Chapter 3

As soon as I entered the event hall, all the reporters approached me.

“You haven’t been seen in years. Everyone is really curious about how things stand between you, the biological son of the Xander family, and Cameron, the adopted one. Have you two made up yet?”

My mother shoved a piece of paper into my hand and commanded in a low voice. “Read it exactly as written.”

I lowered my head and glanced at the paper.

[I was never kidnapped. I wandered off back then because I was being playful. Cameron’s mother took me in out of kindness. She treated me very well, and I owe her everything. After I came home, I was so jealous of Cameron that I bullied him constantly. I honestly don’t even deserve to be called a person. The reason I stayed away all these years is that I’ve been reflecting on my actions.]

My father urged me, “Just read it already!”

“You want us to reconcile?”

I crumpled the paper before tearing it to shreds in front of everyone.

“Why would I make up with the son of a kidnapper who abused me?”

The entire hall fell silent. Even the camera flashes stopped for a moment.

I stared daggers at Cameron and gritted my teeth.

“How about you tell everyone yourself? Twenty years of stealing my life wasn’t enough for you. You also have to be a homewrecker too and steal both my wife and child?”

Everyone in the event hall gasped as they shifted their gaze to Cameron.

His face turned pale instantly. The next second, tears welled up in his eyes as he put on a wronged and pitiful expression that I knew too well.

“Jude, why do you have to slander me again?”

He took a marriage certificate out of his bag.

“I’m clearly Laurel’s legal husband. You’re the one who’s the homewrecker.”

My heart sank. I rushed over and snatched the paper. The marriage certificate clearly stated Laurel’s and Cameron’s names. So that was why I was never allowed to look at our certificate! Laurel kept me from seeing it by saying that such a precious thing should not be taken out of the safe.

My blood ran cold as I stiffly turned to look at her.

“Jude, a title doesn’t matter at all. As long as you know I love you, that’s enough. Come to think of it, you were the one who stole Cameron’s identity as the Xander family’s only son. We had to give him another identity so he could stand on his own two feet in Harbor City,” Laurel said matter-of-factly.

“I’m sorry, everyone. Please excuse us. Jude hasn’t been mentally well for years. He has delusions. Don’t take anything he says seriously.”

As soon as Maeve said these words, everyone looked at me in disgust.

“So he’s a psycho! I knew there was no way Ms. Jinks would be involved with a guy like that.”

A little boy suddenly rushed out from the crowd. He slammed his head into me and knocked me to the floor.

“You shameless, disgusting man! You’re not allowed to bully my dad!”

With just one look, I knew he was my Noah. My whole body trembled. I instinctively tried to hug him, but Maeve yanked me backwards.

Her fingernails dug deep into my arm.

“Jude, unlike you, Cameron has nothing. I’m not going to let you take his child away from him.”

My voice trembled as I said, “But he’s my son.”

Maeve’s expression darkened. She pulled out her phone to open a video and whispered to me, “Sure, the video was just staged with camera tricks by some people I hired. Guess what, though? If Laurel and the kid watched it, do you think they’d know it was fake? Would that kid still want a father like that?”

The images on the screen shook me so much that my vision went dark.

It was a video from three years ago. I had just returned home from carrying a corpse when a group of people dragged me into an alley to assault me. Even at the last moment when my dignity was completely shattered, I was still hoping that Maeve would come to save me.

I coughed up blood. Unable to hold back any longer, I screamed, “Do you have any idea that I was actually assaulted by those animals?!”

“Enough. Quit the act.” Maeve harshly said as she looked at me with an annoyed gaze.

“Those people were all actors I hired. They wouldn’t have dared to touch you, the only son in the Xander family, even if you paid them a hundred times over. You’re acting like this just to guilt us into sending Cameron away, aren’t you? I really don’t understand. Why can’t you just accept him?”

My chest heaved violently.

“Who exactly could not accept whom?” I said inwardly through gritted teeth.

The system’s countdown kept flashing in front of me.

[5 hours.]

“Forget it. No point in arguing. I will be free soon,” I thought.

Just then, someone viciously grabbed my hair. My scalp screamed with pain as strands were ripped out by the roots.