"He's just having trouble accepting this. Please don't blame him."
At those words, Dad looked at me with disappointment.
"Luke, when will you ever have even half of Lionel's capacity for forgiveness?"
Mom glared at me, teeth clenched. "Him? Forgiving? It'd be a miracle if he wasn't scheming against Lionel behind our backs."
Then she pointed at me. "You'd better shape up. Otherwise, don't blame me for disowning you."
With that, she didn't spare me another glance and left with Lionel.
I could still hear her comforting him as they walked away.
"Lionel, you wanted a dog, didn't you? I bought you a Labrador."
Dad looked at me, sighed, shook his head, and followed after them.
I watched their figures disappear, my expression cold, before finally looking away.
The office was empty by now—everyone had gone home.
It took me hours of digging before I finally confirmed the exact situation with that project.
But in the process, I discovered something else. A year ago, to keep Lionel happy, my parents had diverted company funds to buy him a yacht.
He'd gotten bored of it later and sold it.
Only, that transaction had been hidden from the books.
The deeper I dug, the more I found. Deals like this, buried one after another.
God knows how much tax they'd evaded.
Last year, a friend had tipped me off that the Dickersons were dodging taxes. I'd spent a fortune covering it up for them.
But this time? I wasn't sticking my neck out again.
The train south wouldn't depart for a few more days, so I checked into a small hotel.
The next evening, my parents somehow tracked down where I was staying.
I'd barely stepped outside when they blocked my path.
The moment she saw me, Mom let out a scornful laugh.
"Without us propping you up, this is the best you can do—some dingy little hotel."
"At the end of the day, you're just a useless nobody who can't survive without the family."
I ignored her and turned to leave.
But Lionel stepped in front of me.
"Hey, we're family. There's nothing we can't work out." He put on an earnest expression. "I brought Mom and Dad here because I want you at my engagement party tomorrow. Me and Evelyn."
"I already talked them into giving you a tenth of a percent of the company shares."
"So stop making a scene and just come home with us."
Dad sighed. "Luke, Lionel's offering you those shares out of the goodness of his heart. You should be grateful to have such a considerate brother."
"A tenth of a percent?"
"I don't want it."
I shoved Lionel's hand away. He stumbled back and fell, scraping his palm bloody.
Mom immediately exploded.
"If it weren't for Lionel's engagement tomorrow—if it weren't for the family's reputation—you think we'd actually want to bring you home?!"
"You've bullied him since you were kids, and now you have the nerve to shove him right in front of us? We never should've bothered!"
"Fine! You don't want the shares? Then you get nothing!"
"Let's see how long you last without our support!"
Hearing that, I almost laughed.
"Do you even hear yourself?"
"When—when—have you ever actually seen me bully Lionel?"
"Every single time, all he had to do was point a finger at me, and you'd punish me without a second thought!"
"In elementary school, he threw away his own backpack and told you I tossed it in the river. You made me go a whole day without food."
"He flipped up a girl's skirt and told you I put him up to it. You beat my back raw and made me apologize in front of the entire school."
"Later, he stole money from home. But you believed his sob story—said I was a bad influence as his older brother. You threw me outside in the freezing cold with nothing on, while you bought him a cake to make him feel better."
