Chapter 2

I pushed the door open, and she came out at the sound.

Because I was so angry, I'd forgotten to change my shoes.

The moment Bernice saw them, she looked like she was facing an enemy at the gate.

"Hey, why did you come in without changing your shoes?"

"Go change them, now. Nathan's a neat freak. He can't stand even a speck of dirt—"

I said nothing. I only stood there, my reddened eyes fixed on her.

I hadn't known that she'd once had feelings for Nathan too, and that unable to have that love, she'd gotten pregnant with his child to make up for the regret.

Meeting my red eyes, Bernice went blank for a second.

"Lucas, you—what's wrong with you?"

"Weren't you at your promotion dinner tonight?"

"Why do you look like your whole world's ended?"

She knew perfectly well what had happened to me, and she was still pretending she didn't.

I didn't answer. I walked straight in and sat down on the couch.

Somewhere along the way, the home I'd once been proud of had lost all its warmth, and now it only made me want to run.

Bernice's eyes stayed locked on my leather shoes, like I was dirtying Nathan's floor.

My mother came out of the room too, and seeing me standing there hollow and broken, she went right on playing innocent.

"Son, didn't you get promoted? Why aren't you happy?"

I slowly turned my head and looked at her, shaking with fury.

The next second, I hurled the two gold-plated silver bars down at their feet.

"Why am I not happy? Don't you already know?"

My mother and Bernice were startled by my sudden roughness, a flicker of panic crossing their faces.

"I told you a long time ago, my company runs clean. The thing the executives hate most is people buying their way into favor with money."

"And you two put gold bars inside the local specialty gift I brought them, and the whole company saw it."

"Everyone was mocking me, saying I got promoted by bribery. My boss was furious, and he stripped my position on the spot."

The moment I finished, the tears broke loose again.

"Do you know how long I spent working toward that promotion? Three years."

"I didn't dare rest on weekends. I went to close partnership deals until I threw up blood. I had no time to take my son to the amusement park. All I wanted was to earn more to keep this family fed."

So when I heard my son complain that I never spent time with him, did either of you ever think about how helpless and how much pain I was in?

What I can't accept is that I didn't need to pull any tricks to get promoted, and yet my own family, just to keep it from happening, killed that hope outright.

My mother and Bernice exchanged a glance.

To keep the pregnant Bernice from getting upset, my mother chose to take the blame alone.

"I didn't know your boss would open the packaging right there in front of everyone."

"I only put those two gold bars in out of goodwill. I just wanted your boss to give you more responsibility."

"It's your own fault for being useless. A position handed right to you and you lost it. Absolutely stupid."

Seeing that I still hadn't changed my shoes, she added one more thing.

"Go change your shoes, now!"

"Don't bring your moods home for your family to deal with. Do you hear me?"