight before you leave.”
Katherine, who had only vague memories of her grandmother giving her candy as a child, kept her expression light but firm. “It's not necessary. Now that the problem has been solved, I'm leaving.”
She said goodbye only to the elderly woman and Heitor. As she was about to walk out the door, the Old Lady intervened again. "Wait. Nísia, you have committed a vile act. Won't you even apologize?“
Nísia's already pale face turned deathly white. Under the matriarch's imperious gaze, her fear of being expelled from the family line spoke louder. ”I'm sorry...“ she murmured, her lips white. ”I shouldn't have touched your things."
Katherine glanced at her, a silence that was worth more than any acceptance, and continued walking. Heitor Lutz, without hesitation, ran after her.
“Sister, take me with you! I don't want to stay here listening to them yell.”
Katherine looked at her younger brother's anxious face, pondered for a second, and nodded toward Gabriel's car. “Get in.”
“Yay!” Heitor jumped into the vehicle, shouting to an employee to let him know he would be spending the night away.
As Gabriel's car drove away from the mansion, the silence inside was just the prelude to the storm. Daniel Lutz was about to explode, and Nísia knew that this time, not even her mother's tears could save her completely.
“Rosana, how do you discipline your daughter?!”
Daniel Lutz's roar made the walls of the mansion vibrate. Mother and daughter shuddered simultaneously. Rosana, in an instinctive gesture of self-protection, placed her hand on her protruding belly and sought the Old Lady's gaze in search of mercy.
“Mother, Nísia can't be entirely to blame,” Rosana whimpered.
“There must be some misunderstanding. What would she gain by stealing two worthless pieces of paper?”
The old woman gave her a look of deep displeasure. “The Lutz family has always acted with integrity. Today, because of this girl, we have been made a laughing stock in front of strangers. Rosana, if you are unable to educate your daughter, send her back where she came from.” Our family does not tolerate this kind of behavior.
Panic seized Rosana. She knew her mother-in-law's threat was real. “Mother, I will discipline her! I swear! Nísia, quickly, apologize to your grandmother! Now!”
Nísia, who seemed to have lost her soul, collapsed to her knees on the cold marble. “Grandma, Dad, I was wrong!” she cried between sobs. “I'll never do it again, please don't kick me out! I beg you!”
Daniel Lutz maintained a cold expression. Seeing Rosana try to help Nísia up, he intervened with a sharp voice: “Sit down, Rosana. Don't strain yourself and hurt my son.”