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Chapter 3

Author: Puffy Rings
After selling my blood just to stay alive, something in me changed for good.

I stopped sending my father those desperate messages. I still turned in the weekly reports, but they were nothing but copy-pasted filler, empty words that said nothing.

I started taking on every job I could find.

Picking up packages for people, bussing trays in the dining hall, tutoring on weekends, even posing as a paid model for art students.

If it made money and wasn't illegal, I did it.

One afternoon, right after I got back from a tutoring session, I saw my father standing outside my dorm building.

The moment he spotted me, he raised his voice. "Walter!"

My chest tightened.

"I hear you've been very busy lately." He walked up to me.

"Running side gigs unrelated to your primary responsibilities. Did you think the contract was just for show? If your Aunt Cecelia hadn't told me, I wouldn't even know you had the nerve to take on private work behind my back!"

My aunt, Cecelia Baker, lived nearby, so it made sense she knew.

People around us had already started to look over.

"I need money to live," I said quietly, fists clenched.

"Need money? What about your base salary?"

"You suspended it."

He let out a cold laugh, his voice rising sharply.

"I suspended it because your performance didn't meet standards. You made mistakes, showed no remorse, and now you're secretly generating secondary income and setting up a private fund? This is a serious violation."

More people stopped to watch. My face burned. I wanted to disappear into the ground.

"Dad, can we talk about this somewhere else?"

"Somewhere else? Why? What's there to hide? I'm going to audit your personal account right now."

He yanked my backpack off my shoulder and dumped everything onto the ground in front of everyone.

My books, notes, and a pen fell out, along with the 400 dollars I had just earned from tutoring, along with the debit card that held every dollar I had bled for.

He picked up the card and sneered.

"Just as I thought. Walter, you've got some nerve."

"Give it back!" My eyes burned red.

That was my lifeline.

He stepped back, gripping the card and the cash tightly.

"According to company policy, all unauthorized income will be confiscated. This card will also be frozen until you fully recognize your mistake."

After he finished lecturing me, he walked off with every dollar I had.

I crouched there, picking my things up one by one, tears falling like they wouldn't stop.

Now, the clause in that contract about a ten-thousand-dollar bonus for winning a national merit scholarship had become my only way to survive.

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  • Surviving My Father’s KPIs   Chapter 10

    My father and Harry lost everything.My father got fired. Neighbors whispered behind their backs. In the end, even their landlord kicked them out, saying they were "hurting the community environment."Relatives who used to line up to flatter them now avoided them like the plague.On a stormy night, they showed up outside my upscale apartment building.Through the glass doors, my father saw me and kneeled right there, begging for forgiveness.He slapped his own face over and over, crying like he was breaking apart."Walter, I was wrong! I'm sorry! I don't know what I was thinking. I'm not even human. I'm a terrible father. Please, just forgive me this once."Harry kneeled beside him, his head lowered and his eyes hollow.His voice shook as he pleaded, "I messed up. I don't want to end up working security… My life isn't supposed to end like this…"I gave a small nod to the security guard at the entrance."Let them in."I poured them each a cup of hot water and sat across from

  • Surviving My Father’s KPIs   Chapter 9

    The news that Harry had been hit with a major disciplinary strike and was facing possible expulsion crushed my father.He didn't contact me for a full day.I thought maybe he had finally accepted reality. I was wrong.The next day, a video blew up on social media.In it, my dad sat in front of the camera, crying so hard that he could barely speak.He accused me of cashing in on a massive inheritance after getting into a top university, then turning my back on my family, suing my own father and brother, and even having my brother beaten badly enough to land in the hospital.There wasn't a word about the insane KPI contract, about how he cut off my living expenses, and how he refused me money when I had a fever.At the end of the video, he covered his face and choked out, "I don't know what I did wrong. I just wanted my kids to be okay. Now my family's gone, and my son's about to get expelled… What's the point of me even living anymore?"It was a flawless performance.And it w

  • Surviving My Father’s KPIs   Chapter 8

    My father's "blood is thicker than water" tactic didn't work on me, but that didn't mean he gave up. He just switched strategies.This time, he used Harry.One evening, I got a call from an unknown number."Walter! Where are you? Dad froze my card! I can't keep going to my prep classes!"The second I heard his voice, I shut it down. "Didn't I already tell you? Your problems have nothing to do with me.""How is it nothing to do with you? Dad said you're holding Mom's inheritance, and now you don't care about us anymore! Don't be so selfish, okay? I'm your brother. If you don't help me, who will? You've got money now. What's a few thousand dollars to you?" he yelled. The entitlement in his voice was unreal."Oh, really?" I shot back. "Didn't he tell you that inheritance belongs to me alone? As for your tuition, that's his responsibility, not mine. Don't call me again."I hung up.Just like I expected, the next day, while I was eating in the campus dining hall, Harry showed up w

  • Surviving My Father’s KPIs   Chapter 7

    My new phone was set up quickly, and Tony sent the message to my father exactly as I had instructed.With Tony's help, I used an advance on my dividends to rent a fully furnished apartment downtown.Over on my father's side, things blew up exactly the way I expected. I shut off my old phone. The new one only accepted calls from Tony and a few people I trusted.Even so, calls and messages from relatives flooded in nonstop.The first call was my father, screaming like he had lost his mind."Walter, what the hell is this supposed to mean?! You hired a lawyer? You think you're all grown now?"The second was Aunt Cecelia, laying on the guilt."Walter, your father's so angry he's about to get a heart attack! How could you take your own dad to court? Have you been led astray by people outside? For all it's worth, he raised you for 18 years. He fed you, clothed you. You can't be this cruel!"Tony recorded every call and calmly informed them that all matters should go through legal chan

  • Surviving My Father’s KPIs   Chapter 6

    My mother? An inheritance?I froze. "That's not possible. My dad said… The money was already gone.""Mr. Lionel did manage a portion of the liquid funds, but that was only a small part," Tony said calmly. "Before your mother passed away ten years ago, she entrusted our firm with notarizing a special will. She anticipated certain possibilities, so the conditions for activation were specific.""What conditions?" I held my breath."You had to turn 18, and there had to be an irreconcilable conflict between you and your father, both financially and in daily life." Tony paused. "Ms. Reagan believed that only then would you truly need this protection."A chill ran down my spine.My mother had seen all of this coming."Then… What exactly is the inheritance?" My palms were sweating."Your mother left you a 30% stake in a cultural media company called Everglory Media. Based on current market evaluations, the company maintains an annual profit of over 2.5 million dollars. Your thirty perc

  • Surviving My Father’s KPIs   Chapter 5

    "You're done?"My father's voice shot up."Walter, get this straight. You're the one who can't live without me. Not the other way around."Didn't I already confiscate your little stash? Do you even have a single dollar on you right now?"You want to walk away? Fine. Pay back 18 years of child-rearing costs, principal and interest. That's a million dollars. If you can come up with that, you can get out right now."If you can't, then you'd better stay in line and do as you're told!"A million!The number crushed down on me so hard that I could barely breathe. He wasn't trying to control me anymore. He was trying to bury me."I told you, a deal's a deal." Harry stood up and blocked my way. "If you don't have the money, don't act tough. Just apologize to Dad, and this will all blow over."My fists clenched so tightly that they hurt.My father glanced at me, cold and distant. "No dinner for you tonight. Go reflect on yourself. When you've figured things out, come find me."Then

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