Chapter 1

My parents hand me this year's "atonement list", which includes a Porsche worth at least six figures.

They claim that my late brother, Caleb Patterson, loved luxury cars above all else. Even though he died saving my life, they say I owe it to him to buy a real one and burn it in his memory. That way, he can enjoy it in the afterlife.

Just as I'm about to drain my savings to appease them—just as I've done for the past ten years—I receive a notification about a trending post titled, "How do you get the oldest child to willingly spend their whole life slaving away for the younger one?"

After a moment's thought, I tap the notification and start typing a reply, one word at a time.

"I'm the oldest child, but I'm adopted. Ten years ago, my younger brother drowned while saving my life. I owe my family my life, so no matter how outrageous my parents' demands are, I'll do everything in my power to fulfill them. I see it as my way of carrying my brother's share of caring for our parents too."

But before I can hit post, a top-voted comment from the original poster catches my eye.

"What's so hard about that? Ten years ago, I got myself into trouble and needed to lay low for a while. And because of that, my parents lied to my adopted brother and told him I was swept away by the current while trying to save him from drowning.

"For the past ten years, I've been living a life of luxury overseas under a fake identity. Meanwhile, my idiot brother has been brainwashed by our parents under the guise of 'atonement'. Every year, he hands over hundreds of thousands of dollars as penance."

The poster even attaches a photo. In it is a handwritten "atonement list", with one entry standing out in particular.

"Limited-edition Patek Philippe watch, platinum, diamond-set version."

Every drop of blood in my body turns to ice.

There's a coffee stain in the bottom-right corner of the paper in that photo. It's identical to the one on the list Mom and Dad just handed me.

Chapter 1

Most of the comments were filled with shock, outrage, and criticism. People were condemning the parents for their cruelty and the audacity of the original poster.

Yet, when faced with the internet's fury, the poster not only didn't feel ashamed, but even doubled down.

"Go ahead and keep cussing. The angrier you all get, the more it proves how much my parents love me. To make sure I'd be set for life, they practically raised a human ATM for me.

"It's hilarious! He actually believes that I'm dead. Every year on my so-called death anniversary, he lays fresh flowers in front of my empty urn. Little does he know I'm throwing yacht parties overseas in Valrya.

"I heard he was just hospitalized yesterday after working himself to the point of bleeding from a stomach ulcer. And today, my parents handed him the invoice for my new car. Not only did he not complain, but he apologized to them with a face full of guilt, saying he hadn't taken good enough care of them.

"Okay, gotta run now. I'm picking up my new ride today. Time to take her for a spin!"

I stared intently at those comments as an icy chill spread from the pit of my stomach.

Just this morning, my parents—Simon Patterson and Krystal Granger—had walked into my hospital room and thrown that invoice on my bed.

"Asher Patterson! Your brother came to me in a dream last night. He says he wants this car!" my adoptive mother snapped, looking down her nose at me. "You murderer! If it weren't for saving you, Caleb wouldn't have died. Even giving your life in exchange for his wouldn't be enough!"

I'd clutched my stomach with one hand as it twisted agonizingly, while my other hand dug tightly into the sheets.

Without a word, I immediately transferred the 450,000 dollars in corporate dividends, along with the remaining ten-something thousand dollars in my personal savings, straight to my adoptive father's account.

Back in the present, I ripped the IV out of the back of my hand. I walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water over my face. It felt like that was the only way to wake myself up from this absurd nightmare.

For as long as I could remember, I knew I was adopted by the Patterson family.

When I was 18, I had accidentally fallen into a river. My younger brother, Caleb Patterson—born just one day after me—had jumped in to rescue me.

I survived, but he never made it back to shore. His body was never even found.

From that day on, my life became hell.

Whenever my parents were upset about anything, they would beat and kick me, calling me a jinx and saying I brought them nothing but bad luck.

When it came time to apply for college, they forced me to give up on the medical school I had dreamed of attending and choose finance instead, all just because it would let me earn money sooner.

Once I started working, they took control of my paycheck, too.

I never resented them, because, all these years, I believed that I owed Caleb my life.

