Chapter 20
I ignored Michael's laughter and walked straight home.
As soon as I entered the house, I heard noisy sounds coming from the living room.
The scene I saw made me frown.
Linda was being held down on the floor by two servants, her hair all messy.
And my cousin Ella Garcia was standing in front of her with a condescending look.
Linda was the nanny who had taken care of me since childhood. She had always been loyal to me. I had no idea what serious mistake she could have made to be treated like this.
The moment Linda saw me come home, hope lit up in her eyes, and she immediately called out to me for help. "Ms. Smith, you're back. They're framing me."
At these words, Ella got furious and kicked Linda, speaking with disgust. "You shameless woman, you stole something and won't admit it, and you still feel wronged?"
This scene upset me. Without thinking twice, I quickly scolded them. "Let her go."
The two servants holding Linda looked at Ella hesitantly, as if considering what to do.
Seeing this made me even angrier. My voice turned cold with a hint of threat. "Get it straight - who's in charge of this house and who you should be listening to."
Hearing me say this, the two servants didn't dare hesitate anymore and released Linda.
I quickly stepped forward to check on her.
Clear handprint marks were especially obvious on Linda's face.
Obviously, she had been beaten while I wasn't home.
Linda was the person I trusted most. For her to suffer such humiliation was basically a slap in my face.
From what Ella said earlier, I roughly gathered that Linda was accused of stealing.
But I didn't believe Ella. I knew her too well. She looked pure on the surface, but was actually cunning and deceitful - cut from the same cloth as Susan.
Otherwise, the two of them couldn't have become good friends.
In my previous life, I had been secretly harmed by Ella many times. Back then I was rebellious and didn't understand things, and loved going against my mother.
Ella was very good at seizing these opportunities to please my mother, pretending to speak up for me while actually putting me down between the lines.
The ridiculous thing was, I only realized all this later.
But by then it was too late.
Even with me there, Ella didn't plan to let Linda off, continuing to attack her.
"Don't think that just because you've worked for the Smith family for many years, you can steal and get away with it. Nancy is kind and believes your lies, but I won't."
Linda kept shaking her head, desperately trying to explain to me. "Ms. Smith, I really didn't steal anything. They're framing me."
Hearing this, I didn't look deeply into the truth of the matter and instinctively defended Linda. "Either way, I'm the hostess of this house, not you. Besides, I know Linda's character well. She wouldn't need to and wouldn't do such a thing."
My words embarrassed Ella. She probably didn't expect me to defend Linda like this.
But even with me helping Linda, Ella didn't give up. Instead, she deliberately softened her tone, acting like she was looking out for me. "Nancy, I know you're kind, but if she dares to steal today, who knows what she'll do tomorrow. This isn't a small matter and must be dealt with. I'm helping you here."
Ella spoke as if it was all reasonable. If I didn't know what kind of person she was, I might have fallen for it.
Seeing her so confident, I questioned her. "Since you say Linda stole something, tell me - what exactly did she steal? And how did you discover it?"
Seeing me ask, Ella looked troubled and instinctively glanced at the two servants from earlier.
Noticing her look, those two servants chimed in to explain to me.
"Ms. Smith, when we were organizing your jewelry today, we found two necklaces and a ring missing. We later searched Linda's room and found the ring there, which clearly shows she stole it."
I nodded knowingly without showing much reaction.
Seeing me silent, Linda got a bit anxious and quickly explained, "Ms. Smith, I didn't steal your jewelry, and I have no idea how the ring got to my room. Someone is obviously framing me."
I patted her hand reassuringly to tell her not to worry. "I understand the situation. I trust Linda's character and trust my own judgment of people. Since you all have different stories, let's check the surveillance footage."
Ever since Susan stole from my house multiple times, I had secretly installed cameras in rooms with valuable items. Apart from Linda and Mindy, no one else knew about this.
I didn't expect the cameras to come in handy so soon.
When Ella heard I wanted to check the surveillance, her eyes showed a moment of panic, but she still tested me. "Nancy, aren't there cameras in the hallway? So many servants go in and out of rooms - how can you be sure?"
I smiled and shrugged. "My room has its own surveillance. You don't need to worry about that. Anyone who entered my room and touched anything will be clearly recorded."
As soon as I said this, Ella panicked and immediately tried to cover for herself. "Nancy, since you trust Linda, let's just forget this happened. I was impulsive and misunderstood."
Ella no longer showed the confident and impulsive attitude from before.
With things having gone this far, I naturally wouldn't let it pass with just a word about misunderstanding. "Whether it's a misunderstanding or not, we need to check the surveillance. I'm curious to see who the thief really is."
With that, I instructed Mindy to copy the surveillance footage from my room.
The footage was retrieved quickly, and soon the truth appeared in the video.
In the video, it clearly showed that the people taking necklaces from my jewelry cabinet were the two servants who had been holding Linda down earlier.
Seeing this, I wasn't surprised. "Ella, everything needs evidence. Do you see clearly now?"
Ella's face looked even worse, but she could only smile reluctantly and apologize to me. "Nancy, I was hasty and did something foolish. Please forgive me."
I smiled back, but my attitude was firm. "It's fine. Good that you know you were wrong. Since we know who the thieves are, let's call the police. There's no need to keep people who like to steal in my house."
Hearing I wanted to call the police, Ella immediately stepped forward to plead. "Nancy, there's no need to call the police, right? If this gets out, won't people just laugh at us?"
I naturally knew that Ella was the instigator of all this. Hearing her say this now, I couldn't help but mock her. "You really have two different attitudes. Just now without evidence, how did you treat Linda? Now I'm just firing them and calling the police and you're stepping forward?"
After I confronted her, Ella's face looked terrible, but she still tried to speak up for them.
Seeing my firm attitude, the two servants finally got scared and both knelt down to beg me for mercy.
"Ms. Smith, I know I was wrong. I'll never do this again."
"I'm sorry, Ms. Smith. We were possessed. Please forgive us."