Chapter 2

I didn't even get four hours of sleep a day.

I worked myself to the bone just to afford his 15-thousand-dollar-a-year tuition at that fancy private school.

So he could actually stand out in this messed-up family.

Now, wearing the shirt I'd stayed up all night stitching for him, holding the agreement Aunt Eleanor had coached him to draft, and standing at the feast I paid for out of my own pocket in front of the whole town, he made up a four-hundred-thousand-dollar figure just to threaten me into staying out of his life.

The local elder, Preston Kenne, knocked the ash out of his pipe.

He cleared his throat, hands behind his back, and walked up to the table.

"Lina, listen to me. If this blows up, it'll make our whole town look bad.

"Nat's the top student in the state now. He's a real treasure. Just sign the agreement and hand over the old house with it."

Nathan snorted dismissively and pulled another document from his pocket.

It was an agreement to waive the inheritance rights to the old family house and property.

He tossed the pen in front of me.

"I've been living in the city for ten years. This house should've been mine a long time ago," he said.

"I looked it up. Legally, I'm first in line to inherit."

He glanced at my hands with obvious disdain.

My knuckles were swollen, and my hands were rough and scarred from years of hard work.

They stood in sharp contrast to his soft, spotless hands.

Aunt Eleanor came over and gave me a push.

"You hear him? Sign it, now!"

"Don't make me go through your stuff. I know you've got that bankbook stashed on you."

I lurched from her push and slammed into the corner of the table.

My side throbbed with pain.

I stared at Nathan.

"So you're saying I took the settlement money? That I made you go through hardship for ten years?" I asked.

Nathan's eyes reddened instantly, putting on that holier-than-thou look, acting like he was the victim.

"Isn't that the truth?

"Aunt Lina, I know you worked hard, but if you hadn't taken my parents' settlement money, how could someone who scrubs toilets afford to send me to a private school?

"The clothes you gave me did't even have a brand, and every single piece was just something you made yourself!"

"I was the only one who didn't get to go on the trip to Juville organized by the school, just because it cost 5,000 dollars per person. Do you even know how embarrassing it was for me, sitting alone in that empty classroom?"

He jabbed a finger at my face, his voice thick with anger and bitterness.

"I just want to get back what belonged to my parents, so I can help other orphans like me get a shot at life!"

"You crushed my pride, you hoarded the money that was rightfully mine, and now you think you can control my life?"

Everyone in town shook their heads, glaring at me like I was some kind of monster, their eyes full of scorn and disgust.

"What a sin, making the pride of our town go through all this," someone muttered.

"I bet she raised the kid to be a nobody just so she could pocket all that money herself," another person sneered.

"Nothing's more vicious than a woman scorned. She'd even set up her own nephew," someone muttered.

I listened to him rant, not saying a word.

My eyes landed on his silk shirt.

It took me two months of exhausting high-end work hand-stitching custom suits just to afford that fabric, all under the dim light of my tiny rented room.

I stitched it for him by hand, measuring him carefully, sewing until my fingers bled and my eyes were inflamed.

I always thought he was just a clueless kid who didn't know any better.

I figured once he made it to college, he'd finally get what I went through for him.

It turned out that in his eyes, everything I did for him these ten years was nothing but some worthless scrap I slapped together.

I sat up straighter and reached for the pen lying on the table.

Nathan's eyes sparkled with greedy excitement, barely able to contain himself.

He dragged the document right in front of me, impatient.

"Sign it!"

I didn't sign the document.

I locked eyes with him, refusing to look away.

"Nathan, are you really determined to clear up everything between us from the past ten years today?" I asked.

Nathan lifted his chin, defiant.

"Cut the crap! I told you, we're square, so that's that!

"Don't think you can hold me hostage with your so-called kindness!"

I nodded and tossed the pen onto the table.

"Fine."

I reached out and pulled open the canvas bag hanging from the chair.

I slipped my hand inside and pulled out a hardcover ledger wrapped in a plastic bag.

At that moment, a series of car horns blared from outside the gate.

Two cars pulled up at the gate.

Luke Wills, the town mayor, waddled in, his beer belly bouncing with every step.

Trailing behind him were James Hall, the principal of the county high school, and two reporters hauling cameras.

The atmosphere in the courtyard shifted dramatically.

The townspeople instinctively stepped aside, making a path for the newcomers.

Aunt Eleanor wiped her hands on her clothes, plastered on a sycophantic smile, and hurried over to greet them.

Nathan reacted instantly. His confrontational expression vanished in an instant.

He hurried over and greeted Luke and James with a deep, respectful nod.