Denise glared angrily at me like I didn't know what I was talking about or what was best for me.

"Fine!" I said with a nod, grabbing the housing purchase agreement and tearing it up into shreds.

"Since you say that Dmitri is the future of your family, then you and Nancy can go live with him for the rest of your lives! I'm done with this. I'm getting a divorce!"

"A divorce? Really, Aiken Collins? Why don't you just look at yourself in the mirror instead?" Denise called out.

I turned and strode out of the house while Denise continued screaming after me.

"Who else will still want a useless bastard like you once you've divorced me anyway? You're dirt poor and petty, and you have a daughter with leukemia who's going to drain all your savings anyway!"

I slammed the door shut behind me—that heavy, metal anti-theft door that had been sucking all the money out of me over the past ten years.

Now, it only served to block out all the evil coming from within.

I fished out my phone, which had its screen shattered, and made a call to a number that I hadn't dared to contact for five years despite saving it.

"Hello? Paul? It's me, Aiken.

"I'd like to come back to work in the research and development department, please. I don't mind starting over as an intern either."

Back then, when I needed to earn quick money for Nancy's treatment, I gave up my dream career as a researcher and began delivering food, parcels, working as an Uber driver, doing physical labor, and even selling my blood in the black market.

Now, I wanted to live like a normal human being again.

Half an hour later, Paul Wellington looked at me in great shock.

"What did you do to make yourself turn out like this?"

He quickly stuffed a wad of crumpled-up bills into my hand and said, "Take this. It's only about a thousand dollars. Go and settle yourself down first.

"We've already saved a spot in the technical R&D department for you. We all know about your plight. You're always welcome to return anytime."

I took the cash with trembling hands and nodded heavily.

I managed to rent a cheap apartment in a run-down building in a slightly more rural part of the city. The place was filled with mold, yet I couldn't have felt any more liberated at that moment.

I showered with ice-cold water and nibbled on some stale buns I'd gotten on sale as my dinner.

My phone vibrated just then. The called ID on the screen showed that it was Dmitri, the bastard who'd just used my hard-earned money to buy two mansions in the upscale part of town.

I answered the call.

There was a bout of fake laughter on the other end of the line.

"Come on, Aiken. Don't be mad. What's there to stay angry about between husband and wife?

"How about this? I'll transfer a hundred dollars to you so that you can have a good meal outside. You know that I've only just bought my house, and so, I'm a little tight at the moment. I hope you don't think that I'm being too stingy."

One hundred dollars.

Dmitri thought that he could use a measly hundred dollars to exchange for ten years of my hard-earned savings and Dad's kidney.

Before I could speak, however, I could hear Nancy's childish yet harsh words on the phone.

"Uncle Dmitri! Why are you even giving him any money?

"That bastard's only trying to scam you out of your money! Save it for your cigarettes instead!"

I could hear Denise agreeing with her afterward.

"Exactly. You're being too kind to him, Dimi. An ingrate like him deserves to die alone outside. There's no need to care about him!"

Dmitri sighed and sounded helpless on the phone.

"See, Aiken, it's not that I don't want to help you. You're just a huge disappointment for the entire family."

He hung up right after that.

A short while later, Denise uploaded a new story on her account.

It was a video with Lakeview Mansion as the background, the mansion that they had just paid for. There was a huge spread of roast ham, fresh lobster, mashed potatoes, and all the side dishes laid out on an extravagant table in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, paired with some expensive wine as well.

Denise held a wineglass in her hand, a rosy glow on her cheeks.

"Congrats, Dimi, for buying your new home! Finally, someone from the Sheridan family made it to the top!"

Nancy was smiling brightly while hugging Dmitri's leg.

"This is our home from now on! The air smells so much fresher now that Smelly Daddy isn't here anymore!"

At the end of the video, Dmitri posed at the camera with a "peace" sign, a provocative look in his eyes.

"By the way, Aiken, this lobster is so fresh and juicy, but unfortunately for you, you'll never be able to taste it. Enjoy your moldy bread!"

I set down my phone and took another bite of the stale bread in my hands. For some reason, I could taste something rusty and metallic in it.

Memories from three months ago surfaced in my mind.

It was a dark underground operating theater, and Dad was lying on a filthy operating table, all for the sake of purchasing the "specialized drug" worth 10,000 dollars needed for Nancy's treatment.

He sold his kidney for that.

Before Dad died, his scrawny hands gripped the hem of my shirt, his eyes pleading and hesitant.

