Chapter 2

Denise glared angrily at me like I didn't know what I was talking about or what was best for me.

"Fine!" I said with a nod, grabbing the housing purchase agreement and tearing it up into shreds.

"Since you say that Dmitri is the future of your family, then you and Nancy can go live with him for the rest of your lives! I'm done with this. I'm getting a divorce!"

"A divorce? Really, Aiken Collins? Why don't you just look at yourself in the mirror instead?" Denise called out.

I turned and strode out of the house while Denise continued screaming after me.

"Who else will still want a useless bastard like you once you've divorced me anyway? You're dirt poor and petty, and you have a daughter with leukemia who's going to drain all your savings anyway!"

I slammed the door shut behind me—that heavy, metal anti-theft door that had been sucking all the money out of me over the past ten years.

Now, it only served to block out all the evil coming from within.

I fished out my phone, which had its screen shattered, and made a call to a number that I hadn't dared to contact for five years despite saving it.

"Hello? Paul? It's me, Aiken.

"I'd like to come back to work in the research and development department, please. I don't mind starting over as an intern either."

Back then, when I needed to earn quick money for Nancy's treatment, I gave up my dream career as a researcher and began delivering food, parcels, working as an Uber driver, doing physical labor, and even selling my blood in the black market.

Now, I wanted to live like a normal human being again.

Half an hour later, Paul Wellington looked at me in great shock.

"What did you do to make yourself turn out like this?"

He quickly stuffed a wad of crumpled-up bills into my hand and said, "Take this. It's only about a thousand dollars. Go and settle yourself down first.

"We've already saved a spot in the technical R&D department for you. We all know about your plight. You're always welcome to return anytime."

I took the cash with trembling hands and nodded heavily.

I managed to rent a cheap apartment in a run-down building in a slightly more rural part of the city. The place was filled with mold, yet I couldn't have felt any more liberated at that moment.

I showered with ice-cold water and nibbled on some stale buns I'd gotten on sale as my dinner.

My phone vibrated just then. The called ID on the screen showed that it was Dmitri, the bastard who'd just used my hard-earned money to buy two mansions in the upscale part of town.

I answered the call.

There was a bout of fake laughter on the other end of the line.

"Come on, Aiken. Don't be mad. What's there to stay angry about between husband and wife?

"How about this? I'll transfer a hundred dollars to you so that you can have a good meal outside. You know that I've only just bought my house, and so, I'm a little tight at the moment. I hope you don't think that I'm being too stingy."

One hundred dollars.

Dmitri thought that he could use a measly hundred dollars to exchange for ten years of my hard-earned savings and Dad's kidney.

Before I could speak, however, I could hear Nancy's childish yet harsh words on the phone.

"Uncle Dmitri! Why are you even giving him any money?

"That bastard's only trying to scam you out of your money! Save it for your cigarettes instead!"

I could hear Denise agreeing with her afterward.

"Exactly. You're being too kind to him, Dimi. An ingrate like him deserves to die alone outside. There's no need to care about him!"

Dmitri sighed and sounded helpless on the phone.

"See, Aiken, it's not that I don't want to help you. You're just a huge disappointment for the entire family."

He hung up right after that.

A short while later, Denise uploaded a new story on her account.

It was a video with Lakeview Mansion as the background, the mansion that they had just paid for. There was a huge spread of roast ham, fresh lobster, mashed potatoes, and all the side dishes laid out on an extravagant table in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, paired with some expensive wine as well.

Denise held a wineglass in her hand, a rosy glow on her cheeks.

"Congrats, Dimi, for buying your new home! Finally, someone from the Sheridan family made it to the top!"

Nancy was smiling brightly while hugging Dmitri's leg.

"This is our home from now on! The air smells so much fresher now that Smelly Daddy isn't here anymore!"

At the end of the video, Dmitri posed at the camera with a "peace" sign, a provocative look in his eyes.

"By the way, Aiken, this lobster is so fresh and juicy, but unfortunately for you, you'll never be able to taste it. Enjoy your moldy bread!"

I set down my phone and took another bite of the stale bread in my hands. For some reason, I could taste something rusty and metallic in it.

Memories from three months ago surfaced in my mind.

It was a dark underground operating theater, and Dad was lying on a filthy operating table, all for the sake of purchasing the "specialized drug" worth 10,000 dollars needed for Nancy's treatment.

He sold his kidney for that.

Before Dad died, his scrawny hands gripped the hem of my shirt, his eyes pleading and hesitant.

"Ken… The money… Use it for Nini's…treatment… Don't make her suffer…"

Later that day, Denise held the blood money of 10,000 dollars in her hand and smiled as she said to me, "Dad passed peacefully. We should all be happy for him."