That’s when the nightmare began Ch 8

Chapter 8 Taking Without Asking Is Stealing
Owen let out a sharp hiss, startling Paul and Elsie, who were engaged in conversation.
“What’s wrong with you!” Owen reprimanded.
Giana, her eyes red, hurriedly apologized while frantically wiping up the spilled water.
Owen impatiently pushed her away. “Move aside.”
Seeing this, Elsie quickly interjected with kindness, “Owen, Giana surely didn’t do it on purpose. Don’t blame her.”
She then turned to Giana and asked, “You’ve been distracted lately, and I’ve even seen you crying in secret a few times. Do you have something on your mind?”
At this, Giana became even more upset and covered her face, sobbing. “I haven’t been able to reach my family for days. I miss my child…”
Elsie was puzzled. “How could you not reach them? Haven’t they called you?”
Hearing this, Giana hesitantly glanced at Owen before whispering, “I’m afraid to say…”
Paul leaned back against the sofa behind Elsie, an amused and entertained expression on his face as he observed the drama unfold.
Elsie frowned. “Stop playing riddles with Owen. Just say it already.”
Summoning her courage, Giana finally broke down and cried out to Owen, “Mr. Owen, it was Ms. Yunice who stole my phone! When I caught her, she got angry and flushed it down the drain! My son must be so worried, not being able to reach me. Boohoo…”
Paul narrowed his eyes, giving Giana a second look.
She said Yunice stole her phone? Ridiculous.
Yunice might have lost her mind, but she wasn’t destitute. Why would she steal a maid’s phone and then get so enraged about it?
Owen clearly had the same thought, but at the same time, he doubted that Giana would make up such an outrageous lie.
So, he asked, “Do you have any proof?”
Giana sobbed, “I saw it with my own eyes! What more proof do you need?”
Paul looked her up and down with disdain. “Your word alone isn’t enough. Do you have any other evidence”?
Elsie discreetly glanced at Paul. Owen hadn’t even spoken yet, so why was Paul defending Yunice first?
At that moment, Giana had a sudden realization. “If we dig up the drainage system, we’ll find my phone and prove I’m not lying!”
Digging up the pipes? It had been so long that even if the phone had been flushed, who knew where it had ended up by now?
Elsie generously said, “It’s just a phone; no need to make such a fuss. Giana, I’ll buy you a new one.”
She pulled out her phone to place an order, but Giana protested, “Ms. Elsie, it’s not about the phone—I just need the contacts stored in it…”
Owen, growing increasingly irritated, ordered, “Check the surveillance footage.”
Every corner of the house was under surveillance. It would be easy to find out the truth.
Giana, however, was relentless. “But there are no cameras in the bathroom! Ms. Yunice exploited this loophole so the footage won’t show anything.”
A brief silence followed.
Paul clenched his fingers slightly and suggested, “Then why don’t we just ask Yunice herself?”
Owen, his face grim, agreed. “Go call Yunice.”
A few minutes later, Yunice sluggishly emerged from her room.
Paul turned his head and saw her hair tied in a ponytail, dressed simply in a white T-shirt. It reminded him of their school days when they used to sit together.
The nostalgia softened his emotions, and he instinctively wanted to greet her casually when she passed by.
But Yunice didn’t even spare him a glance.
His smile stiffened at the corners of his lips. Feeling ignored, Paul’s expression darkened as he turned back to sit properly.
Owen didn’t wait for Yunice to get closer before demanding harshly, “Have you ever gone without food or clothing in this house? Why did you steal Giana’s phone!”
Yunice’s steps faltered as she realized Owen hadn’t even given her the chance to sit.
Everyone else sat comfortably while she and Giana stood under judgment.
Yunice sighed. “I didn’t steal it.”
Owen continued to ask, “So you’re saying you’ve been falsely accused? Why would Giana accuse you and no one else?”
Yunice was speechless.
“Since you won’t say it, I will,” Owen continued. “You stole it because I didn’t prepare a phone for you, so you wanted to humiliate me!”
It had just dawned on Owen that he hadn’t arranged for Yunice’s daily necessities.
His voice turned even colder. “I can’t believe that after three years, your grudge is still this strong. If someone doesn’t give you something, you’d rather destroy it.”
Elsie got up and patted Owen’s back to calm him down, speaking to Yunice with concern. “Yunice, Owen works hard to support the family. He’s just been too busy to think about these things. Don’t be mad at him.”
Hearing this, Owen sighed. If only Yunice were half as considerate as Elsie.
Giana, however, refused to let it go. “Ms. Elsie, you shouldn’t cover for Ms. Yunice! She has to admit her mistake today, or else the whole Saunders family will be cleaned out!”
Owen turned to her and asked coldly, “What do you mean?”
Elsie hesitated, as if she didn’t want Giana to say more, but Giana righteously declared, “If I was wronged about my phone, then what about Ms. Elsie’s bracelet worth a million? Will Ms. Yunice deny taking that too?”
Paul glanced at Elsie biting her lip, his gaze darkening. Yunice still hadn’t changed her habit of stealing?
Three years ago, gifts I had given Elsie would frequently disappear, only to show up in Yunice’s possession.
At first, I didn’t believe Yunice would steal. But after it happened repeatedly, I realized that Yunice wasn’t stealing out of greed—she was jealous.
At first, I found the possessiveness endearing. But over time, I felt she was too controlling, and my heart gradually leaned towards the kinder, more considerate Elsie.
And since Yunice only ever took Elsie’s things, Paul hadn’t thought much about it.
But now, this was different.
Ignoring the contemptuous looks from the others, Yunice turned to Elsie and asked, “What did your bracelet look like?”
Giana immediately chimed in, “It was an eighteen-bead bracelet made of rare jade!”
Owen’s eyes flickered slightly, and Yunice mused, “Were the beads also engraved with the Confucian classics?”
Giana’s eyes lit up. She pointed at Yunice and exclaimed, “See, Mr. Owen! She must have stolen it—how else would she know such details?”
Paul, irritated by Giana’s shrill accusations, scoffed, “Because the bracelet was hers to begin with. Of course, she knows what it looks like.”
Elsie looked at Paul in surprise. Why was he defending Yunice again?
And if even Paul knew the truth, then Owen certainly did as well.
That bracelet had been gifted to Yunice by Dad years ago, when she had suffered from a severe fever. It was meant as a talisman for her safety.
Realizing the shift in momentum, Giana quickly changed her argument. “Even if it was hers, she should have asked Ms. Elsie before taking it! Her things were in Ms. Elsie’s room. Taking without asking is stealing!”
At these words, the room fell into dead silence.
Because everyone knew.
Not only did the bracelet belong to Yunice, but the room had originally been hers too.
How could taking one’s own belongings from their own room be considered stealing?