All Chapters of Rejected to Redeemed: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

The day scores came out, my phone nearly melted from all the calls.It wasn't for any other reason. Pete McGee and I had tied for first place.I was the family's true heir, raised in some backwater town since childhood.Pete was the adopted son who'd spent over a decade in the McGee family living in luxury and eating from silver.Our homeroom teacher called three separate times, his voice equal parts thrilled and dazed, kept asking if the system had glitched.When the calls finally stopped, the living room went eerily quiet.Dad cleared his throat and looked between Pete and me, smiling."Blake, Pete, you're both top scorers. Your mother and I are treating you the same, so we've booked a private room for each of you."The Gilded Room and the Laurel Room. You can pick whichever one you want."That was the first time I'd ever learned that doing well could be something worth celebrating, instead of something to be resented for costing money.I nodded, fighting to keep the tears

I looked at her, then over at Pete, not far off, beaming with happiness while our parents fussed over him.So, apparently, fighting for what I actually deserved just meant I didn't understand gratitude.I didn't bother arguing with her any further. I just glanced down at the suit I was wearing.None of this was compensation.It was a muzzle, meant to keep my mouth shut.I touched the cold bank card in my pocket, and one thought crystallized in my mind more clearly than it ever had before.You want to solve everything with money. Fine. I'll show you exactly what money can do.Once I started college, I put the McGees' black card to full use.I saw a dentist and got my cavities filled, started going to the gym regularly, and signed up for every finance course I could find.Before long, I'd transformed so completely that even I barely recognized myself.My roommate, Ben Royer, had an easygoing, sunny personality.He'd cup my face in both hands without a hint of self-consciousnes

From that day on, I never went home again, and I stopped bothering to argue with any of them about anything.I still took whatever money they gave me, though. No hesitation there.The first venture Ben and I started was really just to test the waters.We picked up the campus food delivery and package pickup business.Later, we expanded into printing, secondhand textbook buybacks, and grad school exam prep materials.Every day left me so exhausted I'd collapse into bed and fall asleep instantly, with no room left in my head to think about the McGees' drama.I grew quieter, and busier, by the day.Mom called me a few times.At first, her tone carried a bit of an accusatory edge, asking why I never came home on weekends.I'd just say flatly, "Busy. Schoolwork."After a few calls like that, her tone on the other end slowly started to warm into something like relief.Once, she even told me, "Blake, this is good, you know. You're finally focused, putting your energy into your stud

Every time they negotiated, Timothy kept meticulous records of Pete's offers, his terms, and every one of Alexis's veiled threats, all backed up with voice recordings and email screenshots.Pete probably thought I'd already turned into meat on the chopping block, his for the taking.He grew more and more impatient, and his terms got harsher by the day. He even bypassed Beacon entirely and started poaching key members off our team.Meanwhile, I acted like I'd vanished off the face of the earth, staying out of the whole mess entirely.Alexis called me once, in that condescending, "let me enlighten you" tone she always used."Blake, Pete tells me you're starting a business? Small-scale stuff is fine, but the real business world isn't that simple. Pete's just trying to help. With the McGee Group's resources behind you, that beats floundering around on your own. Don't be ungrateful."Listening to her on the phone, I nearly laughed out loud."Thanks for the advice, sis," I said, my to

I let out an "Mm" while I kept working through my experiment data."You want to guess what's going on? Word around the industry is the McGees raised a kid who's only good at spending money, and shoved their own biological golden-goose son out the door instead. Now that they need you, I bet they're hoping you'll come back and put out the fire."I smiled and didn't respond.Put out the fire? I couldn't be bothered to even glance at how badly their house was burning.Turned out Ben's words came true faster than either of us expected.It was an ordinary afternoon. I'd just walked out of the lab when my phone rang.It was an unfamiliar overseas number.I picked up, and a voice came through, both familiar and strangely distant.It was Dad."Blake," he said, his tone carrying a deliberate warmth, along with a note of caution. "Are you... settling in all right, out there?""I'm fine," I said, keeping it brief. "Dad, is there something you need?"That bluntness caught him off guard f