Chapter 4

After I hung up, my face was still tight with anger. I never imagined my brother's family would sink to this.

All these years I'd been overseas, and Marcus knew I'd made some money, so every time he'd come to me with his hard-luck stories.

And every time, I'd hand my brother a large sum of money.

He always told me that if anything ever came up, I should be sure to turn to him.

But I never expected that the moment he heard I was bankrupt, his face would change on the spot.

It was only then that I understood: from start to finish, his whole family had been after my money.

Since that was the case, there was no reason for me to keep being polite with them.

I called my attorney, and he told me they were already prepared to file the lawsuit.

He'd also lined up a moving company, so when the time came, they'd go straight to the house together and settle the property matter.

I told the attorney this had to be handled properly.

Then I hung up.

For the next two days, I stayed inside the villa and barely went out.

But early on the third morning, I got a call from my brother.

"Theo Rowe, what's the meaning of this?"

"You're really serving me a legal notice?"

"Ordering me to move out by a deadline?"

On the phone, Marcus's voice was full of anger. He came right out with it: "The three of us don't even have a house. You want us to move out—where are we supposed to live?"

Hearing that, I gave a small laugh, then said, "Where you move out to live has nothing to do with me!"

"That house was mine to begin with!"

"You know I have no money left!"

"So there's nothing wrong with me selling my house to pay off my debts!"

The instant I said that, the phone switched to Vivian.

On the line, Vivian's voice was full of anger, and the moment she spoke it was to challenge me.

"Theo Rowe, we've lived in this house for years, and now you're saying you'll sell it!"

"Do you think that's right?"

I laughed and said, "Vivian, the house is mine!"

"And back then, I only lent it to you to live in!"

"Now, what's wrong with me taking my house back?"

As soon as I finished, Vivian on the other end flew into a rage: "Theo Rowe, you take the house back, so what are we supposed to do?"

"Where do we live?"

I laughed and said, "Vivian, that's not my problem, is it?"

"Besides, you should have a house of your own!"

I said it evenly.

I still remembered that before I went abroad, my brother had already bought a house long ago.

So even now, taking my house back was no problem at all.

But to my surprise, the moment I finished, Vivian on the other end broke into tears.

"Theo Rowe, we really have nowhere to live!"

"We sold our house ages ago!"

"Theo Rowe, how could you do this?"

I let out a cold laugh. "Then that's not my concern!"

I was about to hang up when my brother's voice came through the line again.

"Theo Rowe, I'm your own brother!"

"How could you treat me like this?"

"Throwing me and your nephew out of the house?"

"We're blood brothers!"

On the other end, Marcus's voice was full of anger, and as I listened, I laughed and said, "So now you call us brothers!"

"But last night, you were the one who drove me out with your own hands!"

"Sorry—from now on, you and I are brothers no longer!"