Chapter 4

"Fine!" Paul snapped, his eyes turning vicious as he glared at me.

In a fit of fury, he roared, "If you won't give it up, then get out of the Bishop family. We're disowning you!"

Even though I'd braced myself for this, now that the moment had actually come, my heart still throbbed with pain.

So it was true—my own parents had never once regarded me as their real son.

In their eyes, I was nothing more than an unwanted extra.

Even now, casting me out, they still had to protect Victor to the bitter end.

I took a deep breath and let out a bitter smile. "Fine. From now on, I'm no longer a part of the Bishop family. Whatever happens to me has nothing to do with you anymore."

With that cold declaration, I turned and strode away.

"Noah, stop right there!" Jenna shouted.

She bit her lip, her eyes reddening as she tried to chase after me, but Paul grabbed her wrist.

His face twisted with malice as he bellowed, "Let him go! Keeping an ingrate like that around is nothing but trouble! I'd like to see what trash he becomes without our support!"

Paul thought threatening to disown me would scare me.

Little did he know, his little display was nothing but pathetic to me.

For ten years, he'd never once acknowledged me as his son in front of others.

Even when I was home, I still slept in the storage room. I never had a bedroom of my own.

Whatever meals the family made were always whatever Victor liked to eat.

My new clothes and shoes were always just hand-me-downs he'd already worn and didn't want anymore.

Back when they had me come work at the company, it was only as an ordinary intern. I was never given any special treatment.

The employees there even assumed I came from a poor family and went out of their way to look out for me.

Little did they know, I was actually the chairman's biological son.

Paul and Jenna had never once fulfilled their duties and responsibilities as parents. They made sure I suffered at every turn.

And now they actually believed that disowning me would make me hand over my one chance to change my fate to Victor.

How laughable, and how shameless of them.

I went back to my room, intending to pack up my things and leave.

But when I picked up my suitcase, I realized that I didn't actually have anything worth taking.

Just then, a sudden cry of alarm rang out from beyond the door.

I pushed the door open and found Victor collapsed on the floor. His face was deathly pale, and his lips had gone purple.

In my past life, it was on this very day that he was diagnosed with kidney disease.

Paul and Jenna had me packed off to the hospital that same night. They wanted me to undergo surgery to donate a kidney to him.

The surgery had been a success, but I ended up lying in the hospital bed, unconscious for three days, due to a bacterial infection.

The whole time, Paul and Jenna stayed glued to Victor's bedside. They didn't so much as glance at me once.

They even said that donating a kidney to Victor was an honor I should be grateful for.

I had given so much for him and this family.

But in the end, what I got in return was an early death. I was gone from this world while still young.

All of it caused by their favoritism, and Victor's schemes.

Now that I had a second chance at life, I'd never again let anyone else dictate the course of it.

I grabbed the exchange student approval form and slung my backpack over my shoulder. Without a single backward glance, I walked out of that cold, loveless house.

With the two thousand dollars I had left to my name, I rented a tiny single room.

Inside there was just a bed and a desk.

And yet, even so, it still felt far warmer to me than that cold, indifferent house ever had.

I studied hard and worked part-time jobs to support myself.

Half a month later, my application was finally approved.

I stood at the airport entrance, my heart pounding with excitement. As long as I had the chance to study abroad, I was certain that I could change my fate through my own effort.

But just then, uninvited guests showed up.