Chapter 4

"Oh?" Sally's cool voice cut through the noise.

I turned to her. "You know me. I'm not that kind of person…"

Without a word, she grabbed my wrists and pulled back my sleeve, revealing the diamond-studded gold watch beneath it.

The classroom fell silent.

Then someone gasped.

"Oh my god… that's a discontinued collector's piece! How could Adrian possibly own something like that?"

"I knew you stole it! Take it off and return it to Henry!"

The crowd surged toward me, grabbing my arm and trying to rip the watch away.

"Don't touch it!" I screamed. "It was my dad's!"

Dad came from a family of opera singers.

The watch had been passed down for generations—from my great-grandfather to my grandfather, then to Dad.

Even after Mom froze our bank accounts, Dad never considered selling it.

Once, Ethan saw the watch and couldn't stop talking about it. So Mom hired a world-renowned watchmaker from overseas to create an even more expensive replica.

She even had a smaller matching version made for Henry. Meanwhile, she wore a matching couple's version herself.

No one believed my words.

"You're rotten to the core. Are you seriously still denying it now?"

"Like father, like son. Even if your dad gave the watch to you, maybe he stole it in the first place!"

They ripped the watch off my wrist and handed it to Henry.

As Henry turned it over, he paused when he noticed Dad's engraved initials. Then, without missing a beat, he slipped it onto his own wrist.

"Adrian, you've really gone too far this time. Good thing we found it now. Otherwise, at your age, you could've ended up in jail."

"Henry, you're too nice. If it were me, I'd have pressed charges!"

The crowd gathered around him, admiring the watch.

"The craftsmanship is incredible. I wish Ms. Kelly were my mom."

Sally sat quietly nearby. Seeing Henry smile, the corners of her lips curled up ever so slightly.

Meanwhile, I stood frozen, my eyes burning with rage. Watching Dad's keepsake being treated like a toy, I finally lost control.

"Give it back!"

Desks and chairs crashed onto the floor.

Henry hit the ground hard.

By the time the class committee members dragged my bruised and battered body home, Henry had already called Mom to complain.

The corner of his mouth was slightly swollen—the only injury he'd gotten from falling after being shoved.

As for myself, I was covered in bruises from the beating my classmates had given me, yet I was the one being forced to apologize.

One of Henry's friends shouted, "Adrian, apologize to Ms. Kelly! You stole her son's watch and then assaulted him. You're lucky they're only asking for an apology instead of calling the police!"

Mom stared at me in disbelief.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth, looked her straight in the eye, and asked, "Since when did Henry become her son?"

Everyone froze.

The class committee members exchanged confused glances.

"Adrian, are you serious? Ms. Kelly kept her marriage private for years. How would you know if Henry isn't her son?"

"Well?" I let out a scoff and turned to Mom. "Tell us, Ms. Kelly. Who exactly is your son?"

I saw her fists clench.

The next second, her hand struck my face. "Is this how you speak to your mother?"

Her words stunned everyone.

A second later, their eyes widened.

"Adrian… is Ms. Kelly's son?"

Mom shot me a look of bitter disappointment before turning to my classmates and bowing apologetically. "I'm sorry for the trouble he's caused.

"Adrian is my adopted son. Ever since we took him in, he's been manipulative and calculating. I failed him as a parent. That's on me."

The class committee members covered their mouths in shock.

"So… Ms. Kelly's been supporting Adrian all this time?"