Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom

"Lu Ren calm down–"

"Do you take me for a fool? How did my father die? When he was alive, how did you care about him? You all cast him aside immediately after he started regressing. You turned a blind eye when the family was after my brother and I. Old men, why are you suddenly getting involved with my life? Is this a show of hypocrisy because the rainborite ore?"

"Don’t you dare disrespect us! Lu Ren, you–" Another old man who had been fuming for so long could no longer take it anymore and spoke up but Maverick wasn’t going to give him a listening ear.

"Whatever I do with my life is not your business. Whomever I marry is none of your concern. Whether I have the rainborite ore or not shouldn’t be your problem... Unless you want to end up being my enemies." He looked from one of them to the other. Seeing they weren’t talking, he continued.

"Today, I’ll let this slide but the next time you try this with me, you’ll taste my wrath!" He stood up and walked out.

After he left, one of the living ancestors shook his head, "He cannot be controlled. He is willing to destroy himself and his enemies if need be."

"Then, there’s only one choice left," another said. The two turned to look at the one who tried to convince Maverick earlier, waiting for his contribution.

The third one narrowed his eyes in deep thought. After a long while, he said; "Do it, we do not need a leader who wouldn’t heed our words. As for the chip, we’ll get it from that Yu boy and have Rex or Valen work on it. They should be able to do it."

...

As for Rex, he was seen at Madam Caroline’s house with a few men dressed professionally.

They were checking out the house and the surrounding. After they were done, Rex asked;

"What do you think?"

The leader nodded, "It’s indeed a beautiful building, We’ll buy this too."

Rex clapped and whistled, "Very good. Send the money to that same account and complete the procedure with my lawyers."

He looked at lawyer Spid’s juniors and sighed, "Why didn’t lawyer Spid come? You guys are boring." He left them and walked into the house.

Rex roamed the sutting room before going upstairs, to his mother’s room. There were a few pictures on the wall. He glanced at the pictures on the wall, only Madam Caroline’s photos were there and none of her children’s could be seen.

Searching everywhere nook and cranny of the room, Rex was hoping to find something that would make him change his mind, at least, a redeeming quality, even if it was an old photo of their family, provided the picture has him or Maverick in it, just anything would do.

However, after turning the room upside down, all that Rex saw were pictures of Levi and their mother... Including a framed picture, she took in high school. She was in it with a young boy who looked almost identical to Levi. He must be Levi’s father.

Rex angrily threw the framed pictures across the room, causing the three to hit the wall and shatter into pieces.

The young man chuckled sadly as angry tears ran down his cheeks. He furiously wiped them off with his hands and sat on the bed, trying to calm himself.

At that moment, Madam Caroline barged into the room in fury but before she could take a step, her eyes caught sight of the broken frames.

Like a madwoman, she rushed to the pictures and grabbed the closest one, not minding the broken glasses.

"D– did you do this?!" she asked in shock.

"Who else is here?" Rex retorted. He was equally angry.

"How dare you?!" The woman lurched at him, grabbed a lampstand, and hit him on the head.

Rex didn’t dodge, he wanted to see if she would hesitate but the woman didn’t.

"Bang!"

The sound echoed in the room. Rex was still staring at her as blood trailed down his forehead and dropped on his lashes.

Madam Caroline smiled, then laughed maniacally before she burst into tears and knelt on the broken glasses, holding the framed picture to her chest.

"I’m sorry," she cried.

Rex’s eyes shook, thinking she was talking to him.

"I’m so sorry for everything! Please forgive me!"

Rex was touched by her remorse. He stood up but before he could take a step, he swayed and quickly held the wall for support.

"Vance, I’m sorry," she lifted the photo and kissed it.

Rex felt a movement in his throat, and the next thing, a fishy taste assaulted his taste bud. He sat back on the bed as his heartbeat rose and fell at great speed.

The young man was heartbroken seeing his mother displaying love for a broken picture.

"Vance, I promise, I didn’t forget you, I’ll take the revenge to its fullest. I’ll make them pay!"

"Have you ever considered me your son for a fleeting moment? Mum?" Rex asked. He was in an unspeakable grief. Was it too hard to tell him sorry and wipe off the blood from his face? Even a stranger would do that, right? But this was his own MOTHER! His own BLOOD!

"Hahaha..." The woman suddenly laughed. "You, I will rather die than love anything that cames from Lu Hao!" She screamed.

Rex was shocked once more. "So, my father was the problem?"

"Lu Hao, that monster ruined my life! Seeing him dying was not enough to pay for everything he did to me!"

Images flickered past Madam Caroline’s mind.

Years ago...

Madam Caroline was still a high schooler. She looked excited as she jogged towards two young boys who were sitting under a tree in a school premises.

"Brother Hao! Brother Vance!" she called.

Young Hao smiled when he saw her. He stood up and hurried to her, "I told you to stop rushing like that, you’ll fall."

"Hehe, I won’t, Brother Vance is there to protect me," she giggled.

Vance didn’t get up from where he was. Rather he looked upset, "What do you want now?"

His cold voice surprised both Hao and Caroline, but thinking it was because she hadn’t wished him a happy birthday, Caroline smiled and said, "I– I brought you cake," she pouted for a moment before she beamed, "Happy birthday!"

Vance smiled faintly, "Thank you," he collected the cake and just abandoned it.