All Chapters of Model Son, Monster Father: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

"H-How is that possible?" Caleb blurted out. "Dad, did you submit a fake answer just because you're desperate to cut ties with me?"As he spoke, he frantically spun his wheelchair to turn toward the jury box."Patricia, Lenora, we've been neighbors for over 20 years. You remember what happened back then, don't you?""Of course we do," they said in unison. "We remember it all too clearly. Bruce hit you because you skipped school, and one slap wasn't even enough. He was about to keep going, but we stepped in to hold him back."Caleb's voice grew desperate and anxious. "Afterward, you wouldn't stop telling me to focus on my studies and never skip class again, Dad. To make sure I completely gave up the idea, you drove me to school every day."From my sophomore year onward, you got up at 5:00 am every morning to drop me off at school and picked me up at 10:00 pm every night. For three straight years, the phrase you repeated to me the most was to study hard."Caleb's high school teache

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?" Emery barked. "Aren't you the one trying to cut ties with your son? Why are you dragging me into this mess?"Besides, I turned over a new leaf ages ago. Everyone goes through a rebellious phase as kids anyway."Caleb isn't 15 anymore. He's 35 and perfectly capable of deciding who he wants to love and date. What gives you the right to interfere in our lives?"Then, she drawled a long, knowing "oh" and continued, " I get it now, you pervert. Your wife can't move or satisfy your needs, so now you're eyeing my body, aren't you? You wanted to keep Caleb away from me so you could crawl into my bed, right?"I let it slide when you secretly stole my underwear, you absolute monster! If you didn't want your son carrying on the family line, why did you bother having him in the first place? You might as well keep your pants zipped!"The onlookers in the gallery frowned as they listened to her crude outburst, yet they found themselves nodding along. Emery'

Caleb pressed his lips together tightly, his eyes darting around erratically as he refused to meet my gaze."Celia said she didn't blame you and begged me to take good care of you," I continued. "She said you were still young, just fell in with the wrong crowd, and that I needed to help set you straight."Later, after piecing together bits and pieces of the truth, I learned the truth. Caleb's sleeping pills, suicide attempts, truancy, and faked depression… None of it was born out of guilt for what he had done to Celia; he did it simply because Emery had broken up with him.It was utterly absurd, but it was a reality I was forced to accept. As for the missing 100,000 dollars, he had given it to Emery so she could escape.Taking a deep breath, I glanced at Caleb and let out a self-deprecating smile."You dropped onto your knees and slapped yourself over and over, begging me not to hold Emery accountable. I only asked one thing of you back then—study hard."That wasn't too much

Nicky had learned his nonsensical behavior from the adults.Completely done with Caleb and Emery's nonsense, I turned to the judge and requested the final ruling.Emery completely lost her temper. She stormed forward, slammed her chest hard against my shoulder, and snapped, "What the hell is your problem? We apologized, didn't we? All the kid did was nip you, and you just refuse to let it go!"Nicky had done far worse than just bite me.I looked up and coldly stared at her. "You people are really made for each other.""What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped."You know what it means," I said, standing up to jab my finger in her shoulder. "You're a monster who beat up my wife so badly that she was critically wounded."Then, I whipped my shaking finger around to point at Nicky. "And as for you, you're a little monster who flushed my wife's ashes down the toilet!"Struggling to catch my breath from rage, I dropped onto the couch and gasped for large mouthfuls of air.I would r