12
I started at the NDU. Sophia married Alex.
She got pregnant before graduating college,
forcing her family to accept the situation.
Mom called, crying, telling me about Alex’s
parentage, about Dad’s betrayal. She asked if
I could forgive her.
I didn’t answer.
Her sobs intensified.
We both knew there was no going back. The
Noah who needed her had been left behind at
that amusement park, at age twelve.
My parents divorced. Dad took Alex.
Ethan, witnessing Alex being rejected by his
biological father, finally understood what I’d
gone through.
But Alex, despite having Dad’s undivided
attention, wasn’t happy. Everyone knew he
was the reason our family fell apart. Rumors
followed him. His marriage to Sophia was
strained, filled with resentment and
accusations of him being a freeloader. They
fought constantly, heading towards divorce.
After the divorce, Mom gave me almost 80%
of the Reed fortune. Neglected and
heartbroken, Alex’s health deteriorated
rapidly. By the time I visited him in the
hospital, he was fading fast.
He looked frail, a shadow of his former self.
“Happy to see me like this?” he sneered.
I stared at him. A lifetime of acting, and now,
finally, the mask was completely off.
“How did you get everything so easily?” He
sounded genuinely perplexed. “I’m sick, my
mother never loved me. I only felt loved when
I came to your family. But it was so short…
They’re all gone now. Everything I worked so
hard for…gone…” He looked at me blankly.
“Mom won’t pay for my treatment anymore.
She said she’s giving you all her companies,
but you don’t want them.‘
“Noah,” he whispered, “why are you so
lucky?”
I looked at him coldly. “Lucky? I died twice
because of you, in lives you couldn’t see.”
He stared at me, confused.
“The things you want now,” I said, “I don’t
want them anymore.”
I left the room, my parents and Ethan waiting outside. They’d gathered together, for once,
just to see me.
Mom, her eyes brimming with tears, reached.
for me. “Noah, I haven’t seen you in over a
year. Let me look at you.”
I dodged her hand and walked towards the
elevator. She stumbled after me, Ethan
supporting her. “Noah, we know we were
wrong. We really do.”
“If you come back, I’ll give you the entire
company. You’re the most capable one, you
always have been,” Dad said.
<
I turned to look at them. Ethan nodded
solemnly, confirming Dad’s words.
They looked at me expectantly, like prisoners awaiting judgment. But the Noah who needed
them had died, either in the snow of a foreign
land or at that amusement park when he was
twelve. He wasn’t here anymore.
“My company is already bigger than Reed
Industries.”
“I thought I made myself clear after the
exams.‘
“”
Mom stared at me, her lips moving
soundlessly. I placed a card in her hand.
“This covers everything I ever cost you.
Goodbye.”
Ignoring Mom’s cries behind me, I walked out
of the hospital.
