Sloane was so frightened she hid in Wallace’s arms.

Wayne tried to take the broom away.

“Dad! Put the broom down! Stop embarrassing us!”

I held the broom up. The fire from all those years of fighting for the country reignited in my gaze.

I had never been afraid, even when facing the enemy’s gun barrels back then. I would not back down to this pampered group.

“All of you, get out!

“Let me tell you something. I might have a limp, but I’m a veteran who crawled through gunfire to survive. I’m not some pushover.”

Wayne was intimidated by my gaze. He froze in place, not daring to step forward.

Aiden was so frightened that he hid behind Wallace and sobbed.

The commotion alerted the neighbors. Several households opened their doors and poked their heads out. They started pointing and murmuring among each other.

“Isn’t that Alvin’s house? What’s all the noise about?”

“Who are those people? That woman looks kind of familiar.”

“She looks like Alvin’s wife. I heard that she passed away young.”

The murmuring made Sloane and Wallace uncomfortable.

Nothing mattered to them more than their reputation. Being watched and gossiped about by the neighbors made them feel embarrassed.

Sloane shot me a vicious glare. She pulled Wallace along and left.

“Let’s go. Being around someone like this is bad luck.”

Wayne glared at me with a hostile gaze and said, “Dad, you’re a lost cause!”

With that, he slammed the door and left with Lily and Aiden.

The house finally fell silent. Only the mess remained.

I leaned on the broom and slowly straightened up.

My leg still hurt. My chest felt tight as I tried to catch my breath.

“Alvin, are you okay?”

My neighbor, Zack, poked his head in and quickly came to support me.

“Come over to my place for a bit. I’ll get you some medicine for your knee. I’ll call a cleaning service to take care of the house later.”

I sat down on Zack’s couch and drank some warm water. Only then did I slowly calm down.

Zack sighed. “What exactly happened?”

I smiled bitterly as my eyes became teary.

“Sloane isn’t dead. She faked her death back then and ran off with Wallace.”

Zack looked stunned. “She’s back from the dead? That’s absurd.”

I began telling him about the past.

Although Sloane and I had married through our parents’ arrangement, our marriage was relatively harmonious.

That changed after she fell into the water and was rescued by Wallace.

At that time, Wallace had just been released from prison. Because of this incident, the neighbors’ opinions of him improved considerably.

After that, he often came to our house when I was out working in the fields.

At first, Sloane would tell me about it. Later, she kept it from me. The two of them grew increasingly close.

I reminded Sloane several times to stay away from him. She agreed verbally, but her behavior only worsened.

She said she would, yet she became even more involved with Wallace.

On one occasion, Sloane’s mother walked in on the two of them being intimate in the house. She was so enraged that she fainted on the spot. She never made it back from the hospital.

After the funeral, Sloane finally broke things off with Wallace.

Later, Sloane became pregnant. It happened right when the military draft was going on.

I thought of earning some allowance to make life better for the two of them, so I enlisted.

During my time in the military, I received only one letter from Sloane. She said everything was fine with her and told me not to worry.

But when I came home on a medical discharge, limping from my wounds, I found out Sloane had passed away. She had left behind our four-year-old son.

I felt as though my life had fallen apart. But for Wayne’s sake, I had to tough it out and carry on.

I dragged myself around on a busted leg, playing both the father and mother. I somehow managed to raise him. I saved up and helped him buy a house when he got married.

Then, not long after he got married, he sold the house without a word and left the country. I finally knew why. He went to reunite with his mother.

Zack sighed.

Ultimately, he simply patted me on the shoulder and said, “That’s life...”

We sat in silence until evening. When our bodies became sore from sitting too long, we finally prepared to head home.

Just then, my neighbor across the hall, Charlotte, hurried over.

“Alvin, hurry and get back to your place! Someone’s moving stuff in. There are a ton of people.”

I rushed back to find the door lock pried open and the front door wide.

The group that had left at noon had returned. Bags and boxes were piled all over the living room.

Sloane sat on the couch with Wallace. He held her hand while painting her nails.

Nearby, Wayne and Lily were playing with Aiden.

When Sloane saw me return, she spoke to me as if I were a housemaid. “I’m hungry. Go make me some pasta.”

I laughed in exasperation. “Sure. Give me a second.”

I turned and went into the kitchen.

I poured soy sauce, vinegar, chili sauce, pepper powder, and everything else into a bowl. Then I carried it out.

In the living room, Sloane and Wayne were criticizing me.

Wayne said, “He has never done anything with his life. All he can do is cook, and he’s such a cheapskate. He never uses enough of anything.”

Sloane snorted disdainfully.

“That’s what happens when you’ve been broke and stingy your whole life. If my parents hadn’t been so stupid and arranged for me to marry him, he probably wouldn’t have felt the warmth of a woman in his whole life.”

Wayne snickered and did not argue.

I walked up with a blank expression and splashed the seasoned sauce directly onto Sloane’s face.

Sloane could not evade it in time. The spiciness stung her eyes so much that she could not open them.

She screamed in distress. “Alvin, have you lost your mind?!”

Wallace also became enraged. He reached out to grab me by the collar.

“You old fool! How shameless could you be? Picking on a woman? What kind of man does that?”

I had been holding back my anger for far too long. Back then, when Sloane ran off with him, I had not been there to confront him. How dare he be so disrespectful in my own home?!

Before his hand could touch me, I clenched my fist and punched him square in the face.

Wallace yelped in pain. He covered his nose and stumbled back a couple of steps. Blood seeped through his fingers.

“What about you? Do you think stealing another man’s wife isn’t shameful? Do you think barging into someone’s home isn’t shameful? I never even got to settle things with you, and here you are, walking right into my house.”

I beat Wallace until his face was bruised and swollen. In between, I slapped Sloane twice.

“Dad, what’s wrong with you?!” Wayne rushed over to pull me back.

“If you hit them again, I’m calling the cops!”

I sneered and shoved him away with the broom handle.

“I’m the one who should be calling the cops! I worked hard raising you all these years, and now you’re helping outsiders stop me? Today I’m teaching you ungrateful people a lesson!”

Just then, Aiden started crying loudly. He stood in the corner, clutching the hem of his shirt.

Sniffling, he cried out, “Grandpa, stop fighting! I’m scared. I want to go home.”

My hand froze mid-motion.

After all, Aiden was my grandson. I had watched him since birth and had even taken care of him for a while.

Perhaps I was just getting soft in my old age. I just could not bring myself to keep going when I saw him cry like that.

“Don’t cry, kid. It’s okay now.”

I set down the broom and walked over. I wanted to pat his head.

But Aiden shoved me hard.

I was caught off guard. I stumbled backward and crashed through the window. I fell straight down from the third floor.

My back slammed heavily against the concrete ground. Excruciating pain shot through me instantly. Blood slowly began seeping out from beneath me.

Aiden leaned out from the window. His face carried a malice and smugness that did not match his age.

He picked up a flowerpot and hurled it down at me with force.

“You ugly freak. How dare you bully my grandparents?! Go die!”

The flowerpot grazed my forehead and smashed against the ground. Shards flew everywhere.

That little brat spat and ran back inside without looking back.

In the end, a neighbor called the ambulance and had me taken to the hospital. That was how I narrowly survived.

The moment I woke up, I immediately listed the house for sale online.

This was the resettlement housing assigned to me by my work unit after I was wounded in the military and discharged.

Though it was old, the location was good. It was in a township and it was easy to get around.

I set a favorable price. Within two days, it was sold.

I hired a lawyer to help me go through the formalities. The money was quickly transferred into my account.

When the buyer came to inspect the property, Wayne was dumbfounded.