"Ken… The money… Use it for Nini's…treatment… Don't make her suffer…"

Later that day, Denise held the blood money of 10,000 dollars in her hand and smiled as she said to me, "Dad passed peacefully. We should all be happy for him."

As it turned out, Denise had already been planning to use the money as the down payment for Lakeview Mansion ever since then.

I swallowed the blood in my mouth, along with the rest of my stale buns.

"Really, Aiken Collins? What a waste of the last ten years of your life," I muttered to myself.

My phone buzzed again, and this time, it was a call from the bank.

"Mr. Collins, the repayment for the loan under your name is a day late. Kindly make the necessary payments as soon as possible, or it will affect your credit score."

I chuckled coldly.

"The property is not registered under my name. Go and chase after the person who actually signed your contract."

"But Mr. Collins, the loan you took out was a joint loan—"

"Then go ahead and sue me."

I hung up and blocked the number at once.

Less than two minutes later, Denise began calling me over and over again, one after another, and I never picked up a single one.

She switched to a different number after that and sent me dozens of voice messages instead.

The first one was of her screaming hysterically at me.

"Aiken Collins! How dare you fail to repay the loan? Do you know that the bank ended up calling Dimi instead? Are you trying to ruin him?

"Hurry up and make the payment at once! If the mansion gets repossessed because of you, I'm never going to forgive you, ever!"

I silenced my phone and stuffed it into my pocket. Then, I turned and walked through the company doors.

There was a massive crowd of people gathered in the lobby.

Denise was in the center of attraction, her hair all askew as she made a huge, dramatic fuss on the couch while mumbling nonsense under her breath.

"Look, everybody! This is Aiken Collins, from this company, and he's a horrible ingrate who abandoned his wife and sick daughter for no good reason!

"He abandoned his daughter, who has leukemia, at home, and instead spent all of his days in pubs and clubs with all sorts of women by his side!

"How could a company still want to hire a bastard like him? Are you not afraid of any repercussions?"

Nancy also cried along with Denise, her face as red as a tomato.

My colleagues began whispering among themselves and even pointing fingers at me.

I stood outside the crowd, looking at Denise and Nancy. They were the two people whom I'd nearly given up my life trying to protect. And yet, they took out all of our savings, used it to pay for Dmitri's down payment, and even tarnished my reputation to completely destroy my life.

I weaved through the crowd and marched forward.

"Are you done spouting nonsense?"

Denise immediately leaped up from the couch when she saw me. She rushed up to grab me by my collar.

"Aiken Collins! You're finally here!

"Give me the money! Dmitri's loan repayments cannot be interrupted! And give me the money for Nini's treatment next month!

"If you don't give me the money, then I will kill myself here! I'll show everyone what a heartless person you are—the man who forced his wife and daughter to their deaths!"

I ducked and neatly avoided her hands. She ended up grabbing air and nearly tripped on her feet.

Nancy threw herself at me instead and began biting my thigh.

"You're a horrible Daddy! Give us the money! Give us the money!"

I kicked her off at once.

It wasn't a powerful kick, but it was enough to shake her off.

Nancy was shocked. She didn't seem to think that the father who'd always given in to her biting and beating would actually fight back this time.

So, she began screaming and crying even louder.

Denise was outraged. "How dare you kick Nini! You're even worse than an animal, Aiken Collins! Nini has leukemia! Don't you have any conscience left?"

The murmurs and allegations around us grew louder. Some of them even began recording us on video.

I looked at Denise coldly and spoke in a clear voice, just loud enough that everyone could hear me.

"Leukemia?

"Denise Sheridan, Nini's health checkup report from last month proved that all of her indicators have long been normal.

"The so-called relapse you claim is just another one of your lies to trick me into giving you more money for your brother's renovation at his new house, isn't it?"

The entire lobby went silent. Only Denise's pale face and Nancy's broken sobs were left.

Denise quickly grabbed the phone in her pocket, her gaze wavering as she spat, "W-What nonsense is that?

"The doctor said that there was an error on the report! She would relapse anytime! We need to have enough savings for when it happens!"

I chuckled. "Savings? Well, what about the 10,000 dollars you got after my dad sold his kidney? And the 50,000 dollars compensation I received after breaking my leg while working at a construction site?

"They're all invested in both of Dmitri's mansions now, aren't they?"

I then retrieved a stack of financial transfer records I'd printed out and a photocopy of the housing purchase agreement I'd torn up and stuck back together with tape, throwing them into the air.

