Chapter 2

They wanted me to become like the man who had taken over my body, willingly handling everything for them while pleading for their sympathy.

They wanted me to beg for their sympathy by letting them abuse me.

Instead, I merely lifted my chin.

“Before we cut ties for good, someone take all of them to Southgate!”

The three of them froze.

I stared at them coldly.

“You’d better pray that damned water park hasn’t been built yet!”

…

As soon as we reached Southgate, the enormous water park made it hard for me to breathe.

The starry-sky art complex Dad designed for me was nowhere to be seen.

The patterns he painstakingly drew, and the artwork he struggled to create for me while hooked up to a ventilator, had all been reduced to dust.

“After people die, they become stars.

“Son, you’ll be able to see the stars whenever you look up inside the buildings I designed.

“If you miss me, go there and take a look.

“I’ll always be with you as a star…”

“Dad…”

My eyes reddened, and tears threatened to spill over.

“Dad!”

But the entire plot of land had been taken over by Cade’s water park.

The hundreds of square meters served only Cade.

Dad’s starry sky… was gone.

Dad’s stars… had fallen, too.

“Ace! Let go of us!”

Alice and Abby were still furious, while Cade’s eyes had also turned red.

“Mr. Ashford… If you’re angry, blame me. I was the one who wanted to play at the water park. Their mistake was only loving me too much…”

I seized him by the throat and leaned over him as he stared at me in shock.

“You like playing at water parks. You can’t swim, can you?”

Cade’s eyes widened.

Before he could say anything, I clapped my hands.

“Raise the water level by fifty centimeters. Cade is going to try the high-altitude water slide!”

“What? No!”

Cade screamed.

The water slide stood more than a hundred meters high.

Alice and Abby flew into a rage.

“Ace! Raise the water level by fifty centimeters? Are you trying to drown Cade?”

“Stop! You’re insane! Do you really think we won’t have a formal agreement drawn up to cut ties with you right now?”

I had someone bring over a chair and sat down, ignoring their shouting.

“Take my two adoptive sisters over there. Let them watch their nanny’s son enjoy the slide they designed!”

“What?”

The two women’s eyes widened.

“No! Alice! Abby! Save me!”

Cade was dragged onto the slide.

The two women looked ready to tear the world apart as they struggled against the bodyguards, but their efforts were useless.

“Ah!”

His scream rang out as he plunged from the sky.

Cade shot down from a hundred meters in the air and crashed into the pool with a loud splash. He sank heavily beneath the water.

The lifeguard could have pulled him out in time.

Instead, he deliberately let several seconds pass while watching his watch before finally going over and dragging Cade out.

Cade had barely caught his breath when the bodyguards onshore dragged him back up the stairs.

“Cade!”

The two women screamed themselves hoarse.

They watched as Cade plunged into the water, swallowed mouthfuls of it, got rescued, and was dragged back up again and again.

The slide had been poorly designed, so Cade was injured every time he went down.

By the tenth time, there wasn’t a patch of uninjured skin left on his body.

“No more… I don’t want to do this anymore! Mr. Ashford! I’m done!”

Cade burst into tears.

I merely raised a hand, and the bodyguards dragged him up again.

“Ace!”

The two women ground their teeth in fury. “Stop this right now, or we’ll never forgive you!”

“We’ll have nothing to do with you for the rest of our lives! I’ll make you wish you were dead!”

I cast them a cool glance.

“Have you been spoiled rotten by life here?”