After My Stepson Threw Hot Soup on Me on Christmas Eve, I Bankrupted His Entire Family Chapter 08
Lily’s SAT results came back.
She ranked near the top of the state and was accepted to an Ivy League university.
At the celebration dinner, the hotel ballroom was full of relatives, friends, and business partners.
I had a few glasses of wine, my cheeks warm, and held Lily’s hand, smiling until my face ached.
“Mom, slow down,” Lily said, worried, sliding more food onto my plate.
“I’m happy. Mom is happy today.”
I raised my glass.
“For years, I trusted the wrong man and misjudged the wrong family. But now I see clearly. I have a daughter this wonderful — that alone makes this whole life worth it.”
During dinner, someone mentioned Robert.
“I heard someone spotted him near the subway passage. He was eating cold bread thrown out by a convenience store.”
My fork paused.
Then I picked up a piece of roast beef, put it in my mouth, and chewed slowly.
“Oh. Is that so. Well, he’s living the life he chose.’
Three years later, on a winter night, Lily and I were leaving the mall after buying Christmas decorations.
As we passed a trash can, an old man was rummaging through it for bottles.
The moment he saw me, his whole body stiffened.
He slowly lifted his head.
It was Robert.
His face was red and cracked from the cold.
In his hand was half of a filthy apple.
“Olivia…”
His lips trembled, and tears slid down his face.
“IW
was wrong. I really was wrong. For the sake of the ten years we lived together, can you…”
I stopped and looked at the man I had once shared ten years of my life with.
Lily tightened her grip on my hand.
I patted the back of her hand, telling her not to be afraid.
Then I took a one-hundred-dollar bill from my wallet.
Robert’s eyes lit up.
He reached for it.
I let go.
The bill drifted down onto the snow and landed beside the dirty apple.
“This is for the Robert who once held an umbrella over me in the rain,” I said evenly.
“As for the person standing here now, I don’t know him.”
Then I took Lily’s hand and walked away.
We got into the warm car.
In the rearview mirror, Robert knelt in the snow, picked up the money, and broke into sobs.
Across the city, Brandon had just been released from prison.
With a criminal record, he couldn’t find work.
He was curled in the corner of an internet café, watching the news of my company’s IPO on a screen.
His eyes turned red with envy.
But he could never claw his way back up.
Some people will never remember your kindness, no matter how much you give.
Some people are rotten to the core.
And that was enough.
