Crossing paths with Warren Parker is the biggest nightmare of my life.

He admits my mother to a psychiatric hospital. He causes my younger brother and sister to drop out of school.

He forces me to kneel before him, to dress as a woman, and to live a life devoid of any dignity.

When I try to end my life, he stops me.

"Your brother doesn't satisfy me the way you do. You can die once I'm bored with you."

By my 20th trip to the police station, the officers weren't even surprised anymore.

A female officer led me into her office, poured me a cup of tea, and gave me a helpless look.

"If you don't pay your mortgage, Mr. Cole, the bank has every right to foreclose on your house. Your mother has depression and bipolar disorder. It's understandable for your father to put her in a psychiatric facility," she said.

"As for your younger siblings, forming cliques and bullying classmates at such a young age is unacceptable. The school's decision to expel them is entirely justified. If you are dissatisfied, you can lodge a formal complaint with the relevant authorities."

I'd heard those things enough times to memorize the words by heart.

At first, I used to get angry. Now, I simply felt powerless.

…

Two months ago, I met Warren Parker for the first time.

Warren was the CEO of Avante Technology and my immediate superior.

When I was summoned to his office, my colleagues joked around, saying, "Sean Cole over here has produced five patents in five years! He has done a great deal for the company in his role as an engineer. I bet the boss is going to promote him!"

I'd been with the company for five years, and my work had brought in substantial profits. All of the senior management thought highly of me, but I'd never met the CEO himself before.

Before heading into his office, I even took care to tidy up my hair and straighten my clothes.

The moment I saw Warren, I was stunned.

Dressed in a tailored suit and gold-rimmed glasses, he was watering his plants with a spray bottle. He looked extremely young and seemed like a refined gentleman.

Instead of the CEO of a company, he looked more like a top male celebrity who'd have an army of passionate fans.

He seemed to have a good temper and didn't have any airs about him. After talking about work, he also asked about my family. He even smiled when he heard that I had a great relationship with my mother and two younger siblings.

At the time, I thought I'd met a decent boss who cared about his workers.

Alas, I soon came to see just what kind of demon I'd encountered.

…

When I was a kid, my father abandoned the family. He went to live with his mistress and the children he had with her.

Yet, out of nowhere, he suddenly came back and had Mom forcibly admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

My younger siblings, Seth and Sadie Cole, also encountered trouble at school. Even our family home was seized and put up for auction.

I called the police, but after their investigation, they said that everything had been done according to proper procedures.

When I was at the end of my rope, Warren called me. "I heard about what you've been going through. I feel so bad for you. Maybe I can help you."

As if I'd found a lifeline, I dashed to his office at once.

However, what awaited me was yet another nightmare.

…

When I entered Warren's office, he had the same gentlemanly manner he had before. He had me stand right in front of him before asking me, "Do you acknowledge your wrongdoing now?"

"W-What wrongdoing?" I asked, utterly dumbfounded by his question.

Warren shook his head. "I despise talking to fools."

His bodyguard was a man named Nelson Lane. Nelson had a youthful face, but when it came to his job, he was ruthless. He gave me a good thrashing.

Warren stepped on me with his leather dress shoes and asked, "Do you remember what you did wrong now?"

With my face pressed to the floor, I continued to rack my brains. "H-Has there been some kind of misunderstanding between us, Mr. Parker?"

I was in so much pain that I couldn't even keep my eyes open. The taste of blood filled my mouth. Even so, I still believed that he might've just gotten the wrong idea about something.

After all, he seemed like a reasonable man. We even had a friendly chat two months ago.

However, I soon found out just how horribly, outrageously wrong I was.

Warren ground his shoe harder against my face. Then, he lit a cigarette and pressed the burning tip into my skin.

As I screamed in pain, he said with a smile, "Seems to me you have a bad memory, Mr. Cole."

Warren had a younger sister, Catherine Parker, whom he loved dearly.

Two months ago, she confessed her feelings to me, but I turned her down. She went home and cried for days.

Everything that had happened to my family was part of Warren's revenge plan—the price I paid for making his sister cry.

Catherine was a kind and gentle young woman. She was wonderful, but I liked men. Was it wrong for me to reject her?

I was so badly beaten that I couldn't even crawl on my feet. When my head was shoved into a flushing toilet bowl, I thought I was going to die.

After much difficulty, I finally had the chance to call the police. But when they showed up, every single security camera in the company had "malfunctioned" for exactly one hour. There was no footage of Nelson beating me up under Warren's orders, and not a single person stepped forward to testify on my behalf.

I tried to contact the media to expose Warren's reprehensible actions. However, the headlines that were plastered everywhere mentioned something else entirely.

"Sean Cole, an incorrigible gambling addict, ended up putting himself in massive debt. To pay it off, he violated company policy and leaked patented information to a rival tech firm. When his boss caught him, he tried to frame him using the injuries that had been inflicted on him by his debt collectors."

The tabloids exposed Mom's "mental illness" and my siblings' "wrongdoings".

My entire family was now pushed to the center of public controversy. Seth and Sadie were too scared even to leave the house.

Because of my suspected gambling, my bank accounts were frozen. I couldn't even fork out the money to cover my family's food and living expenses.

I didn't want to concede defeat so easily. I made multiple police reports, but since I didn't have any evidence, the officers couldn't do anything either.

…

I stumbled out of the police station like a zombie. After endless hesitation, I called Warren.

"If you're displeased with me, Mr. Parker, I'll do whatever you want. But can you please spare my family?" I pleaded.

Mom had to work long hours for many years to raise three children by herself. She was in poor health. Now that she'd been forcefully admitted into a psychiatric hospital, I was worried it'd be too much for her.

Seth and Sadie were twins, both high school seniors, and they were about to take the SATs soon. Their lives couldn't be put on hold like that.

Warren agreed to my request and told me to come to his office.

I'd nearly been beaten to death at his office before. Who knew what else would happen to me this time? Still, I did as he said. I rushed over in fear, only to see my siblings there.

"What are you two doing here? Hurry up and go home!" I urged as I anxiously grabbed them and tried to shove them out of the office.

However, Warren chuckled and said, "You're a valuable asset to the company, Mr. Cole, and your siblings show just as much promise. I'll let Tom have a proper chat with them. If we can find a suitable opening, they can come work for the company as soon as they graduate."

As I was worried about scaring Seth and Sadie, I never told them just how terrifying he was. They didn't know his true colors. They simply thought that he was genuinely trying to help us out, and they felt extremely grateful to him.

I felt sick with dread. It was only after the secretary had led them out that I finally snapped back to reality.

"Everything is my fault, Mr. Parker. They have nothing to do with it. Please spare them!"

Warren lit up a cigarette before remarking, "Is that how you beg someone?"

My hands trembled. I fell to my knees with a loud thud.

"Please, I beg you."

When he first began his revenge, I thought that even if he had money, there had to be limits to what he could do. There had to be someone who could stop him.

Back then, I only felt anger. I was never afraid of him.

But in just two months, he'd shown me how laughably naive my perspective had been.

Warren walked up to me and grabbed my jaw. He tilted my head from side to side, as if inspecting an item up for sale.

"You are pretty handsome. It's no wonder Cathy took a liking to your face. As it happens, I haven't tried it with a man before."

He exhaled a smoke ring right in my face, his fingers brushing my cheeks suggestively.

I'd considered over a dozen possibilities before this, but not this one.

The color drained out of my face. Instinctively, I backed away from Warren, but he grabbed me and slapped me twice before pressing me against his desk and ripping my clothes off.