My parents seemed to be a little surprised. They were surprised that I would let Camila, whom I loved deeply, go that easily. In the past, I would have been angry and questioned them.
However, after a temporary moment of confusion, they answered coldly, “Don’t forget that Camila’s only willing to marry you because she hates you and wants you to suffer with her. After all, you got her younger brother in a coma.
“Since you’re so cruel, it’s not right for you to be so close to the Reid family. It’s the best-case scenario for Luther to marry her.”
I nodded calmly and suddenly asked, “If Luther marries Camila, does that mean I no longer have to be punished? You won’t stop me from leaving any longer, right?”
After a brief silence, Ruth, who had been quiet throughout, suddenly frowned.
“Where would you go? Where could you even go?”
Over the past two years, I had lost touch with the outside world.
However, I recalled Ruth once chatting happily with Camila. They had wanted to watch me hold my own piano concert in River City.
Times had changed. They would no longer attend my performance, and my mangled fingers would no longer play the piano.
However, I still wanted to visit the city. I wanted to make a toast and mourn my past with a glass of wine.
Before I could speak, Luther grabbed my shoulder and frowned. “Oliver, the wound on your face is not fully healed just yet. If the reporters find out, it’ll be bad press for Mom and Dad.
“Oliver, I know that you’re blaming me, but think about our parents! Please don’t leave, alright? You also don’t want others to think that our parents had tortured their own son, right?”
Upon hearing that, my parents came back to their senses. My disfigured face and mangled fingers would be a threat to their reputation.
It hurt more that it was the unvarnished truth.
“Just stay at home. You have nowhere to go.
“We have enough means to take care of you. As long as you learn from your mistakes, you’re still our son.”
They thought that I would be delighted with their offer.
On the contrary, I was puzzled.
“Why? I’ve given everything to him. Why won’t you let me leave?
“I’m not fighting for anything. I just want to leave.”
My eyes were vacant as I kept repeating my question. However, they started to get impatient and glared at me.
“Why else would you leave? Do you think we’re dumb? You intend to leave in order to turn the public’s opinion on Luther.
“I won’t allow this! Go back to your room and reflect on your words. Don’t come out unless we say so.”
After they said that, they immediately left.
Luther leaned closer to me and flashed a smug and creepy smile at me.
“Oliver, just be good and stay at home. If you leave, my life would be very boring.”
Luther’s lies were painfully obvious.
He claimed that I had bullied him in school, but he did not even have a single wound on him.
He claimed that I had forced him to kill himself, but a day before he jumped into the ocean, he had sent me a text: Do you want to bet how insignificant you are to them?
However, when I showed my parents the evidence, they said that I was vicious. “You’ve already treated Luther so poorly, why are you still making up lies to frame him?
“Since you won’t listen to us, you should reflect on your own actions in the basement!”
I always thought that Luther only made up lies to frame me because he was afraid that my parents would favor me.
However, he did not seem to be satisfied.
“Why? Luther, I’ve already given you my parents, my older sister, and my fiancee!
“I don’t owe you anything! Why aren’t you willing to let me go?”
I had bottled up all the past hurt and grief.
It had been two years. I thought I had already lost my ability to advocate for myself.
However, Luther always knew how to hit me where it hurt the most.
“Are you saying that you don’t owe me anything? I’m telling you, from the moment you came back to this family, you owed me everything!
“If you hadn’t returned, I’d be the only son of this family! You turned my presence into a joke among the upper-class circle. Why would I let you go?”
