Chapter 4

I took a half-day off and brought them back to my rented apartment.

As soon as Tyler walked in, he covered his nose with a look of pure disgust.

"Chloe, you live in this dump?"

"This place is smaller than our guest bathroom. It smells like mold."

"You work at a big company, where is all your money going?"

It was a tiny, three-hundred-square-foot studio.

The wallpaper was peeling, and the furniture was cheap and old.

Compared to the spacious suburban house they lived in back home, this was indeed a slum.

Richard walked around the room with his hands behind his back.

"Cut the crap."

"Sign the paper. We need to catch our train back."

He slammed the waiver agreement onto my only folding dining table.

I pulled my laptop out of my bag.

"No rush."

"Since we’re cutting ties, let’s make it clean and absolute."

"Since you all claim I’m an outsider, let’s calculate exactly how much money this 'outsider' has cost you over the years."

I opened an Excel sheet titled: "Child Support vs. Financial Return Ledger."

The screen lit up, and the three of them froze.

Tyler scoffed, "Are you insane? Did your corporate job turn your brain into mush?"

I ignored his mockery, gripping my mouse.

"I spent a week compiling this."

"The data comes from inflation indexes, tuition receipts, and bank transfer records from the past years."

I clicked the first row.

"From ages ten to fifteen, right after I entered the Vance household."

"Public school was free under state funding."

"School fees and supplies were $200 per semester, totaling $2000 over five years."

"My clothes were all hand-me-downs from my cousins, so the expense there was zero."

"Food, based on the cost of living back then, is estimated at $5000."

Richard’s face changed. "What is the meaning of this? You’re billing us for raising you?!"

I ignored him and scrolled down.

"Ages sixteen to eighteen, high school."

"I went to boarding school. Tuition was $1200 per semester, totaling $7200."

"My monthly allowance was $50."

I paused and looked at Sarah.

"Mom, you should remember that this $50 was constantly delayed."

"Sometimes you only sent it every two months. I had to survive on free soup in the cafeteria."

"Even if we count every single penny, my three years of high school expenses, including miscellaneous costs, total $10,000."

Sarah’s face flushed bright red, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her shirt.

"College."

"I paid my own tuition through federal student loans."

"My living expenses were earned through part-time jobs."

"The Vance family's financial contribution: Zero."

I moved the cursor to the bright red section at the bottom.

"Now, let's look at my returns to you."

"Ages twenty-two to twenty-seven, my five years of employment."

"Every holiday, I transferred at least $500 to my mom."

"Last year, when Mom had her gallbladder surgery, I transferred $5000."

"For Richard’s 60th birthday, I gave him a $1000 cash gift."

"I bought the family a new refrigerator, a washing machine, and new smartphones."

"All bank transfer receipts and purchase invoices are attached in the appendix."

"Total amount returned to the family: $25,500."

The room fell into a dead, suffocating silence.

Only the faint hum of my laptop's cooling fan could be heard.

Tyler’s mouth fell open as he stared at the numbers on the screen, completely speechless.

The flesh on Richard’s face twitched. He wanted to argue, but he couldn't find a single loophole.

I pointed at the final summary row.

"Adjusting for inflation, and counting your so-called 'grace of upbringing'..."

"The money you spent on me amounts to $15,000 at most."

"But I have returned over $25,000."

"I paid you back with interest years ago."

"And yet you call me ungrateful? You call me a leech?"

"The data doesn't lie."

Shame turned into rage, and Richard slammed his fist on the table.

"You dare calculate things this clearly with your own father?!"

"If I hadn't given you a roof over your head, you would have starved to death!"

"Now that you think you're successful, you use these numbers to mock me?!"

I looked at him, my eyes like ice.

"Don't worry, we're not done yet."

I pulled out my phone, opened my banking app, and showed them the screen.

Balance: $200,000.00.

The long string of zeros instantly captured the eyes of the three greedy predators.

Tyler’s eyes went completely straight, his throat bobbing as he swallowed.

The rage in Richard’s eyes instantly melted into pure greed.

"This two hundred thousand dollars was my down payment fund."

"I saved every single dollar of it by eating instant ramen and walking to work."

"Now, I will give all of it to you."

Richard instinctively reached out to grab my phone.

I pulled it back sharply.

"Hold on."

"The money is yours."

"But only if you sign an agreement."

I pulled out another document from my briefcase, which had already been printed.

"Termination of Parental Relationship and Support Obligations Agreement."

"Sign this."

"Take this $200,000. Combined with the $25,000 I already gave you, I have paid back your 'upbringing' threefold."

"From this day on, whether we live or die, we are strangers."

"You walk your path, and I'll walk mine."