After Discovering My Billionaire Parents Lied, I Vanished for Good Chapter 03

After Discovering My Billionaire Parents Lied, I Vanished for Good Chapter 03

“Besides, your mother and I are exhausted, slaving away day and night. The mortgage is crushing us. Where on earth would we find extra money to waste on a tablet?”

In the past, I would’ve apologized and backed down. But not tonight. I rose to my feet and held his gaze unflinchingly.

“You’re paying for Sophie’s dance classes, right?” I said. “Redirect that money temporarily. Just for my school device.”

That sent Dad over the edge. He didn’t hesitate to slap me across the face.

His palm struck my cheek before I could react. A sharp, crisp crack cut through the room, followed by absolute, suffocating silence.

Mom rushed over. “Son, don’t push your father. You’re too young for games. And your sister… she’s a natural dancer. If she doesn’t train now, she’ll fall behind.”

I laughed. A broken, bitter laugh.

“Mom, Dad. In your eyes, her dancing matters more than my education. Doesn’t it?”

Mom froze, frowning. “What’s gotten into you today? Of course her dancing matters more. It’s a promising future for her.”

Her words sliced straight through me, cold and unforgiving.

Dad glared. “Don’t you dare start with that teenage rebellion crap.” He swept the cake off the table. It crashed to the floor.

Pink frosting splattered across the scuffed linoleum, crumbs sticking to the legs of the coffee table. The cake I’d worked three weekends for, the one I’d picked out so carefully, lay ruined at my feet. Just like every good thing I’d ever tried to give this family.

Then he pointed at me. “Get to your room and study. You don’t leave without my say-so. Or I’ll break your legs!”

I held his stare for a long moment. And I turned and walked away without a word.

As my door clicked shut, his voice boomed from the living room. “Unbelievable! No appreciation for our sacrifices. If he’s just chasing games, he’s finished! No one can save him.”

I leaned against the door, tears streaming silently. My face was soaked.

Truth was, I never wanted a tablet. I just used schoolwork as an excuse to test them.

This test shattered the last flicker of hope in me. All my obedience and hard work growing up… meant absolutely nothing to them. All they saw was Sophie.

I wiped my face dry. In that moment, a cold, unyielding resolve took root deep within me.

I pulled out my busted old phone and typed a message:

[I accept the invitation. join your lab’s classified research project.]

A reply buzzed back almost instantly.

[Aiden, are you absolutely sure you’re accepting the invitation?]

[Yes.]

[For the next five to ten years, you will have no contact with your family. No visits, no messages, no form of contact whatsoever.]

[I understand.]

[Admission requires a cut off all contact with everyone you know.]

[I don’t care. No one’s ever cared about me anyway.]

The other side went silent. Just as I was waiting anxiously, the message finally came through.

[We’ll send an agent tomorrow. This is classified. Tell no one. Not even your family.]

[Understood.]