But they had gone too far.
"He's not home. Come later," Grace said, not wanting to waste any more words and moved to close the door.
Toria, anticipating this, quickly pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Toria, what do you think you're doing? Get out of my house right now!" Grace shouted, her anger flaring.
"Mom, who's that?" Chloe asked as she descended the stairs. Seeing Toria, her face twisted in annoyance.
"Toria, what are you doing here? This is my home."
Despite being blood relatives, their disdain for Toria was unmistakable.
Toria felt a stab in her heart but maintained her composure.
"I'm just here to collect the reward for saving Mr. Carter."
Her words elicited a mocking laugh from Grace.
"It was Chloe who saved Mr. Carter. What does that have to do with you?"
Even though Toria was her biological daughter, Grace, who had always lived a life of luxury, looked down on Toria, who had grown up in the countryside.
She saw Toria as uncouth, unreasonable, and unrefined, someone who could never fit into high society.
If people found out about Toria's existence, it would surely ruin the perfect image Grace and Chloe had built in the public eye.
Toria glanced at Grace, then at Chloe, and smiled.
"You two really are mother and daughter. You lie without even batting an eye. The Great Wall has nothing on the thickness of your faces."
"Toria, shut up!" Chloe snapped, clearly not wanting to hear Toria's words. She turned to Grace and said, "Mom, she's just here for money. Give her fifty thousand dollars and make her leave."
"Yes, Chloe is right," Grace nodded. "I'll go get it now."
"If the Turner family isn't short on money, then give me the ten million dollars for saving Mr. Carter. After that, we're even," Toria's words were shocking.
"Toria, don't be so greedy," Chloe glared at her. "We'll give you at most a hundred thousand."
"Take the hundred thousand and leave New Orleans immediately. As for the Carter family, they only recognize Chloe as the savior. Besides, do you have any proof that you saved young Mr. Carter?" Grace asked.
"Do you think deleting the video and stealing the ring means I can't prove it? Don't forget, I have records from the delivery app showing I was at that intersection that day," Toria said, waving her phone.
"While the delivery record might not be absolute proof that I saved Leo, Chloe didn't even have a delivery order that day. Won't Leo be suspicious? But instead of causing a scene and possibly not getting the reward from LeoCarter, I'd rather let Chloe have it."
In reality, Toria's delivery that day never reached the customer, so she couldn't prove she had passed that intersection.
That's why she didn't refute Chloe's lies in front of Leo. Although the delivery app records weren't solid evidence, they were enough to scare the guilty Turner family.
"You..." Chloe didn't expect Toria to have a backup plan. Afraid that Toria might expose her to Leo, she asked, "How much do you want?"
"Considering Mrs. Turner gave birth to me, I'll give you a discount. Just ten million dollars," Toria said.
Grace scoffed, "Ten million? You're dreaming."
Chloe added, "Toria, you must be out of your mind."
Coming from a poor, remote area, how dare she ask for such an outrageous amount? Of course, Chloe and her mother couldn't accept Toria's threat.
Toria didn't waste any more words. She stood up and made a move to leave. "If you won't agree, I'll go find Mrs. Carter. As the matriarch of the Carter Family, she'll make the decision."
Chloe still couldn't understand how the elder Mrs. Carter knew Toria and why she favored her so much. Toria's presence felt like a significant threat to her.
"Wait," Chloe called out. "My mom and I need to discuss this with Dad. You wait here."
With that, Chloe pulled Grace along. "Mom, let's go upstairs and call Dad."
The mother and daughter went upstairs, leaving Toria waiting downstairs.
However, knowing how deceitful the Turner Family could be, Toria was worried they might be plotting something underhanded. She decided to follow them upstairs.
Since Long Creek Villa was an old house, the soundproof wasn't great. Toria could vaguely hear their conversation from outside the door.
After listening for a while, she didn't catch any signs of them planning something dirty against her or her foster parents. She couldn't help but mock herself for being overly cautious, realizing she might have been a bit paranoid.
Toria was about to head downstairs when she suddenly heard the words "adoptive parents... car accident."
Curious, Toria pressed her ear against the door to listen more closely.
"Toria is uncontrollable and looks exactly like me. Keeping her around is a threat. Besides, with the elder Mrs Carter so fond of her, how am I supposed to marry Leo?"
"Chloe, I understand, but we've already crippled her adoptive father to force her to donate bone marrow to your brother. Do you really want to go further?"
"Mom, are you out of your mind? As long as Toria is alive, she'll be an obstacle to me marrying into the Carter Family. Unless... unless you can turn her into a vegetable too!"
At this point, Chloe's voice rose sharply, filled with urgency.
Standing outside, Toria heard every word clearly. A chill ran down her spine, and she felt a surge of blood rush through her veins.
A little over two months ago, Harvey and Grace Turner had suddenly appeared before Toria, claiming they could take her back to the Turner Family, but only if she agreed to donate bone marrow to her leukemia-stricken brother.
Since Chloe's bone marrow didn't match her brother's, they had no choice but to turn to her.
Naturally, Toria had refused.
Then, a month ago, her adoptive parents were suddenly involved in a car accident.
While they were critically injured and hospitalized, Harvey and Grace reappeared, offering to pay for her adoptive parents' medical expenses if she agreed to donate bone marrow to their younger son.
At the time, Toria had been suspicious of the sudden accident and the Turners' reappearance.
But she had ultimately dismissed the idea, thinking that her biological parents couldn't possibly be so cruel.
And now…
She had been too naive.
Toria was furious, shaking with rage. She gripped the doorknob tightly, ready to burst in and confront them!