But now…

I followed the account that posted the thread and sent Dad a message.

"Dad, did you get the money for the watch? Is it enough? If it's not, I'll find a way to borrow some more."

His reply came quickly, as cold and indifferent as ever.

"Received. At least you still have a little conscience. Your mother and I are going to perform some rites for your brother these next few days. We don't have time to look after you. If you're feeling well enough, go get yourself discharged."

After hesitating for a moment, I asked a friend who worked at a bank to check the recent transactions and related activity on Dad's account.

For all these years, I'd been fully devoted to them without once questioning them. But that thread made it impossible to ignore the doubts gnawing at me.

A quick check would be able to determine whether it was real or not.

30 minutes later, my friend sent me a screenshot, along with a voice message.

"Asher, your dad's card was used this morning for a limited-edition luxury watch, paid in full. The registered recipient's name is Caleb Patterson."

Hearing those words, my mind went completely blank.

Caleb was indeed alive!

Chapter 2

Ignoring the doctor's objections, I got myself discharged and took a cab straight to the shrine where my parents were supposedly performing the rites.

I searched the grounds inside and out three times, but I never found either of them.

Exhausted, I sat down on the stone steps outside the shrine and pulled out my phone. The thread had been updated again.

"Mom and Dad flew out to Valrya today to have a seafood feast with me. Meanwhile, that idiot is still eating plain bread in the hospital. I'm dying laughing."

The attached photo showed a luxury oceanfront restaurant. The table was piled high with expensive lobsters, king crabs, and bottles of aged fine wine.

At the corner of the photo, part of a man's wrist had been accidentally captured. On it was a vintage watch that I knew all too well.

It was a collector's piece I had bought for Dad after working overtime for three straight months and closing one of the company's hardest projects last year.

In that moment, I was finally certain. The whole story about atoning for Caleb's death had been a complete and utter lie.

I took out my phone and opened the profile page of the account called "TraversingTheWorld". Caleb had always loved flaunting his wealth, and his page was full of posts documenting the lavish lifestyle he'd been living for the past ten years.

I scrolled through them one by one until I froze over a post. It was a photo he'd posted three years ago.

In it, he was drinking wine at an old-money estate overseas. The caption read, "Mom and Dad finally managed to squeeze half of that guy's company shares out of him. Bought myself a wine estate to celebrate!"

I remembered it now.

Three years ago, Mom had suddenly been diagnosed with uremia. She urgently needed a kidney transplant as well as an enormous amount of money for the surgery.

Without a second thought, I sold off half the shares of the company I had poured my blood and sweat into building and scraped together 30 million dollars for her treatment.

Later, her illness was miraculously declared a "misdiagnosis", but she never returned the 30 million dollars to me. They claimed they had set the money aside to buy a better, more luxurious burial plot for Caleb.

As it turned out, the money had gone to buy a wine estate for Caleb.

And there were plenty more posts. I went through them one by one, seeing basically every ounce of blood, sweat, and sleepless nights I had poured into the last ten years being spent on him.

I kept scrolling until my phone died and the screen went black. My pale face stared back at me from the dark screen, my jaw clenched tight.

…

Three days later, my parents returned from "the shrine".

The moment Dad walked in, he scowled in disgust and threw the designer shopping bags he was carrying onto the couch.

"What are you doing lounging around the house?" he barked. "Go make dinner! Your brother is suffering in the afterlife, and you still have the nerve to sit around doing nothing?"

Seeing the vintage watch on his wrist, I pulled my lips back into a cold smile.

"Dad, did everything go smoothly at the shrine? Does Caleb still need anything?"

A flicker of uneasiness crossed his face at my question, but he quickly put on an indignant expression.

"Even if he needs something, can you afford it? Last time I asked you to buy a mansion so we could burn it in his memory, you dragged your feet and made excuse after excuse.

"Now hurry up and make dinner! Your mother and I have been eating nothing but vegan food at the shrine. It has wrecked our stomachs!"

It was more like they'd ruined their stomachs by eating seafood nonstop in Valrya.

