Chapter 1

After dating Layla Marsh for four years, Clark Marsh, her son, suddenly appeared at my birthday party while pretending to be a waiter. Then, he fainted.

Layla was shocked and ordered some staff to bring him to the lounge.

But with teary eyes and a stubborn look, he pleaded to Layla, “Mom, please let me stay here, or I won’t get my salary. Then, I won’t get any money to buy medicine…”

Layla stared at him in surprise, and she demanded, “I give you an allowance of thirty thousand dollars a month. How could you not buy your medicine and still need to work?”

But Clark opened his mouth in confusion, and all his blood drained from his face. “Thirty thousand dollars? But I only got three hundred dollars…”

Layla’s eyes went wide with shock before she whipped her head toward me. Her expression sank.

I had been enjoying the drama when I heard this, and my mouth twitched.

‘This is bad. He’s here for me,’ I thought.

Who did Clark think I was?

I was a top-tier freeloader who kept clear accounts, with every expense and every sum of money I received clearly listed.

Clark was stepping on a dragon’s tail.

Chapter 1

In the ensuing silence, Layla Marsh said, “That’s impossible. I ask Rowan to send the money to you every month.”

But Clark Marsh stared at her and clenched his fists. He said with a quivering voice, “But Mom, I’m not lying. Over the past year, I only received three hundred dollars every month…”

I gave a stiff, awkward smile. Just as I was about to say that there had been some kind of misunderstanding, Clark gritted his teeth and said, “Mom, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that it was his birthday today and didn’t come here to cause trouble.

“I just needed two hundred dollars to buy gastric medicine…”

He looked so meek that it caused the people to have complicated expressions on their faces. They exchanged looks.

Naturally, I knew what they were thinking about.

It was my birthday. In order to make me happy, Layla had made sure to throw an extraordinarily lavish party. The cake alone cost six figures.

There was also the birthday gift for me. It was a limited-edition racecar that cost tens of millions. It was parked right outside.

Yet at the same time, her own son was serving as a waiter to earn two hundred dollars, and he almost fainted.

What exactly was going on?

Layla stared at Clark’s bloodless face. A moment later, she trained her eyes at me, and I could not decipher what she was feeling. “Rowan, I transferred the money to you. Tell me what’s going on.”

As everyone stared at me, I calmly put down the knife I used to cut the cake and removed one of my cufflinks. Then, I laughed. “See this, Clark? This alone costs three hundred thousand dollars.

“I’d be very lame if I pocketed your thirty-thousand-dollar monthly allowance, don’t you think?”

In an instant, the guests started whispering, and there were some chuckles too.

“True. He doesn’t need to do that. Everyone knows that Miss Marsh dotes on Rowan. She gives him everything that is good in the world.”

“Exactly. That bit of money really is nothing to him.”

Layla’s scowl eased, but Clark clenched his fists, and his face turned red. A humiliated look flashed in his eyes.

They were right. Everyone present knew how much Layla doted on me over the four years I dated her.

Not only was I the only plus-one she ever brought to public events, it was also common for her to splurge during auctions for me.

Last month alone, she gave me a cruise ship in my name.

Me? Pocketing Clark’s thirty thousand dollars? Sorry, but there was no need for me to do that.

Of course, the only reason why I was so loved was because I knew my place well.

I was a professional freeloader.

I did not ask for love and only focused on improving my skills in giving my sugar mommy emotional support as well as making sure she was comfortable in all areas.

That was why I asked nothing else about her life over the years. The only thing I knew was that she had a son with her ex, and that she had been divorced for years.

One year ago, when Layla suddenly asked me to be in charge of giving Clark his living expenses, I had refused.

But she looked at me gently and smiled. “I won’t have to worry if you do it. Besides, if you don’t dare to do even this, how can you be my husband in the future?”

I had to admit that the temptation was too great, and I had taken the bait.

There we have it. The consequences of my actions had arrived, and I was in trouble.

While I was feeling frustrated, Clark hissed at me with great hostility, “I never said you wanted the money. You just want to kill me.”

Chapter 2

Huh? Where did that come from?

I stared at Clark in surprise.

But he just sneered. Refusing to back down, he looked back at me with eyes burning with resentment. “Mr. Stane, haven’t you been making my life a living hell the last year?

“You told me to walk more than thirty thousand steps a day, and only then would I be able to get my three-hundred-dollar monthly allowance. If I fail even once, I’ll get thirty dollars deducted.

“Once, I was burning up and wanted to get my monthly allowance ahead of time to see the doctor, but you asked me to write a three-thousand-word application. When I was finally done, you rejected the application because of a typo.

“I had to suffer burning with a fever for three days and nights. Aren’t you the one who did all those things?!”

Then, he tossed out a card that contained only 16.80 dollars.

He threw out yet another medical report that stated that he was severely malnourished, suffered from low blood sugar, and had gastritis.

Finally, he showed everyone dozens of messages asking him to pay his loans after he fell behind on his payments.

“You can choose not to believe in me, Mom, but my life over the past year has been a living hell…”

Clark bit down on his lip and tried to hold back his sobs.

Everyone fell silent. They were all shocked and in disbelief.

When they looked toward me, their eyes were full of disdain and displeasure, as if I was a heinous criminal.

My eyes flew wide open, and I found the entire situation ridiculous. Unable to help myself, I said, “Wait… If you’re living such a horrible life, why didn’t you just call your mom?”

Clark was rendered speechless for a brief moment before he shouted in anger, “Don’t you think I tried?! You stopped me! You told me that Mom was busy, she wouldn’t have time for me, and she didn’t want to see me?

“I was wondering what I did wrong to make Mom so angry!”

