Six years after I cut off all contact with my parents, my adopted brother secretly reached out to my wife. He told her my parents missed me terribly and hoped we could all be a family again before it was too late. I touched the scar on my forehead. I got it when I was eight, the day my brother slammed a door on my hand, breaking the fingers I used to play the piano. When I tried to hit him back, my father stopped me. My wife, unable to bear the sight of my brother’s sad, puppy-dog eyes, tried to reason with me. “It’s ancient history, honey. Just let it go.” My daughter, clutching a new Barbie doll my parents had sent, chimed in, her voice indignant. “Daddy, I can’t live without my grandparents and my uncle! You have to make up with them! If you don’t, then I don’t want you to be my daddy anymore!” A wave of exhaustion washed over me. I nodded slowly. “Fine.” 1 The moment I handed her the divorce papers, Evelyn’s face was a mask of disbelief. “Just because I want you to make peace with your parents?” “Yes. Just because of that.” “What about our daughter? She’s only five. What’s going to happen to her?” Just then, our daughter, Chloe, charged into the room like a tiny bull, slamming into my leg. Pain shot up my shin. “You’re a monster, Daddy!” she shrieked. “Grandma and Grandpa didn’t raise you to be a monster!” I gritted my teeth against the pain. “Who taught you to talk like that?” Chloe looked guilty for a second, her eyes darting to my brother, Ethan, who was hiding behind the door. He’d been my father’s best friend’s son, and he’d lived with us since we were kids. “It’s my fault, big brother!” Ethan said, his voice dripping with faux innocence, a look I had come to despise. It was the same look that had gotten me into trouble countless times. “I was telling Chloe the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and she must have picked up a bad word.” But Evelyn and Chloe were already defending him. “Jacob, you’re always so busy with work. You can’t blame Ethan for helping to look after Chloe.” “Daddy, I love Uncle Ethan the most! If you’re mean to him, I don’t want you anymore!” I hadn’t said a word, but the two of them were already leaping to his defense. I saw a flicker of triumph in Ethan’s eyes, and the disgust and hatred in my gut reached a boiling point. 2 I didn’t waste any more words. I handed the pen to Evelyn. “Sign it. You’re free to be with whoever you want.” She looked at me, her eyes full of disappointment. “Can you please stop being so dramatic? I just want our daughter to have more family in her life. Your family.” My head felt like it was going to explode. I remembered when Ethan first came to live with us. My parents had told me, “You’re three months older than Ethan. From now on, you have a brother. You need to take care of him.” He wasn’t named Ethan then. My dad said since his parents had both died, he should take our last name. He was just a small, helpless little boy. I gave him my treasured comic books, the chocolates my mom bought for me, the toy cars my dad brought home. “Can I really think of this as my home from now on, big brother?” Ethan had asked, his eyes wide. I remembered my parents’ words and nodded. But from that day on, he was always on the verge of tears, always looking at me with a wounded expression. My parents thought I was bullying him. They called me selfish and gave all my things to him. When I was six and a half, my room became his. The bookshelf that held all my comics became his. When I was eight, the piano lessons I’d been taking for four years were canceled after Ethan “accidentally” slammed a door on my fingers. When I was twelve, my birthday party was replaced with a celebration for Ethan’s win at a dance competition. The cake was mango-flavored, his favorite. My parents took endless photos of him. No one remembered I was allergic to mangoes. When I was eighteen, I was forbidden from entering a math competition because, as my parents said, “We need to save that money to hire a better piano teacher for Ethan.” When I was twenty-two, years of malnutrition caught up with me. I developed a severe stomach condition that required expensive surgery. My parents refused to help. Instead, they bought business-class tickets to Europe to watch Ethan compete in a piano competition. I nearly died on the way to the hospital. That’s when I met Evelyn. She was horrified by my story and swore she would always be on my side. Six years later, she was the one asking me to let them all back into my life. 3 “I’m not signing this, Jacob,” Evelyn said, her voice firm. I ignored her and went to the bedroom to pack. In the back of the closet, I found a stash of expensive gifts. A master-crafted tea set, a high-end massage chair for the elderly, a pair of luxury leather shoes for men. They were well-hidden. Evelyn rushed in, as if she’d just remembered. “What is this?” she asked, the divorce papers still in her hand. She couldn’t meet my eyes. Chloe held up her Barbie doll, her voice smug. “Those are the presents Mommy bought for Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Ethan.” “And that’s not all, Daddy!” she taunted, sticking her tongue out. “You don’t get anything because you were bad!” She was trying to provoke me. I started walking toward her. Ethan ran in and shoved me back. “Don’t you dare touch Chloe! She’s their only grandchild! You have no right to hit her, even if you are her father!” That was the last straw. I grabbed his collar and punched him, hard. “Aah!” he screamed. Chloe immediately activated her smartwatch. “Daddy’s hitting Uncle Ethan! Grandma, Grandpa, come quick and teach him a lesson! Daddy’s a monster! I don’t want him to be my daddy anymore!” 