That’s when I knew. My wife was in love with my brother, and my children were no longer my own.
The night I discovered their affair, my parents sat me down for a long talk.
“Your brother is stubborn. He’s finally back from his studies, and our family name has some prestige now. W
can’t let him be a bachelor forever, can we?”
“We’re family. He’ll be good to the kids.”
“Just tell everyone you and Bianca divorced a long time ago. We’ll give you another house, you can move ou
for a while, to avoid gossip.”
“Victor,” my father had said, his words like daggers to my heart. “Just give your position to your brother.”
Looking at the absurd, grotesque theater of my family, I signed the divorce papers without a fight. I took my share of the assets and walked out of that house and that life without a backward glance.
I moved to the country and bought a small, simple house. Life was quiet, tending to my flowers and vegetab- le garden.
My biological children, furious that I had taken the money, hated me. In their eyes, I was a wicked man who
had used a woman to get ahead, then abandoned his family for money. They refused to call me father.
It didn’t matter. Over the years, I had found three new children.
The first was Claire, who ran away from the next village over when her parents tried to sell her to a local dru- nk for a pittance. I paid them double and bought her a new life. She was beautiful, and a stunningly fast lear-
ner.
The second was Leo, a boy beaten half to death for stealing a loaf of bread from a corner store. I paid for the damages, brought him home, cooked him a hot meal, and gave him clean clothes. A light ignited in his dark, hopeless eyes.
And Talia… Claire and Leo found her at the bus station, abandoned. She was just a little girl, staring at the
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departing bus with a look of pure, desolate loss on her face. I sighed, clutching my rapidly dwindling wallet, and grit my teeth as I told them to bring her home.
For years, they were the ones who stayed by my side.
“Now that you’re back, you should stay,” my mother said now, her voice thick with emotion. “You’ve had it
rough, my child.”
“He’s the one who didn’t want us,” Serena snorted from the side. “Mom said she would have taken care of
him. I guess he finally realized he’s useless out in the real world, huh?”
I looked at Serena, a flicker of pure contempt in my eyes. I had raised her with such care. Her health was fragile as a child, and I was constantly by her side. But she had hated my attentiveness, my “restrictions,’ and far preferred Hugo, who let her do whatever she wanted.
Before I could respond, my father walked in with Bianca and the others, laughing and talking.
“Grandma! Grandpa!” Isaac cried, throwing his arms around our mother. The moment he saw me, his smile froze, and a look of disgust flashed across his face.
“What are you still doing here?”
“Dad, what kind of scene are you trying to cause now?” my eldest, Lara, demanded, stepping in front of Hugc as if to protect him.
“I asked him to come back,” my mother snapped before I could speak.
“Honestly, bringing him back for the New Year. Such bad luck,” Serena muttered under her breath.
My father and Bianca’s faces also soured.
“My brother rarely comes home,” Hugo said, stepping forward, playing the magnanimous host.
The guests murmured amongst themselves. “The younger son is so reasonable.” “Yes, they say he studied abroad. You can tell he’s more sophisticated.” “What kind of father is so cruel that he abandons his own chil-
dren…”
“Grandpa, we got you gifts!” Isaac announced brightly. “The assistant arranged for them to be delivered later.
At this, my father’s face lit up.
“I hear the children of this family are all so accomplished.”
“The eldest daughter is the CEO of Aura Corp, the son is an influencer with millions of followers, and the