I lowered my eyes and answered in the same calm, low tone as always. "Got it. I'll go cook right now."

At the dinner table, Mom spoke up almost absent-mindedly.

"Asher, your company has really found its footing right now. You're working yourself to the bone all day, and you're going to ruin your health sooner or later. Transfer the rest of the shares to me next week. I'll manage them for you."

"Mom, I built that company from the ground up. If I hand over all my shares, how am I supposed to make a living?"

"You owe your very life to Caleb!" Dad snarled, slamming his fork onto the table. "We raised you all these years, and now we can't even ask you for a few shares? What? Are you planning on leaving things that belong to the Patterson family to some outsider?"

I raised my head, my gaze turning cold.

"Dad, did Caleb really jump into the river to save me back then?"

"You ungrateful little bastard!" Dad roared. "Your brother lost his life saving you, and you actually have the nerve to doubt him?

"Are you trying to erase history and pretend it never happened? I swear I'm going to beat some sense into you today, you ungrateful piece of trash!"

Dad grabbed the solid-wood cane from the corner of the room and swung it straight at my head.

In the past, I would have just stood there and taken the beating, apologizing while I endured the blows. But today, I reached out and caught the cane firmly.

"Dad, it was just a simple question. Why are you getting so worked up?"

Chapter 3

Dad didn't answer. His expression shifted several times before he finally stormed off to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

From that day on, my parents gave me the silent treatment. But I no longer groveled or tried to appease them like I had always done. Instead, I went to work as usual.

At the same time, I quietly hired one of the best private investigative agencies in the industry. I had them conduct a full investigation into Caleb's and my parents' finances over the past ten years.

…

One afternoon about a week later, the lead investigator placed a thick stack of documents on my desk.

"Mr. Patterson, we've already dug thoroughly into everything. Caleb never jumped into the river to save you ten years ago.

"Back then, he'd been bullying his classmates for a long time. It eventually led to one of their accidental deaths. To protect him, your parents sent him overseas that very night.

"As for you, you were actually saved by a random passerby. He pulled you to shore, then took off after making sure you weren't in any danger.

"Your parents took advantage of the situation to tell everyone that Caleb had been swept away by the current while trying to save you. They even went as far as to legally declare him dead.

"Once the heat died down about two years ago, he finally had his identity and legal records reinstated and came back to the country."

I flipped through the documents.

Over the years, Caleb had been spending money like there was no tomorrow overseas, buying sports cars, living in sprawling mansions, and frequenting exclusive private clubs. And every last dollar of that money had come from the so-called atonement money I'd transferred to my parents.

"There's one more very important finding."

The investigator handed me a sealed manila envelope, his expression complicated.

I reached for it. The moment I laid eyes on the contents inside, my eyes grew wide.

Fate really had played a cruel joke on me.

After the investigator left, my thoughts were a complete mess. I couldn't concentrate on work at all, but I somehow managed to make it until the end of the workday before I took a cab home.

When I reached the front door, I had barely pushed it open a crack when I heard Dad's hushed voice from the living room.

"Mr. Triar, yes, this is Asher Patterson's father. Regarding what you suggested earlier… I've made my decision."

My hand froze on the door.

Mr. Triar? Wasn't that my company's biggest rival?

Mom's voice followed immediately. "Make it clear to him that we're not talking for anything less than 4.5 million dollars!

"We have all of Asher's company's core strategic files for the second half of the year. With these in hand, his company will go bankrupt sooner or later.

"And when that time comes, we can slap him with a charge for leaking trade secrets. He'll easily be looking at a few years behind bars!

"I can't believe the bastard actually tried to go against us lately. He needs to be taught a harsh lesson!"

I stood outside the door, feeling as though all the blood in my body was rushing backward. It wasn't enough that they had bled me dry for the past ten years. Now they even wanted to destroy my company, ruin my reputation, and personally send me to prison.

But now wasn't the time to expose them. I needed to keep them in check first and stop them from handing over my company's confidential information.

Taking a deep breath, I adjusted my expression and pushed the door open.

When they saw me walk in, both of them instantly fell silent. Mom, looking flustered, hurriedly hid her phone behind her back.