Then, with a choked-up voice, he said, “Mom, I waited for an entire night for your phone call for my sixteenth birthday, but you didn’t call. I was so disappointed.

“For a moment, I even wanted to jump off a building so that I wouldn’t bother you anymore…”

Surprise flashed in Layla’s eyes. Then, she narrowed her eyes at me. The sharp eyes were filled with a dangerous glint. She said, “Rowan, if I remember correctly, I was out on a business trip during Clark’s birthday this year.

“I asked you to give him a watch. Did you?”

Her voice was calm, but it made chills crawl down my spine.

I was stunned before answering quickly, “I did, but he—”

But an indignant shout interrupted me.

“No! He’s lying!”

A boy stepped forward from the crowd.

“Hello, Miss Marsh. I’m Clark’s roommate and came here to work with him. I’m sorry, but I can’t watch this any longer. We celebrated his birthday together, and he was really sad because he got nothing from you!

“I know exactly how bad Clark’s life has been over the past year. We didn’t believe him in the beginning. How could the son of a rich family live in poverty?

“But he has been working while studying, and he never joins any of our trips or gatherings. He’s already fainted three times from low blood sugar during PE. As for his school uniform and textbooks, he had to borrow money for them.

“At his worst, he couldn’t even afford a razor. If you don’t believe me, I have these IOUs with me!”

Then, he brought stacks of handwritten IOUs worth fifty dollars and one hundred dollars.

The signatures at the end were all Clark’s.

In an instant, everyone burst into a ruckus.

Clark hung his head, and his eyes welled up in tears.

My explanations died in my throat.

Then, I looked at Layla’s profound gaze before asking softly, “Do you trust me?”

But the woman who usually doted on me did not answer. Her face was tense, and she had her lips pursed. A storm was brewing in her cold gaze.

In an instant, I felt my heart plummet.

Something akin to disappointment welled up in my chest.

But who was I? A professional freeloader.

I refused to be hurt by love.

From the corner of my eye, I saw smugness flash in Clark’s eyes.

I was puzzled.

Did he put himself in such a sorry state just to slander me, or was someone pulling the strings from the shadows?

Did Layla perhaps want to break up with me but did not want me to leave with dignity, and that was why she set this stage with Clark?

In an instant, all sorts of theories flashed in my mind.

Regardless of which was true, I was done playing along.

I turned on the banking app on my phone and pulled out the transaction records before saying coldly, “I won’t say anything else. Here are all the transaction records showing that I have been transferring thirty thousand dollars to Clark every month. Look.”

Chapter 3

Surprise flashed in Clark’s eyes, and he clenched his fists.

Layla had stayed silent all this while, and she finally said, “Enough, Clark. Head home first. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

He trembled and looked up with disappointment in his eyes. “Even now, you still want to be biased toward him?!”

Clark teared up again.

He fixed his eyes on me, and his eyes were like those of an aggressive, small beast. When he spoke, his voice was calm, but it was laced with burning resentment.

“That debit card isn’t with me. Where did it go? Rowan, I’ve already accepted that you stole my mother from me and broke my family apart. I’m also accepting the fact that Mom is still protecting you even after all that I said.

“But I’m already debasing myself so much. Why are you still trying to get rid of me while even denying me my monthly allowance? What exactly are you trying to do? I’m not even trying to fight for Mom with you.”

It was like a bomb had exploded.

His tearful accusations stirred up a huge commotion.

Layla stiffened up, and her eyelashes fluttered. Regret flashed in her eyes.

The emotions in the crowd’s gazes were even clearer. They were all filled with disdain and scorn.

“He went overboard. Does he really have to corner the boy like that?”

“Doesn’t he find this ridiculous? Clark is the son of a rich family, but a freeloader abused him so badly…”

“He’s so arrogant. I think his ego got too inflated because of Miss Marsh’s love, and that’s why he has become self-important.”

Amid the harsh, mocking insults, I clenched my fists and sucked in a deep breath.

“Sorry, but I won’t become the scapegoat. When I got to know Miss Marsh, she had already been divorced for three years—”

But before I could finish speaking, Clark got so worked up that he grabbed a flute of champagne and threw it at me. “Enough! Stop trying to defend yourself!”

He shouted as tears rolled down his cheeks.

The champagne slid down my forehead. I stood still, despite looking pathetic, and I shut my eyes.

Layla had never pulled a long face at me before, but she was standing by the side while looking at me with a cold expression.

Suddenly, she brushed aside my fringe. Her movements were gentle, but her voice was as cold as ice, and the anger burning underneath came at me like a storm. “Rowan, I thought that you were different from the others.”

At that moment, I felt as if I had been punched in the gut.

I froze, and my eyes stung.

Just then, as if Clark was on the verge of breaking down, he started shouting again, “Why do you keep trying to attack me?! Are you really going to be satisfied only after I die?! Fine! I’ll die, then!”

Then, with crazed eyes, he charged at a pillar.

“Clark!”

“Clark!”

The hall descended into chaos. Surprised shouts rose and fell, while cameras flashed.

Only I remained standing still.

I watched as Layla rushed over to help Clark up after he crashed into the pillar. There was anxiety on her face as she cried out his name. The people were all looking at me in blatant disdain.

As Layla shielded Clark, I saw him grinning in a manner like the cat that had gotten the mouse.

Suddenly, I found the entire thing boring.

I went to block Layla’s path.

She turned her gaze toward me in disbelief, and there was a terrifyingly cold look in her eyes.

“Move! Are you only going to stop after you kill him?” she roared.

But I remained still. When I looked up, I spoke in a calm but unyielding voice. For the first time, I went against her.

“Before I make myself clear today, none of you are leaving.”