All Chapters of The Golden Child's Downfall: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

The members of the Jacoby Residence had been dressed up to the nines for the birthday banquet that evening. Luxury cars filled the driveway, rows of champagne towers stood in the banquet hall, and the crystal chandeliers shone so brightly they almost hurt my eyes.I sat at the very end of the long table with my wife, Megan Walsh, beside me. Her fingers rested lightly on the back of my hand.My “brother,” Ivan Jacoby, and I had been switched at birth. Yet, there he sat beside the seat of honor, impeccably dressed in his tailored suit. He had a warm, gentle smile on his face as his son, Elliot Jacoby, carried a carton of Parliament cigarettes over to our father and said sweetly, "Grandpa, happy birthday!"My father, Walter Jacoby, grinned so broadly that the wrinkles around his eyes bunched together. He accepted the cigarettes and affectionately patted Elliot on the head before pulling a large check from his pocket. "Thank you, Elliot. How sweet of you."I remained silent at the fa

Ivan called me the next day. "Ian, Dad was so furious with you that he ended up in the hospital. Everyone in the family saw you slap him. Have you thought about the consequences?"I stood at the far end of the hallway in my actual home. "The mark on my son's face hasn't faded yet."Ivan sighed, putting on an air of faux resignation. "Ian, can you blame Dad when you sent Colton over with those cheap cigarettes to get under his skin?"I briefly closed my eyes.A single cigar from that box cost more than ten cartons of the cigarettes his son had given Walter.I sneered. "Ivan, can you swear that you'll say the same thing if someone hit your son?"His tone turned cold over the phone. "Don't compare your kid to Elliot. Elliot knows how to behave. He'd never embarrass an elder like that."I asked only one question. "Did you call to apologize, or are you going to keep making excuses for him?"Ivan's voice hardened. "Do you really have to take things this far?""You crossed the line f

The air seemed to freeze over upon my secretary's words.Ivan's face turned deathly pale. Avery's handbag slipped from her hand and hit the floor, but she didn't even react. Walter stared at me, his lips moving several times before he finally managed to choke out, "Mr. Gavell?"I opened the file and looked up at him. "What? Surprised?"He abruptly turned to his secretary. "You must've made a mistake! He's Ian. How could he possibly be part of G&W?"The secretary smiled politely, but his reply was as blunt as a hammer. "Mr. Ian Gavell is the head of G&W's Bluewater region and a member of the group's board of directors."The look on Walter's face stiffened inch by inch.I closed the file with a snap. "Dad, correct me if I'm wrong, but you've been constantly saying that I grew up in the countryside and know nothing about the world, didn't you?"Nobody said a word, but I was utterly unfazed as I blithely continued, "And yet here you are, sitting across from someone you believe to be

Walter only deigned to drop by to visit us after Jacoby Realty entered restructuring.He had come to see Rosalie.It was raining that evening. Megan was upstairs bathing Colton, while Rosalie and I sat in the living room.When the doorbell rang, the housekeeper went to answer it. Walter stood outside, his hair partially soaked through and his suit so rumpled that he looked nothing like his old arrogant self.His eyes went straight to Rosalie the second he set foot inside my home. "Rose, I want to talk to you."Rosalie said nothing.She had lost a great deal of weight recently. The softness that had once lingered in her eyes and features seemed to have been slowly worn away.He took two steps toward her. "We've been married for so many years. You can't just stand by and watch me lose everything, can you?"I let out a quiet chuckle.Just then, another voice came from the doorway.My adoptive parents, Charles and Elaine, had rushed back from overseas. They hadn't even put down t