Chapter 3

I angrily slammed my fist against the wall.

"They don't know anything about construction!" I exclaimed at Officer Burton. "That housing project is the hope of over a thousand families in town! You can't let them mess around with the things there!"

However, no matter how much I pleaded with the officers, the iron door remained shut. And for the next 48 hours, I was locked up in the cramped interrogation room.

Every second was torture. My mind was filled with the millions of dollars' worth of waterproofing materials and the impending thunderstorm.

The iron door was finally unlocked early on the third day. Officer Burton walked in, his face grim, as he held a stamped and notarized document in his hands.

"The test results are in, Mr. Sanford. All of your building materials meet the standards and even exceed the national standard for excellence. You're now released without any charges."

I shot to my feet at once, nearly falling down as my legs gave way.

"What about the construction site? What about the construction materials?"

Officer Burton's eyes darted around, refusing to meet my gaze as he said in a heavy tone, "There was a massive downpour last night, and your mother and uncle tore down all the waterproofing tarpaulins in the warehouse to showcase the so-called inferior materials on their live stream.

"That batch of top-grade waterproofing material… They're all destroyed."

I immediately rushed out of the police station like a madman, hailed a cab, and headed straight for the construction site.

It was still raining quite heavily, with gray overcast clouds in the sky.

I could see that the construction site was crowded with people, even from afar. Several excavators were brutally shovelling away the waterproofing materials that were already soaked to a pulp by the heavy rain.

I pushed through the crowd and rushed in. The scene before me made my eyes widen in horror.

The top-grade materials I had mortgaged my house for, the ones that I'd worked myself to the bone to obtain, were now all lying in the mud like trash.

Mom was holding a red umbrella over her head as she live-streamed on her phone.

"Look, everyone! This is the shoddy construction material that Kevin bought! All it took was just a bout of rain to turn it into this mush! If a house were built on this, it would crumble at the slightest breath!

"I will be taking matters into my own hands today and cleaning up all of this harmful, disgusting trash!"

Marco, who'd miraculously lost his crutches, was now directing the excavator operator. "Throw them over there. Yes, tear off those tarpaulins as well. We need to expose all the low-grade materials Kevin bought!"

I rushed up to Mom with red eyes and threw her phone to the mud on the ground. The screen smashed at once, and the live stream came to an abrupt halt.

"Diana Knowles! Do you know what the hell you've done?"

I pointed at the mess in the background and screamed hysterically at her, "That's premium waterproofing material! It was meant for waterproofing the basement! But you tore off the tarpaulin and ruined everything! The entire foundation will leak!"

Mom was stunned for just a second. Then, she flew into a horrible rage.

She slapped me hard on the cheek, and the muddy water splashed all over my face.

"You bastard! How dare you throw my phone to the ground! So what if you got out of detention? I bet you just got one of your connections to get you off the hook!

"Let me tell you that as long as I, Diana Knowles, am alive, you will never get to continue swindling and scamming other people with this shoddy construction project of yours!"

I ignored her and rushed toward the scaffolding.

There were still a few bags of care hardener that hadn't been affected by the rain. If I could cover them with a tarpaulin, I could perhaps still salvage some of the damage.

I climbed up the slippery scaffolding, using both hands and feet.

"Kevin Sanford, get down from there!" Mom screamed from below, shaking the base of the scaffolding violently. "How dare you still try to tamper with the things up there? I swear I will break both your legs today!"

The scaffolding shook violently. I clung tightly to the metal bars and gritted my teeth.

"Stop shaking! You're going to kill me!"

When Marco saw this, he didn't stop Mom but instead stepped forward and kicked a load-bearing metal bar holding the scaffolding up.

"Aunt Diana, he's going up there to destroy the evidence! Get him down and let's hand him back to the police!"

A muffled thud was heard. And then, the scaffolding, which was already somewhat unstable in the wet mud loosened by the rain, completely collapsed.

I felt my feet slip out under me. Then, the world spun.

"Kevin Sanford!"

There were screams in the audience as I fell from the three-story-high scaffolding onto the ground. The moment I landed on the ground, a vertically protruding rebar pierced into my left calf with pinpoint accuracy.

A searing pain immediately shot throughout my body. I didn't even manage to scream before my vision turned dark, and I nearly fainted from the excruciating pain.

Blood mixed with the mud on the ground and dyed the surrounding area a deep crimson color.

The workers around me got a massive shock. They rushed up to me, wanting to help me up, but Mom stared at my convulsing form in the pool of blood and yelled, "Nobody move! This is his karma for cutting corners with shoddy materials! He deserved it!

"Let him stay out in the rain as his punishment until he finally repents for his mistakes!"

Marco also got a huge fright. However, he quickly recovered and took out his phone to record me on camera instead.

"See this? This is what happens to unscrupulous businessmen like him! Even God can't tolerate him anymore and decided to punish him!"

I lay in the mud, feeling the excruciating pain in my calf with every slight movement of the rebar. However, the pain in my heart far surpassed the physical pain I was experiencing right now.

"Mom…" Blood frothed in my mouth as I spoke in the loudest whisper I could muster. "I am your son…"

Mom stared down at me from above and said sternly, "I, Diana Knowles, do not have a wicked and unscrupulous son like you. My son can only be an honest and upright person.

"But since you're none of that, then just pretend that I never gave birth to you at all."

…

The ambulance siren finally broke through the white noise of the rain. The paramedics forcibly pushed Mom aside and lifted me onto a stretcher.

Just as the ambulance doors were about to close, I looked through my blurry vision and saw Mom turning to Uncle Dan.

She said, "Hurry up and get out your contract. This project cannot stall. We need a reliable person to take over."

…

When I opened my eyes again, I saw a doctor standing at the foot of the hospital bed, holding my medical records with a grave expression on his face.

"The steel bar pierced through your shin and damaged a major nerve. We did save your leg, but…"

He hesitated for a while, his tone tinged with regret.

"You will most likely be permanently disabled from now on. You can't do any heavy work anymore, and you'll always be walking with a limp."