"Look at this instead, everyone! This is what she means by my 'abandoning' her and my daughter!

"She used the money from her husband and father-in-law to buy two massive mansions for her younger brother instead! Who would dare to keep around a woman like her?"

My colleagues picked up the documents from the ground, and their expressions changed dramatically.

Their judgmental gazes on me eventually switched to that of disdain and disgust as they shifted to Denise instead, treating her like trash.

Denise panicked.

As she was being escorted out of the premises, she still pointed her finger at me and screamed insults more colorful than the rainbow.

"Just you wait and see, Aiken Collins! I'm never going to agree to the divorce! I'm going to utterly destroy you!"

Finally, the company lobby was quiet once more.

I turned around and lowered my head apologetically at Paul.

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Wellington, for causing trouble for the company."

However, Paul just patted me on the shoulder and said, "Welcome back to the team, Aiken."

Over the next few days, Denise still tried to call me time and time again.

She lowered herself and begged me to come home. Meanwhile, Nancy was also crying on the other end of the line as she called out to me.

However, I know that they were lying. Their so-called repentance was nothing more than another trick to make me go back as their cash cow once again.

I ignored all of their calls.

One day, however, someone suddenly broke down the door of my rented apartment with a kick.

Dmitri showed up with a baseball bat in his hand as he strode into the place. Denise was right behind him, looking as angry and indignant as ever.

"Did you think you could hide, Aiken?"

Dmitri then smashed the only broken table with his baseball bat and cursed. "If you don't want to die today, then you'd better pay off the loan now, do you hear me?"

He didn't even bother looking straight into my eye as he spoke arrogantly. In his eyes, I was still the soft-spoken, useless piece of trash who would never fight back.

When Denise saw that I didn't say anything in return, she looked at me with a faux-pitiful expression and said, "Aiken, we've discussed this before.

"If you'll just drop to your knees and beg us for mercy and forgiveness, and pay off all of the outstanding repayments, we'll forget about the past and even let you come home to continue serving us."

I laughed coldly and remained seated by my bed without moving. I gripped the penknife I used for sharpening my pencils as I stared at them with an eerily calm gaze.

"Get out."

Dmitri was shocked. Then, he burst into laughter.

"Did you hear that, Denise? This piece of trash just told me to get lost!

"It seems like he's going to need some convincing instead!"

Dmitri raised the bat in the air, crashing it down toward my head.

"I'm going to break both your legs today! I wonder how long you can hold on."

If this had been in the past, I would have put up with the hit for the sake of keeping peace in the family.

But now, I had had enough.

I ducked sideways and kicked Dmitri right in the stomach. Before he could come back to his senses, I grabbed a handful of his hair and pinned him right on the ground.

Then, I unsheathed the penknife and pressed the blade against his pulsing jugular vein.

"Try moving if you dare," I said.

Dmitri was so scared he nearly peed his pants.

Denise screamed and rushed up to us, trying to pull me off.

"Aiken! If you dare to lay a finger on Dimi, I'm never going to forgive you!"

I chuckled coldly. "Scared now?

"Since you're all here, let's make things clear."

I stared at Denise and spoke slowly and clearly. "The 10,000 dollars from Dad's kidney sale, and all of the 80,000 dollars of my savings I'd transferred to you over the past few years—those were what paid for the down payment of Dmitri's two mansions.

"Since they're joint assets, I have the right to demand back every single penny of it.

"You have three days. You will either pay me back all the money you owe me, or you will sell the mansions and pay me back instead.

"Or else, I will see you both in court."

With that, I released Dmitri, who had turned into a pile of mush in my hands.

He held a hand to his neck and scrambled out of the door on his knees, leaving Denise behind as she gritted her teeth in anger.

"Just you wait, Aiken! You want the money back? In your dreams!"

I watched as both of them stumbled out of my apartment in a disheveled state. Then, I called up my lawyer.

"Mr. Lagerfeld, apply for property preservation immediately."

There was a long silence on the phone.

Finally, Samson Lagerfeld spoke.

"It's too late, Mr. Collins.

"Just half an hour ago, your wife mortgaged both the mansions to a loan shark company at a very low price for five million dollars in cash. The whereabouts of this money is currently unknown…

"Also, she just countersued you for domestic abuse, providing the police with doctored footage of you attacking her with a knife. The police are already on their way."

Before I could even grasp what was happening, I could hear loud police sirens stopping right outside my building.