Chapter 1

Darren's POV

I was dragging a thug by the hair and kicking him viciously in the groin when my wealthy birth parents, Josiah Gunther and Yvonne Jackson, walked in on me after tracking me down.

"How dare you cheat on my friend with some side chick and have the nerve to come back and boss her around? Did you leave your brain somewhere?"

I nearly beat the thug to a pulp in front of Josiah and Yvonne, who, just moments ago, had been crying tears of joy over finding their long-lost son. I ended up turning them into two dumbfounded bystanders.

I clapped my hands together in satisfaction once I noticed that the thug couldn't get back on his feet.

I turned to my parents, who were dressed to the nines, and said, "I was kidnapped for so many years, and the orphanage was less than 60 miles away from you. I find it hard to believe that it took you guys 20 years just to find me. I think you never even wanted to find me in the first place."

Josiah and Yvonne looked visibly flustered for a moment. After all, as members of the upper class, they had never had anyone speak to them so crudely before.

I asked, "Didn't you come here to reunite with your biological son? Do you plan to go through with it or not?"

Josiah and Yvonne finally snapped out of it. Yvonne walked over, took my hand, and said, "We finally found you after all this time, Darren."

They kept saying that they loved me, but in my past life, they had been the ones to drive me into the abyss.

I stared intently at them, my eyes brimming with hatred. If they didn't like me being the obedient one, then I figured I might as well stop pretending this time.

I yanked my hand out of Yvonne's grip and said coldly, "I'm your biological son. Now that we've been reunited, you should at least give me a welcome gift."

I reached out my hand and said, "I hear your family has plenty of money, so give me 450 thousand dollars."

Josiah scowled and cast a confused glance over me. "What are you going to do with that much money?"

I replied flatly, "I suffered so much mistreatment in that orphanage over the years. Now that I've got someone backing me, I'm naturally going to get my revenge."

Josiah looked visibly annoyed as he said, "How could you still be hung up on something that happened years ago? That's not how a Gunther should behave—we're not that petty."

I ignored the gazes of the passersby around us and lifted my shirt to show the ugly surgical scar along my ribs, then rolled up my sleeves to let them see the cigarette burn marks on my arms.

"I got this scar from the surgery I needed after the orphanage director broke my ribs with a kick. Your son went missing for 20 years and has one fewer rib than everyone else. You really think that's no big deal?

"I got these cigarette burn marks when that creep tried to molest me. He burned me out of spite just because I fought back. Do you think I'm being petty?

"Do you know that a girl in the orphanage nearly got destroyed by that creep just because she was trying to protect me? She's still locked up like a dog in a mental asylum right now! How could I not hold a grudge over that?"

Yvonne burst into tears on the spot. She reached out to touch the terrible scar on my waist but pulled her hand back like she'd gotten an electric shock the moment she made contact. She was terrified that even a light touch would hurt me.