Chapter 3

"Wire the money right now!" she commanded.

"I don't owe you a single cent. You ordered the food, not me."

"Besides, isn't Austin sitting right there? A thirty-year-old grown man can't even pay for his own lunch?"

"You... you ungrateful little—"

There was no point in continuing this farce. I ended the call.

A bitter tightness gripped my chest. As much as I tried to stay numb, the pain still cut deep.

Memories of the past surged into my mind like toxic sludge.

Years ago, my mother constantly squandered my father's hard-earned savings to help her older brother. Whenever they argued, she would pack her bags and run back to her family, who would then gang up on my father, hurling accusations until he broke down in silence.

Eventually, exhausted from working three jobs to cover her debts, my father collapsed and died on his walk home.

I was too young back then to understand how a healthy man could simply drop dead.

It wasn't until I grew up that the horrifying truth sank in. After my uncle died, my mother took Austin into our house.

She forced me to yield to Austin in everything. Every Christmas, Austin got tailored new clothes, while I wore faded, threadbare hand-me-downs.

When college came, she paid Austin's tuition in full and demanded I drop out to work construction.

Thankfully, my high GPA earned me an academic scholarship, allowing me to finish my degree on my own.

Looking back, I should have cut ties with her the moment I became an adult.

When I stepped into the house, three people were waiting in the living room.

Not out of concern, but for an ambush.

My mother grabbed a ceramic mug off the coffee table and hurled it directly at my head. It grazed my cheek and shattered against the doorframe.

"You finally decided to crawl back?"

"Do you have any idea how humiliated I was today?"

"My friends from the country club were sitting at the next table! When your card declined, they laughed in my face!"

My patience completely snapped.

I pointed a trembling finger at Austin.

"Let me ask you something. Is he an adult or an infant?"

Austin shot up from the couch immediately.

"Logan, what's that supposed to mean?"

I glared straight into his eyes.

"You're a thirty-year-old man having lunch with an elderly woman, expecting her to pick up the check. And you stand there looking righteous?"

"I'll say this once and never again."

"Starting right now, I won't give either of you a single penny. Don't ever ask me for help."

I turned my cold gaze back to my mother, whose face was purple with rage.

"If you have a problem with that, we can sever our relationship right here and now."

Both Nicole and Austin froze. Neither expected me to bring up going completely no-contact.

"Logan, it was just a lunch bill!" Nicole hurried forward, trying to play peacemaker. "Do you really have to threaten your own mother like this?"

"Hurry up and apologize to her..."

"Do you really think I'm furious over a lunch bill?"

I sneered. It was over twenty years of favoritism, and her audacity to blow through two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of my savings to buy Austin a luxury pad.

Austin quickly stepped between my mother and me, putting on a penitent facade.

"Auntie, Logan, please don't fight."

"Logan is right. I'll be more considerate next time."

My mother's expression instantly softened as she looked at Austin with adoration.

It had always been this way. No matter what he did wrong, the moment he bowed his head and murmured an apology, she praised him for being sensible and mature.

Meanwhile, my worth was measured solely by how much cash I handed over.

I finally saw the cruel truth: no matter how hard I tried, I would never measure up to Austin's sweet-talking manipulation.

"Logan, for Austin's sake, I'll overlook your insolence today," my mother barked, crossing her arms. "Now get out of my sight and go to your room."

"I'll go to my room," I said coldly. "But I want my two hundred and fifty thousand dollars back. If that money isn't returned immediately, I'm calling the police."

Without waiting for their reaction, I carried my duffel bag filled with the remaining cash straight into my bedroom and locked the door.