"When did you get home?"

Pretending not to have heard a thing, I rubbed my temples wearily.

"I just walked in. Mom, Dad, I've thought things through over these past few days. You're right. I owe my life to Caleb, and the company rightfully belongs to the family. I'll sign the share-transfer agreement in front of all our relatives at tomorrow night's family dinner."

The moment those words left my mouth, their eyes lit up.

"Good! That's my boy!" Dad said excitedly as he jumped to his feet. "I knew you were someone who knew how to show his gratitude."

I lowered my gaze slightly. From the corner of my eye, I saw him sneaking his phone out and quickly typing a message to Mr. Triar.

Chapter 4

The family dinner was held at the ancestral Patterson family estate. Every relative from the Patterson side of the family showed up.

I deliberately wore an all-black suit, dressed solemnly and formally, as though I were attending a funeral.

The moment I opened the heavy doors to the dining hall, the lively room instantly fell silent.

Noticing my outfit, Dad's face darkened. He stormed over to me in a rage.

"Why are you dressed like that? Are you intentionally trying to remind us your brother is dead?"

I look at him calmly, then let my eyes drift past him toward the center of the hall. A memorial table stood there, lined with framed photographs of all the deceased members of the Patterson clan.

Caleb's photograph was prominently displayed in the front row.

"Wasn't today about earning some good karma for Caleb?" I asked, a faint smile tugging at my lips. "I figured he'd be happy to see me dressed respectfully from wherever he is."

Mom scoffed coldly, then pointed at the memorial table.

"Since you know we're doing this for your brother, go kneel in front of his photo and pray for his soul," she ordered. "You're not allowed to get up until dinner starts. Think about what you've done and ask him for forgiveness. Then say a few more prayers for him!"

I stood rooted to the spot, completely unmoving.

"Why should I?"

The hall instantly erupted into an uproar.

Dad froze for a second before yelling, "You're only alive because of Caleb! You owe him your life! Forget kneeling there and saying some prayers—even if I told you to give up your life for him right now, it would still be the least you could do!"

I just stood there with my back straight, not saying a word.

Seeing this, Mom turned to the relatives gathered around us and began beating her chest dramatically.

"Everyone, do you see this? My flesh and blood gave his life for this ungrateful bastard, and now he won't even say a few prayers for him!" she accused.

"For the past ten years, every time his father and I close our eyes, all we can see is Caleb struggling in the river. We raised this adopted son from the time he was a child and put him through school. Now that he's a big-shot businessman, he doesn't give a damn about us anymore!"

Uncle Rafael, Dad's older brother, slammed his hand on the table, shot up to his feet, and glared at me.

"Asher Patterson! A man can't forget his roots! You owe your life to Caleb! We're just asking you to kneel in front of the man who saved your life and say a few prayers for him! That's the least you can do. What right do you have to refuse?"

The other relatives joined in, piling on the guilt.

"Exactly! He's so heartless! How can anyone be this cold-blooded?"

"Caleb was in the prime of his life when he died. Asher's the older brother. What's wrong with kneeling and paying his respects to him?"

"Asher Patterson, have a conscience and get down on your knees!"

With everyone worked into a frenzy, Dad raised his hand and slapped me across the face.

"You ungrateful piece of trash! Get on your knees right now!" he roared as he reached for my shoulder, trying to force me down physically.

But before his hand could land on my shoulder, I grabbed his wrist in a vice-like grip.

He froze, completely stunned. He clearly hadn't expected the person who had always silently endured everything to actually fight back.

"You dare raise a hand against me?" he demanded, his eyes wide.

"Why wouldn't I?"

I shoved him away. He stumbled back a few steps before crashing into a nearby chair. Then, under the shocked gazes of everyone present, I grabbed Caleb's photograph and smashed it onto the floor.

With a sharp crash, the framed photograph shattered into pieces.

"Asher Patterson! Have you lost your mind?" Uncle Rafael shouted in horror.

I swept my cold gaze across every face in the room and sneered. "Memorializing someone who's still alive? Seriously? Aren't you worried you'll jinx him?"