[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":10},["ShallowReactive",2],{"viewer-data-260322AB8D26-481":3},{"id":4,"number":5,"name":6,"content":7,"isLocked":8,"price":9,"hasRead":8},481,4,"Chapter 4: \"I Should Have Abandoned You\"","\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The room went deathly silent. The students glared at him with eyes full of judgment.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Brody stepped out from the crowd, his face twisted in mortification as he grabbed his father’s arm. \"Dad, just go back to your room! Stop embarrassing me and Mom in front of everyone!\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Alan Moore fought back, prying his son’s fingers off his sleeve. He wouldn't leave. He turned his desperate gaze toward Luciana. \"Tell me! Tell me exactly what I did wrong!\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He had done everything by the book. He had been a devoted husband, a man who stayed faithful to one person for a lifetime. How was that a mistake?\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Luciana’s brows locked together in a harsh, cold line. She stood up, looking down at Alan from her pedestal of professional success.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"Killian understands the meaning of class and dignity. Your mediocrity and ignorance are the only things that turn every situation into a disaster,\" she said, her voice dripping with chilly disappointment. \"Alan, this is entirely on you.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"You chose to live your life as a deadbeat who can’t do anything but leach off others.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Alan’s hands trembled, but it was his heart that throbbed with a dull, searing pain. He stared at her, unblinking. \"A deadbeat...\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The whispers of the crowd pricked at him like thousands of needles:\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"What a textbook loser. Can he do anything besides make a scene?\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"How could someone like that ever be good enough for Professor Moore? He’s nothing but a stain on her otherwise brilliant career!\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"No wonder the Dean never invites him to the gala. If I had a husband like that, I’d be ashamed to be seen with him, too!\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The ridicule and laughter washed over him like a rising tide. For a fleeting second, Alan felt untethered. He felt as if he had been dragged back thirty years to those agonizing, early days of their marriage. The neighbors who mocked him for his lack of a degree, the relatives who looked down on him because he didn't have a high-status corporate job.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">They had circled him then, too, just as they did now, staring with casual contempt at his calloused hands and graying hair. They stood high above him, treating him like an old, broken-down workhorse that could no longer pull the cart.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"Dad, stop making a scene! Come with me!\" Brody grabbed him again, his movements rough and impatient.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Alan looked around the room. He saw Killian Daniels sitting elegantly on the sofa, sipping tea as if he owned the world. He saw Luciana turning her back on him, her posture rigid with cold indifference.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He stood there for a long time, the weight of the realization finally snapping his resolve. His spine, which had stayed straight through decades of thankless labor, finally sagged.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"You’re right,\" he whispered. \"It was my fault...\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Amid the echoes of their mocking laughter, his vision blurred, and he collapsed.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">***\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">When Alan woke up, two days had passed.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Brody was sitting by the bed. When he saw Alan’s eyes flicker open, he exhaled, though the relief looked more like a forced effort. \"Dad, you're awake?\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He paused, his tone shifting into that of a parent scolding a toddler. \"At least you know you were wrong now. Don't pull another stunt like that again. It’s exhausting for me to deal with.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Alan studied his son in silence for a long time, watching the confusion creep across Brody's face before he finally let out a hollow, bitter laugh.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"I spent thirty years in the wrong,\" Alan said, his voice raspy. \"The day your mother left for her first business trip, I should have walked out on you all and gone to live my own life.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">That would have been a far better fate than living to be picked apart by a room full of vultures.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Brody froze, his face flushing a deep, indignant red. \"Dad! What are you talking about? Is that the kind of irresponsible garbage a father should be saying?\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Just then, his grandson, Felix, burst into the room. The boy, whom Alan had raised almost single-handedly, didn't bother with greetings. He walked straight up and shoved Alan’s injured leg.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"Grandpa, I’m hungry! I want you to make me your signature braised pork ribs!\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Felix barked the order like a master speaking to a servant, his eyes full of impatient entitlement. \"Hurry up! I’ve been waiting for you to get out of bed for hours!\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Alan looked down at the boy he had sacrificed his own health to raise. Felix had the same brow, the same sneer, and the same sense of unearned entitlement as his mother, Charlotte, and his grandmother, Luciana.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Alan calmly reached out and pushed the boy’s hand away.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"Go ask your Mr. Killian to make them for you,\" Alan said, his voice flat. \"He’s so cultured and capable. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to cook for you.\"\u003C/p>",false,0,1774272925464]