The Billionaire's Mistake

MISTAKE 168

Chapter 168: When the dust settles

Ben shuffled back into the dreary apartment in a daze, his entire world having shifted on its axis once more. He had gone to the hospital with hopes of finding solace and comfort in the wake of his mother's arrest of knowing that at least he still had his father's support to lean on through this nightmare. But Martin had utterly shattered those hopes with a few terse statements that cleaved straight through to Ben's very core.

"I am not your father."

The words reverberated through his mind like a death knell, chasing away any lingering flickers of the idyllic family life he had taken for granted all these years. Just like that, he was untethered from the one male presence whose love and guidance he had naively expected would always be a constant in his turbulent life.

How could his own father disown him so callously? How could any man turn his back on a child in their most desperate hours of need?

Chest heaving with ragged breaths, Ben shrugged off his jacket and sank heavily onto the worn sofa. He forced his eyes away from the abandoned video game controller sitting on the cushion beside him a silent reminder of the afternoons he used to while away after school before his perfect world had disintegrated around him. That life was over. He was alone now, a pariah tossed aside by both of his parents as if he were nothing more than collateral damage from their toxicity.

Reflexive tears of anger and betrayal burned hotly against his lashes, but Ben angrily swiped them away with a swipe of his hand. No more crying, he vowed to himself. If he was destined to become the forgotten, discarded offspring of these broken people, then sobbing uselessly would only compound his own disgrace.

After several steadying breaths, Ben rose and crossed the small living area to retrieve his laptop from the kitchenette counter. If writing had been his outlet through the upheaval of his parents' turbulent marriage, perhaps it could help dull the sting of losing them both altogether.

For the next hour, Ben poured his anguish and disillusionment into the form of a ranting blog post unlike any of his previous literary efforts. He spilled forth every seething detail of Martin and Emma's deliberate ostracizing of him and his mother from the family estate. He described the years of whispers and sidelong glances whenever Gina was around, the blatant disdain Emma had always leveled towards her stepparent and half-brother.

his very essence, a torrent of grievances and accusations about his selfish, toxic lineage that he

father and bleed the family dry of money and status. Well, their insane paranoia has cost us both everything - Gina is behind bars

attempted meter once

They poisoned my father against Cina, turned his against his com son whom

and blood. If they have their way, I'll soon be just another nameless, fatherless orphan tossed to the cold

dignity? Or do I only face rejection because my word was poisoned by a gold digger like Gina - a woman who dared to seek physical and emotional fulfillment after her cheating husband repeatedly dishonored their

Jones aren't the doting nieces they projen themselves to be. They're a pair of wicked harpies hellbent on seizing control of the family

their supremacy along the

your cold, empty lives. Maybe next time

comers of his mouth as he imagined his blistering diabe sending shockwaves through the upper echelons of Metropolis society. No more cowering in fear

decisive snap. Now all he could do was wait to gauge the

trickle of responses to his post began as little more than morbid curiosity from the outside world. Usernames he didn't recognize attached to flippant comments like "I love messy rich

his defiant accusations more at face

parents are depraved criminals in such an ugly way. I

true, I can't blame him for those

He may have alienated what pitiful family remained to him with his no-holds-barred self-expression, but at least he'd found perfect strangers willing to validate his pain in a way