Chapter 1

"Eli, is Victoria still not coming over?" Dad asked me anxiously.

Ever since my father-in-law, Lawrence Richards, fell ill and was hospitalized, Dad had been helping me take care of him as well.

"What is she doing? If she doesn't come back soon, she won't even make it in time to attend her father's funeral!"

I looked at my call logs. The call had failed to go through yet again. Sighing, I replied, "She's not coming back. Let's take care of Lawrence's funeral arrangements ourselves."

The news of Lawrence's death quickly sent shockwaves throughout the entire city. I was going through his belongings when Victoria suddenly took me off her blocklist.

"Who gave you the nerve to spread such awful rumors about my dad? So what if I didn't send money for your father's medical bills in time? What's the big deal?

"Simon has already looked into it. Your father wasn't suffering from some urgent condition anyway, but the watch Simon wanted was about to be sold out if he missed it by even a second!

"And just for that, you went around cursing your own father-in-law? You've crossed the line!"

"Victoria!" I was furious. "Your dad really is dead!"

Victoria simply scoffed at me. "Eli, my dad has always been in excellent health. I check his medical checkup reports every month. I know exactly how he's doing."

"But he suffered from an acute condition and—"

"That's enough! I know you're angry that I bought Simon a watch, but he's been doing well at work lately. I was just giving one of my employees a reward. Even if you're jealous, you shouldn't resort to such a despicable trick!" Victoria snapped at me.

"I'll forgive you this time, but if you do this again, I'm filing for a divorce!"

She dropped the call on me. Moments later, I got a message. Five million dollars had been transferred to my account.

I transferred it right back and sent her a message. "I don't need it anymore."

Victoria never replied.

I had Lawrence's body taken to the funeral home. After receiving his urn, I paid my respects to him with Dad before taking Dad home.

But soon after that, Dad called me in a panic. "Eli! Someone's tearing down the house! They smashed your mother's belongings, and now they're even attacking me!"

I rushed back to Dad's place as quickly as possible, only to see that a massive excavator had already demolished half of the old house where Dad had lived for more than 40 years.

Dad was kneeling in the dirt, covered in dust, desperately trying to crawl back inside.

"Stop! You can't demolish the house! My wife's belongings are still in there!"

But the burly foreman grabbed Dad by the collar and dragged him away. "Get the hell out of the way, you old bastard! Ms. Richards personally ordered this place to be demolished, and you still dare to get in the way? What, you think you're not getting paid enough?"

"Dad!" I rushed forward and shoved the man away before wiping the blood and dirt from Dad's face.