Chapter 1

“Ah! Mr. Ashford, don’t hit Alice and Abby!”

Cade Shaw, the housekeeper’s son, rushed over and shielded Alice and Abby.

I frowned when I saw him wearing the haute couture outfit Dad gave me.

“Someone, strip that outfit off him!”

“How dare you!”

Alice and Abby suddenly flew into a rage.

They pulled Cade behind them and glared at me with disdain.

“What kind of stunt are you pulling now?

“Oh, I know. You’re angry because we gave your plot of land in Southgate to Cade to build a water park, aren’t you?

“We didn’t ask for your permission, but did that give you the right to push Cade into the pool?

I shot my head up.

The plot of land in Southgate?

The one Dad had carefully planned for me despite his trembling hands when he was on his deathbed?

I had no time to argue about whether Cade had fallen into the pool on his own.

I grabbed Abby by the collar.

“What did you say?”

Abby shoved me away with a look of disdain.

“Cade hasn’t had a proper birthday in twenty years. What’s wrong with helping him fulfill a dream?”

Alice sneered as well.

“Ace, I advise you to be sensible. If you keep nitpicking and targeting Cade, you’ll have no value to us whatsoever.”

Before I could say anything, Cade suddenly knelt on the floor with tearful eyes.

“Mr. Ashford! This is my fault! I shouldn’t have casually mentioned that I wanted to visit a water park!

“I never got to enjoy the things you did when I was growing up. I was just envious, and I couldn’t stop myself from saying it!

“If you’re angry, blame me! I promise I’ll never say things like that again!”

He then slapped himself twice.

“Smack! Smack!”

Alice and Abby hurriedly caught his hand before he could strike himself a third time.

“That’s enough! Ace was spoiled by your affection and treated you and your mother badly. How could this be your fault?”

They frowned at me.

“Kneel down and apologize to Cade right now, or don’t blame us for cutting you off as our brother!”

Cade tugged at their sleeves with tearful eyes.

“Alice, Abby, please don’t fall out with Mr. Ashford because of me. I—I came into your lives later. He was your brother first…”

“Cade…”

The two of them looked at him with aching affection.

“When the bond is real, it doesn’t matter who came first.”

“That’s right. Ace was the reason we didn’t meet you sooner. A vicious man like him deserved to atone for what he did to you.”

She glared at me angrily. “Didn’t you understand? Kneel!”

Cade made a half-hearted attempt to grab their sleeves and lowered his head.

Yet the moment he did, he cast me an almost imperceptible glance, a cold sneer curling at the corner of his lips.

As I watched my two sisters fume with righteous indignation, I was so furious that I laughed instead.

The two women who had once been reduced to kneeling and catching my cigarette ash in their hands now dared to order me around?

Cade, whom I had once taken by the hand to every major amusement park in the world, could now claim that he had never experienced the things I had?