4 I snatched the watch from her. Of course. They had a group chat. It was called “Chloe and her favorite Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, and Uncle.” I was the only one left out. The chat was a lively, happy world without me. My daughter, who had stopped sharing her kindergarten stories with me, told them all about the new cute boy in her class. Evelyn, who had been coming home later and later from work, was taking Chloe to “family dinners” all the time. With her bonus, she had arranged for my parents to have full medical check-ups and had booked a European tour for Ethan. Everyone in the chat was so happy together. My father, who was always so stern with me, praised his granddaughter for being just like him, able to spot a bad guy a mile away. My mother, always so easily swayed, gushed about how beautiful and thoughtful Evelyn was, and how she wished Evelyn had met Ethan first. *“My son is getting so old, and he’s still not married. It’s so worrying.”* And then there was Ethan, of course. Calling Evelyn his “dear sister-in-law,” all shy and sweet. It had clearly melted Evelyn’s heart. She hadn’t bought me a gift in years, but she was constantly sending them money. “Jacob, let me explain,” Evelyn said, her voice pleading. She insisted she was just trying to pave the way for me to reconcile with my parents. “Ethan isn’t as bad as you say he is. Why can’t you just try to get along with them?” Get along? I couldn’t stop myself. I slapped her across the face. 5 Seeing me hit the two people she cared about most, Chloe went ballistic. She started kicking and punching me. “Grandpa was right! You’re a devil! You broke your own fingers and blamed it on Uncle Ethan! You deserve to have no one love you! Get out! Get out! I don’t want you as my father! I like Uncle Ethan better! So do Grandma and Grandpa and Mommy!” I was stunned. This was the daughter I had raised. I had made every single one of her baby food purees. I had bought every toy and picture book in this house. Evelyn was always busy with work; I was the one who put her to bed at night and took her to kindergarten in the morning. Five years of my life, poured into her. And this is what I got. “You deserve it.” It hurt. There’s no denying that. So I decided to just lay it all out. “Chloe, I’m only going to give you one chance to take that back.” “I won’t! I hate you! I don’t want you to be my dad! I want Uncle Ethan! He’s handsome, he can play the piano, and he gives me candy! I like him more than you!” Every parent is worried about cavities. I limited her sugar for her own good. Seeing the cold fury on my face, Evelyn tried to intervene. “She’s just a child, Jacob. Don’t take it so seriously.” In her eyes, a parent should always forgive their child, no matter what. In her eyes, she was doing this for my own good, trying to mend my broken family. I was the one making a scene, threatening divorce. But I couldn’t take it anymore. 6 “Jacob, why are you still so stubborn?” I thought I was dreaming. I could hear my parents’ voices. The front door opened. I had forgotten they had the code. Chloe ran to them, her face beaming. “Grandma, Grandpa, you’re finally here to punish Daddy!” Seeing them all standing there together, a happy family, my heart turned to ice. My mother looked at me with a hint of apology, but before she could speak, she saw Ethan, clutching his bruised face. “Ethan, who did this?” she shrieked, her face contorting with rage, like a lioness protecting her cub. My father’s voice boomed through the house. “Who else could it be! It had to be Jacob! Evelyn, get him out of this house! If we don’t teach him a lesson now, what if he hurts my precious granddaughter next?” Evelyn, playing the part of the dutiful daughter-in-law, tugged at my sleeve. “Honey, hitting people is wrong. Why don’t you just apologize?” She knew I had my bags packed, but she was still expecting me to back down. 7 I met Ethan’s triumphant gaze. A bitter smile touched my lips. “No matter what piece of trash I pick up, you just have to have it, don’t you?” He looked startled. “What are you talking about, big brother? I don’t understand.” My father grabbed my collar. “Jacob, I am ordering you to apologize. And don’t you dare threaten my wonderful daughter-in-law with divorce. She works so hard to support this family. If you have any guts, you’ll leave with nothing.” Evelyn tried to pull him off. “Dad, this is between me and Jacob. Please, don’t get involved.” “Hmph! If he hadn’t pretended to be sick all those years ago, you never would have missed Ethan’s performance. You two could have been together by now.” I shot a sarcastic look at Evelyn. No wonder the photo of a boy’s back in her desk drawer had looked so familiar. The boy who had taken her breath away. She had told me not to be jealous, that he didn’t even know she existed. Any last shred of feeling I had for her vanished. I signed the divorce papers and picked up my suitcase. Evelyn tried to stop me, but my parents held her back. Chloe clung to her mother’s leg. “Don’t worry about him, Mommy! He’s just a stay-at-home dad! He has nowhere to go! Grandma and Grandpa said he’ll come crawling back after a few days of being hungry.” While Evelyn hesitated, I walked out the door and didn’t look back.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "385168", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel