“I'm so sorry—I accidentally knocked over that bottle of wine while I was cleaning.”

“That dinnerware set was getting old. I noticed cracks when I was washing it and was worried you might cut yourself, so I went ahead and threw it out.”

“I took that suit to the dry cleaner's, and they lost it.”

Every excuse sounded thin, but her attitude was always apologetic enough that I let it go.

I figured that would be the end of it.

Then Memorial Day came. After visiting my parents' graves, I decided to drive out to the country estate where they'd spent most of their lives and give the place a proper cleaning.

It was their favorite place in the world.

The courtyard was full of the flowers my mother had loved most, and every room held souvenirs my father had brought back from his travels.

Before she died, my mother had held my hand and told me the house was her and my father's life's work. She made me promise to take care of it.

I cherished that estate. Even though being there stirred up memories I wasn't ready to face, I still went back regularly after moving out on my own, wiping down every piece of furniture, trimming every plant in the courtyard.

But this time, I froze the moment I reached the front gate.

The gate, always locked, was standing wide open.

From inside the house came the thud of music turned up loud enough to rattle windows, layered with laughter and shouting.

I walked straight in and pushed open the front door.

I couldn't believe what I was looking at.

The living room was destroyed.

Empty bottles, snack wrappers, fruit peels, sunflower-seed shells, and cigarette butts covered the coffee table, the couches, the floor.

Burn after burn after burn—black cigarette holes scorched straight through the leather sofa, the one that had cost a fortune.

My mother's beloved Persian rug was trampled with muddy footprints and splashed with red wine.

The keepsakes on the walls had been pulled down, some used as photo props, others smashed and tossed into corners.

My fists clenched so hard my knuckles ached.

My parents had lived here for half their lives. Every piece of furniture, every item on display, they had chosen themselves.

Whenever I was here, I walked carefully, afraid of bumping even the smallest thing.

And now the whole place had been trashed beyond recognition.

I scanned the room and found Calvin sitting on the couch directly facing the door.

His classmates crowded around him：

“Calvin, your family is insane rich. Even a random country house looks like this?”

“Seriously, I just looked it up. Any one of those paintings on the wall is worth millions.”

“Oh my God, your mom is unreal. No wonder she's a billionaire!”

“Hey, for old times' sake, once you inherit all this, think you could hook us up with jobs at your family's company?”

Calvin's lips curled higher with every word：“Easy. Stick with me, and none of you will ever have to worry about money again.”

His classmates lit up, tripping over each other to flatter him even harder.

That was when Calvin spotted me in the doorway.

The grin dropped off his face. He stood and walked toward me, chin high.

Crack.

Without a word, he drove his fist straight into my face：

“You pathetic deadbeat—you actually followed me here?”

The punch came out of nowhere and locked me in place.

Every classmate in the room stared：

“Calvin, what's going on?”

He jabbed a finger at me, face twisted with contempt：

“This right here is Kieran—the little mooch I was just telling you about!”

“Mooching off our place in the city wasn't enough for you? Now you show up here trying to mooch off the villa my mom just bought me?”

I stared at Calvin in disbelief：

“Who told you your mom bought this house?”

Calvin let out a scornful laugh：

“She told me herself.”

“You're pathetic. You saw that my mom's a company CEO, so you park yourself in our house day after day, trying to worm your way into her good graces.”

“Freeloading and engineering alone time with her still isn't enough for you? Now you want to come defile my villa too?”

“Let me spell it out for you. My mom said the only reason she let you stay was because your parents are dead and she felt sorry for you. So don't push your luck and start dreaming about stealing my position as the real young master of this family!”

That was what Aileen had been telling him?

No wonder Calvin had always treated me like dirt.

To him, Aileen was the CEO who owned the villa. And I was the pitiful orphan she'd charitably taken in.

All this time, Calvin thought I was the one clinging to his house, scheming to steal his only-son status.

Absurd.

Calvin turned back to his classmates and announced loudly：

“You guys want to know how shameless this Kieran Dickerson really is?”

“He camps out in our house every single day. We can't get rid of him.”

“I even stuck a note on the door telling him to stop mooching, and he threw a fit and called the cops on my mom, said she was bullying him.”

“My mom was afraid he'd blow it up into something bigger and drag the company's name through the mud, so she just let it go—bought me this whole new villa so I could live on my own.”

“Sometimes I really can't wrap my head around it. I'm her actual son, the real deal, and I spend half my time in the dorms. But this guy, some broke orphan, plants himself in our house around the clock like he owns the place. It got to the point where if I wanted to wear my own clothes or drink the wine I like, my mom had to sneak it out from the city mansion, just so he wouldn't find out and start whining that we were picking on him.”

“In my entire life, I have never seen a more shameless waste of space!”

My eyes went wide.

So that was why things kept disappearing from the city mansion. Aileen had been sneaking them out here for her son.

Aileen Chavez. What a piece of work.

Since you want to play me for a fool, don't blame me for what comes next.

