Chapter 2

"My phone's broken, Mr. Langdon!" Uncle Steve exclaimed. "I just broke it this morning."

Dominic shot a look at his subordinates, prompting two of them to lunge at Uncle Steve. They pinned him to the ground and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

The screen was lit up. It looked perfectly fine.

Kevin grabbed Uncle Steve's hand and forced him to unlock his phone using his fingerprint. He then navigated to the camera surveillance app and played the footage from earlier that morning.

Uncle Steve was holding his phone as he gave me his orders.

"Take this 800 dollars and buy something cheap, Caleb. Dominic's just a country bumpkin. He won't be able to tell the difference between premium and low-grade seafood."

Uncle Steve's voice resounded clearly from the recording.

A steely expression crossed Dominic's face. He stepped on Uncle Steve's face and hissed, "A country bumpkin, you say?"

Uncle Steve squealed in terror. "I was wrong, Mr. Langdon! I was spouting nonsense because I had too much to drink!"

Dominic turned to look at me. "You're quite bold, brat. How dare you buy canned sardines and crayfish to be served during my birthday banquet?"

I looked into Dominic's eyes and said, "I could only buy those with the 800 dollars that I had, Mr. Langdon. But if I had bought more expensive seafood, then I would be colluding with Steve to pull the wool over your eyes. I only caused a fuss because I wanted you to know his true nature."

Dominic scoffed. "You must think that you're so smart. You still ruined my 80th birthday banquet. What are you going to do about that?"

"The banquet hasn't started yet, Mr. Langdon," I said while looking at him. "There's still enough time left for me to buy the premium seafood that you want."

Dominic retracted his knife and asked, "And where will we get the money to pay for the seafood?"

I pointed at Uncle Steve and said, "From him. Force him to return the 80,000 dollars that he embezzled."

Uncle Steve struggled wildly on the ground, exclaiming, "I don't have any money. Your money's not with me!"

Dominic ground his foot into his face. "Where's the money?" he demanded.

Uncle Steve's eyes rolled to the back of his head from the pain.

Meanwhile, Jordan fell to his knees with a loud thud and shouted, "Caleb's the one who stole your money, Mr. Langdon!"

I was stunned.

Tears streamed down Jordan's face as he pointed at me and exclaimed, "Earlier this morning, Caleb stole the 80,000 dollars from Dad's drawer when he went to the restroom. He then intentionally used 800 dollars to buy canned sardines and crayfish just so he could pin the blame on Dad!"

I barked out an indignant laugh.

"You should make sure that your story is logical before you weave your web of lies, Jordan. Why would I be standing here and risking capture right now if I did steal the 80,000 dollars?"

Jordan pulled out something from his pocket and said, "Look, Mr. Langdon! This is a photo from when Caleb deposited money into his account earlier this morning."

Kevin took the photo from Jordan and handed it to Dominic.

Dominic briefly glanced at it before throwing it at my feet.

The photo clearly showed me depositing money at the bank counter. The amount was 80,000 dollars.

It was true that I had deposited money into my bank account earlier that morning. However, that money was meant to pay Mom's medical bills. I had only managed to collect that sum after making food deliveries for six months on top of borrowing money from my friends and relatives.

I glared at Jordan. "You followed me?"

Jordan scoffed. "Just admit it, Caleb. You stole Dad's money and deposited it into your own account!"

Uncle Steve also chimed in, "Look, Mr. Langdon. I told you that he's an ungrateful bastard! His mother is hospitalized. He stole your seafood money because he didn't have enough money to pay her medical bills!"

Dominic's gaze slowly turned glacial as he stared at me. "What do you have to say for yourself, brat?"

I gritted my teeth. "That money doesn't belong to him! It's meant for my mother's medical bills! Do you dare swear that the money belongs to you, Steve Cutterson?"

"Who else could it belong to me but me?" Uncle Steve demanded in a self-righteous tone. "How could you possibly save up 80,000 dollars when you're just a food deliveryman?

"You should ask him to hand over his bank card, Mr. Langdon. The truth will come to light once you check his account."

Kevin strode over to me and clamped his hand on my shoulder, asking, "Where's your card?"

I immediately covered my pocket and exclaimed, "I need this money to save my mother's life! You can't mess with it!"

Jordan lunged at me and delivered a kick to my stomach.

I let out a muffled groan and doubled over, giving Jordan an opening to reach his hand into my pocket. I bit his wrist in retaliation.

Jordan yelped in pain before he shoved me away. He then raised his metal bat and smashed it against my back.

I crumpled to the floor, tasting blood in my throat.

Uncle Steve crawled back up to his feet and stepped on my hand. "How dare you bite my son, you beast?"

He bent over and pulled out my wallet from my pocket. He then retrieved my bank card and offered it to Dominic with both hands. "Here's his card, Mr. Langdon."