Chimaera's Conquest: The Legend Of The Devourer
Chapter 178: Facing The Family (3)

Chapter 178: Facing The Family (3)

"Throw us out?" Joseph began laughing hysterically at those words.

His face twisted with anger, and he grabbed Adrian, his half-brother, by the collar of his shirt. Despite his blatant provocation, Adrian remained calm and unaffected by Joseph’s little outburst.

"Look at this guy’s guts," Joseph sneered. "He always used to grovel before us, and now he’s acting all high and mighty? Wasn’t taking your fiancée as my wife enough to teach you a lesson?"

Adrian tried maintaining a straight face but couldn’t hold his laugh. His reaction took everyone aback, but what he said next had them sniggering.

"I mean, I can’t blame you," Adrian replied. "You always loved second-hand things. First, it was my clothes, then my fiance, and now my house and company. Come on, bro, try to get something for yourself once. Alright?"

"You—"

Joseph saw red, and before he knew it, he punched Adrian in the face. Unfortunately, with his stats, hitting Adrian was like hitting a truck, and he ended up breaking his fingers.

"You got that?" Adrian turned around, and George nodded. The next moment, he turned off his phone camera and entered the garden.

George didn’t want to witness what was about to happen as much as he would have loved to.

’I’m a lawyer. I shouldn’t encourage violence. Too bad I had to walk out and call the cops and couldn’t stop Adrian from defending himself with excessive force.’

"Argh! Goddamnit!" Joseph cursed loudly, grabbing his broken arm.

Even though his fingers were broken, Joseph kept yapping on and on.

"I should have known you’d turn out to be nothing but trouble," Joseph spat at Adrian, knowing his punches wouldn’t do anything. "You think you’re better than us, don’t you? Well, let me tell you something—"

But before Joseph could finish his tirade, Adrian’s hand shot out, backhanding him across the face with a resounding crack. Joseph stumbled backwards, his jaw dislocated from the force of the blow, and he fell to the ground in shock and pain.

The family’s mouths fell open as they watched in silence. Adrian’s violent behaviour had taken them by surprise.

Unaware of what Adrian had to endure in Nexaria, the family thought he was still the same. That’s why Joseph spat on him and thought there would be no consequences.

In their eyes, Adrian had always been the quiet one, the peacemaker who avoided confrontation at all costs. To see him fight back with such ferocity was a shock to them all.

As Joseph writhed on the ground, clutching his injured jaw, Jacob rushed to his son’s side, his face contorted with anger and concern. Anna did the same, but it only irked Adrian even more.

Adrian couldn’t care less about Jacob and Joseph, but watching his mother take his side over him even after all this time hurt him. Primarily because she didn’t flinch when Joseph punched or spat on him. But he pushed that thought out of his head.

In that instant, Adrian made up his mind. He only had one parent, his father, who died over a decade ago. The rest of them weren’t his family, and he would treat them as such.

"I’ll sue you for this, Adrian!" he shouted, his voice trembling with rage.

"Go ahead," Adrian smiled, walking to his ’step-father’ face and grabbing him by what little hair he had. "It won’t matter to me if I have to dig another grave to put you beside your beloved son."

"Adrian!" Anna shrieked, shocked to see her son utter such words. What surprised her even more was the pure look of hatred in his eyes.

"The fuck do you want?"

"I-I... You can’t talk to them like that! They are still your family—"

"Oh! Now, they are my family!" Adrian let out an overexaggerated sigh. "I wonder where all of you were when I needed you? Oh, right. You fuckers were busy playing a happy family while enjoying the fruits of my hard work!"

"I-It’s not like that, son!" Anna looked terrified, her eyes filled with tears as she reached to touch his face. "Adrian, my sweet boy... You don’t know how much I have missed you! How much I’ve regretted my decision every single day..."

But before she could finish her sentence, Adrian smacked her hands away, his eyes blazing with anger as he recoiled from her touch.

"Don’t you dare," he spat, his voice cold and unforgiving. "I would never let someone as filthy excuse of a mother as you touch me."

Anna’s heart shattered at her son’s words, her eyes welling with tears as she struggled to find the right words.

"Adrian, please," she pleaded, her voice trembling. "I know I’ve made mistakes, but..."

"Mistakes?" Adrian cut her off, his face twisted with pain and resentment. "You call abandoning your own son a mistake? I needed you decades ago when I lost my father. But you were too busy finding a new man to shack up with and play happy family!

He continued yelling, and Sophia, Amelia and Seraphina saw firsthand how much Adrian had downplayed his situation to them.

"Choosing them over me EVERY. FUCKING. TIME!" He scoffed bitterly. "That is not a mistake but a choice!"

Tears streamed down Anna’s cheeks as she listened to her son’s accusations, her heart breaking at the pain she had caused him without ever realising it.

"Adrian, I... I’m so sorry," she whispered. "I didn’t realise..."

Despite her plea, Adrian had already made his decision and was going to stick by it.

"It’s too late for apologies now," he mumbled, turning his back on Anna. "I no longer have a mother. And I sure as hell don’t need one like you."

Anna wanted to say more. This wasn’t the reunion she had in her mind, but she couldn’t speak as she was too busy crying. It was then Adrian put the final nail in the coffin of his relationship with Anna.

"Take your family and get out," he ordered. "I don’t ever want to see any of you again."

Anna nodded, surprising Jacob, and silently retreated to gather her belongings. Jacob made a feeble attempt to intervene, but the look she gave him made him think twice.

Reluctantly, he followed suit and told Emma to take Joseph to the hospital while he joined Anna in packing things.

Just then, the police showed up. George had already shown them the clip, and after having a quick word, Joseph was taken into custody.

Jacob had to leave packing and hurried to get his son out of prison. Before he left, he glared at Adrian, who wasn’t bothered by it. He had lost his mother because of them, and that was more heartbreaking than anything Jacob could do to him.