I pulled out my phone right there and called the Legal Department：

“Get a team out to my parents' country estate immediately……”

Before I could finish, Calvin snatched the phone out of my hand and smashed it on the ground：

“You worthless piece of trash—how are you still keeping up the act?”

“Your parents' estate? This is the villa my mom bought for me!”

His classmates piled on, sneering and spitting contempt：

“No wonder everyone else lives in the dorms and he's the only one who never stays on campus. I thought he was busy with something legit. Turns out he was leeching off Calvin's family and trying to steal his mom. Disgusting.”

“Exactly. His own parents are dead, so he goes and latches onto someone else's rich ones. If his parents knew how shameless he was, they'd be rolling in their graves.”

“Some people are just that brazen. The second they spot money, they're scheming to latch onto rich godparents so they can ride their way to the top.”

“Calvin, you're way too nice about this. If somebody tried to steal my parents, I'd rip him apart!”

I ignored every last one of them, locked my eyes on Calvin, and said, voice hard：

“I'd suggest you call your mother right now and ask her who this estate actually belongs to.”

Calvin's face darkened. He grabbed me by the collar and yanked me forward：

“You worthless piece of trash, you want to drag my mom into this?”

“You think I'm stupid? You know she's soft, so you play her—get her over here, squeeze whatever you can out of her!”

Then his gaze dropped to my neck, and his eyes lit up：

“That jade pendant necklace doesn't look cheap. Let me guess, you conned my mom into buying that for you too?”

Before I could answer, he grabbed it and ripped it off my neck.

He moved so fast I had no time to react. The necklace was already in his hand.

My face went white：“Give it back!”

The panic in my voice made Calvin look at me with a cold, vicious gleam：

“This nervous over a necklace? Must've cost my mom a fortune, huh?”

I couldn't keep the desperation out of my voice：“My mother gave it to me. It's not worth much money, but it means everything to me. Give it back.”

I lunged for it.

My mother had nearly killed herself getting me that jade pendant necklace.

I was sick all the time as a kid. When I was ten, I collapsed and didn't wake up. They put me in the ICU, unconscious, fading.

The doctors told my parents to prepare for the worst.

My mother couldn't accept it. She went to a temple to pray for me.

In the dead heat of summer—over a hundred degrees—she dropped to her knees at the foot of the mountain and bowed her way to the top, one step, one kowtow, all the way up.

By the time she reached the summit, her knees were shredded down to white bone, her forehead split open and pouring blood, her mind barely holding on. Only then was she granted the jade pendant necklace.

Maybe heaven itself was moved by what she'd done.

I woke up. Somehow, impossibly, I opened my eyes.

But my mother never recovered.

On her deathbed, she pressed the necklace into my hand and made me promise to keep it safe.

I'd treasured it ever since, carried it with me every single day.

It was the thing my mother had traded her life for. It was the one line no one crossed.

I would never let anyone destroy it.

“The more you want it, the more I want to break it.”

Before my fingers could reach it, Calvin hurled the necklace at the ground.

A sharp crack. The jade split apart.

Pieces scattered across the floor.

“No!”

The jade my mother had given her life for, shattered right in front of me.

The pain was so sharp I couldn't breathe.

“You're an animal!”

I couldn't take it anymore. I drove my fist straight into Calvin's face.

“You worthless piece of shit, you hit me?”

Calvin clutched his face, shrieking：“Beat the hell out of this trash!”

“Whoever messes him up the worst, my mom gives them a million. Cash.”

That was all it took. Eyes lit up around the room, and they came at me with fists and feet.

“You actually hit Calvin? His mom's the richest woman in the city. Who do you think you are?”

“Please. You're a broke freeloader. Like you could afford a necklace like that? You obviously sweet-talked Calvin's mom into giving it to you. He smashed his own stuff—what are you crying about?”

“Shameless trash. Wasn't enough to steal someone else's mother—you had to go and hit her actual son? You must be tired of living.”

“And he has the nerve to bring up his own mom. Your parents raised a shameless parasite like you. No wonder they died young!”

They beat me to the ground. My whole body shook with rage, and I ground out the words through clenched teeth：

“You'll regret this.”

The whole room erupted in laughter, like I'd just told the funniest joke they'd ever heard.

“That's hilarious. Calvin's mom is the richest woman in the city. What the hell are you? You think you can make us regret anything?”

“You're nothing but a pathetic orphan who mooches off everyone he meets and survives by latching onto other people's parents. And you're threatening us?”

“A bottom-rung loser who can't even put a roof over his own head—this pathetic little meltdown is all you've got.”

They had me pinned to the floor, mocking me without the slightest restraint.

Calvin grabbed a fistful of my hair and wrenched my head back, the whole crowd egging him on：

“Regret? I've never regretted a single thing in my life. Go ahead—I'm dying to see how a broke nobody like you is gonna make me regret anything!”

The words had barely left his mouth when a convoy of luxury cars came screaming up the drive and braked hard at the mansion entrance……