Chapter 4The Power Outage

My mother completely exploded. She rushed to my bedroom door, kicking and screaming at the wood.

"Liam, I am your biological mother!"

"If you call the cops on me, you're going to burn in hell!"

I felt absolutely zero emotion. My only focus was taking the stacks of cash from my duffel bag and locking them securely inside my personal safe.

Unexpectedly, Chloe suddenly pushed the door open and walked in.

"Liam, what is going on with you today?"

"You used to be so filial, and you always cared about me so much."

"Look at me. I was in a car accident and injured my leg, and you didn't even come to the hospital to check on me."

Her tone was overflowing with manufactured grievance.

"Were you actually injured in a car accident?"

I stared at her with a freezing, dead smile. When she saw the absolute lack of emotion in my eyes, she visibly panicked.

"Why... why are you asking me that? Of course I was genuinely injured."

"Chloe."

I raised my voice, shattering her composure.

"I did go to the hospital to see you that day. But I never walked into the room. Do you want to know why?"

She didn't answer. She just started trembling slightly, realizing that my eyes had already seen straight through her lies.

Seeing her silence, I spoke coldly.

"Because I stood outside your hospital room door and heard your dirty little secret."

"On our wedding night, you intentionally got me drunk. My mother flipped the breaker box so you and David would have the perfect excuse to hook up."

"And I bet you're already pregnant with his child."

"Am I right?"

Chloe was instantly paralyzed with shock. My mother and David, who were standing in the hallway, also froze in absolute panic.

Chloe's eyes widened in horror, staring at me, completely unable to form a defense.

David was the first to speak.

"Liam, we... it's not what you think..."

But he couldn't even figure out what kind of lie to spin to finish the sentence.

My mother, on the other hand, suddenly went dead quiet and turned around to walk away.

This triggered a deep, unsettling premonition in my gut.

Chloe reached out to grab my arm, but I violently shoved her away.

"Don't touch me!"

"Liam, please, just listen to me..."

Just as I was about to speak, the sound of shattering glass echoed from the living room.

"Auntie, don't smash that! That's Uncle's memorial portrait... Oh my god, don't burn it!"

"David, get out of my way! That old bastard died the easy way, leaving me to raise this ungrateful little shit all by myself!"

"And now he won't even listen to me!"

I sprinted out of the bedroom. When I saw my mother standing on the balcony, actively burning my father's final belongings in a metal fire pit, pure panic finally hit me.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Stop right now!"

She was holding my father's only remaining photograph. If she opened her fingers even a fraction of an inch, the photo would drop straight into the flames.

"Seeing you panic like this just proves that a dead man is always more useful than a living one."

My face flushed dark red with rage, but I couldn't risk lunging forward to grab it, terrified the photo would fall into the fire in the struggle.

"Tell me. Why are you burning my father's things?"

"Because you're disobedient. Because you refuse to be a dutiful son to your mother."

What exactly did I have to do to be considered 'obedient' and 'dutiful'?

Did I have to become a soulless, emotionless robot, blindly following her every command?

Suddenly, I remembered the conversation Chloe had in her hospital room.

The look in my eyes instantly turned to ice.

"Just say it. What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to go to the courthouse with Chloe immediately and file for divorce. That way, the child in her stomach won't be considered illegitimate."

"I don't want people whispering behind my back."

She was using my father's final, sacred belongings to blackmail me into this?

I turned and looked at Chloe, who was standing in silence.

"And you? Is this what you want too?"

"Liam, if you just follow these arrangements for now, once I have the baby, we can..."

"Save it."

"I accept your terms."