If You Don't Want Me Here, Let Me Go

The second Dave finished whining, he turned to Ingrid and William, looking as pitiful as humanly possible.

They fell for his act, pouring out all their sympathy, trying to soothe him like he was a toddler.

I couldn't care less about their ridiculous family drama. Without a word, I walked into the room and tossed all of Dave's stuff out into the hallway.

Before William could completely lose his mind, I slammed the door shut to his face with a loud bang.

The shouting started immediately, his voice full of rage on the other side of the door. But I just ignored him. Instead, I popped on my headphones and made a call.

"President, I just found out that there are some serious issues with G Industries. With the current strategy, are you really planning to take it over?"

It was my secretary reporting.

I nodded and replied, "I came back here out of curiosity, wanted to see what kind of people they really were."

"Well, turns out they're exactly what I expected—they don't give a damn about me at all. It's time. Go ahead and take down their shitty little company down!"

I said it with a cold tone.

My secretary got straight to work as soon as I hung up.

Meanwhile, the door started shaking under repeated blows. It wasn't hard to guess—my parents had lost their patience and were ready to teach me a lesson.

Just as I stood up, the door flew open with a bang, and William stormed in.

His face was set in a furious scowl as he glared at me, his scolding tone sharp.

"Lucien, you've gone too far!"

He shouted, "This is Dave's room!"

"Didn't Dave say he'd give it to me?"

I shot that back, staring behind him, where Dave stood there pretending to be the wounded angel.

But the burning hatred in his eyes told the real story.

Still, he kept up the act, sniffling as he said, "Dad, Dad, I'll let him have the room. I'll just move into the servants' quarters."

That broke whatever control William had left. He charged at me, hand raised to hit me.

Behind him, Ingrid cried like her heart was breaking.

Her eyes, though, fixed on me with barely concealed disdain.

The moment William's hand came down, I caught his wrist mid-swing.

Seeing me fight back, his expression froze.

"You arrogant little punk! I'm your father! Let go of my hand!"

He bellowed at me.

But I didn't bother to listen to his nonsense.

I just shoved him away without hesitation and stared at him with a scoff. "Seems like I'm not welcome here, huh?"

His face went beet-red, and he jabbed a finger at me, shouting, "You're way out of line now, Lucien"

"Lucien, why are you acting like this?"

Ingrid chimed in then, her face cold and disapproving as she said, "Dave is part of this family, too. You're brothers. You should be working together, not fighting like this!"

Her expression softened with compassion as she glanced at Dave, adding, "Besides, it's him who's been managing the company all these years!"

"And even though you've come back, we're not going to just hand the family assets over to you. Those belong to Dave!"

I listened to my parents' words with a faint nod.

I'd known all along that this was how it would end.

Years ago, even after William found out Dave wasn't his biological son, he never wavered in his affection.

In fact, William handed over most of the company's operations to Dave.

It was clear to me that their love for their adopted son had only grown deeper, to the point where they treated him like he was their real son.

So then, why bring me back at all? That's the part I couldn't figure out.