Chapter 1

Gavin's POV

Mom coughed loudly.

Miles Pembroke looked up, saw that I was home, and hurried to change the subject.

"Mom, Dad, I got you guys a present."

He pulled out several custom figurines.

"Look, don't they look just like you? And here's me and Audrey. The whole family, all together."

The sour look Mom had been giving me vanished in an instant. Her face broke into a huge smile.

"Miles, you have so many expenses, and you still thought to buy your parents a gift. Unlike some people, who only think about themselves."

I couldn't help asking.

"Mom, doesn't Miles only make two thousand a month?"

Before she could answer, Miles waved his hand dramatically.

"Come on, Gavin, I only made that for two months. Quit teasing me.

"It wasn't nearly enough to live on, so I begged Dad to pay to get me into Norwood Industries!"

I froze. I knew that company. Getting a job there took at least a hundred thousand up front, plus connections.

But when I graduated and was looking for work, Dad had told me I had to make it on my own, that there was nothing he could do for me.

He said he'd lived an honest life and hated people who tried to buy their way in. It wasn't fair to everyone else.

So buying your way in wasn't wrong after all. It just depended on who it was for.

Dad was still holding the figurine, turning it over and over like he couldn't get enough of it.

"Miles is such a good son."

I slowly set down my fork.

A few months earlier, when I gave Dad the massager, he'd barely glanced at it before muttering, "I hear this brand doesn't work that well, but you already bought it. Just leave it over there."

That massager had cost me more than half a month's pay. He never even picked it up.

Miles gave him a figurine, and suddenly he was such a good son.

Watching Dad's eyes crinkle as he smiled at my brother, I suddenly felt like the biggest fool alive for ever playing the family pillar.

That was when Miles seemed to finally notice me.

"Oh, Gavin, I forgot to order yours!

"Audrey, this is your fault. You didn't remind me!"

My girlfriend, Audrey Bellamy, ruffled his hair, sounding amused.

"Fine, blame me. But it's okay. Your brother only cares about work. He doesn't like little things like this."

I looked at the latest smartwatch on Miles's wrist and the sneakers he swapped out every week, and I quietly lowered my eyes.

Was it really that I didn't like them? I just couldn't afford them.

When I first started working, Mom mentioned that the neighbor's son had bought his mother a gold necklace after his first month on the job. So I bought her one.

After that, every month there was something. New furniture. Bills to pay.

Mom said the house was expensive to run and asked me to contribute part of my salary every month. She'd save the rest for me. So I handed it over.

Whenever my coworkers invited me out to eat, I always said no.

One meal out cost as much as a week of my lunches.

Mom always told me, "Gavin, I'm doing this for your own good. If a man spends that much, how's he supposed to build a life?"

Only today did I realize Mom was afraid of me spending too much, while Miles actually earned more than I did.

And even so, she was still afraid he might be going without.

Miles opened his phone's camera and handed it to me.

"Gavin, if you don't mind, could you take a family picture of us with the figurines?"

He called a picture of the four of them a family picture, and nobody thought there was anything wrong with that.

I took the phone without a word. The moment I pressed the shutter, I made up my mind.

I didn't want to be the family pillar anymore.

From now on, the only person I intended to hold up was myself.