The Retribution of the Ungrateful Cousin
Chapter 1
My cousin, Chad, sponged off us for all three years of high school.
Lived in our house, ate our food, the whole deal.
But he couldn’t stand my little sister, Lily, making noise while he was “studying.”
So, when he thought the coast was clear, he hauled off and punched her a few times.
“Shut up, you little brat, just like your deadbeat mom.”
Lily was only three.
He locked her in her room all day.
Nobody checked on her, and she ended up with a fever of 104.
Ended up brain-damaged. A vegetable.
This time around, I’m playing things differently.
“Chad, you racked up ten grand staying here for three years. You gonna pay up, or what?”
Because if he doesn’t, I’m spilling all his dirty little secrets.
…
Mom always treated Chad like he was her own son.
Always bending over backwards, making sure he was comfortable.
Chad played the sweet, polite kid in public.
Nobody knew the monster hiding underneath.
Lily was just babbling and gurgling, calling him “Bubba” like she loved him.
Chad just glared.
He glanced around, making sure he was out of the security cam’s view.
Then he slammed his fist into Lily’s back a couple of times.
“That’ll shut you up.”
He knew if she got hurt back there, we’d just think she fell or something.
The poor kid started trembling, crying her eyes out.
Chad smirked, pinched her cheek hard.
“Cry all you want.”
Then he locked the door and walked out, ran into Mrs. Henderson down the street.
“Hey, Chad, where you headed on a Saturday?”
Chad faked a sigh. “Aunt Carol won’t let me study at home, so I gotta find a quiet place, you know?”
Mrs. Henderson gave him a sympathetic look. “Oh, that’s just awful, honey. Come on over to my place. You know I always got your back!”
Chad declined like the golden boy he pretended to be.
Meanwhile, Lily cried until her voice was hoarse, and nobody heard her.
What did Chad have against us, anyway?
He basically lived here for free for three years, costing us at least ten grand.
Being family, Mom never asked him for room and board.
He got all the snacks and treats he could eat, and even wore better clothes than me and Lily.
And he repaid us by destroying my sister’s life.
Last time, he latched onto some rich debutante.
Then turned around and accused us of abusing him.
The teachers believed him.
Even Mrs. Henderson, who was normally so nice, testified against us.
He climbed the social ladder, while my family lost everything.
Turns out, Chad resented us for letting him live under our roof.
This time, I’m making him pay for every single thing he did.
I saw that Mom was still living in the same old house.
Friday night she was getting ready with cherries, dragon fruit and yellow peaches.
I grabbed her knife from her, “Mom, don’t.”
My mom was bewildered, “Don’t mess around, your brother is gonna be home soon, I gotta be quick to make these.”
Thinking about how awful my sister’s life had been, I couldn’t accept him as family.
I took a deep breath, and told my mom all the evil things my cousin had done.
My mom thought I had gone crazy.
Mom said in no uncertain terms, “Your cousin is not that kind of person.”
Perhaps Chad had done too good of a job crafting the role that he played.
Even though his grades went from first to fiftieth after the start of high school.
But he was still the ticket into a university.
Not just the school teacher, but also the neighbors were confident in him.
I knew mom was soft, and Dad died.
It was just my mom, my sister, and me.
My aunt wanted to leave Chad with us, and mom was moved.
“Sister, don’t say your sister doesn’t understand your situation.”
“My 3 years of high school is heavy with work, I’ll leave Chad with you.”
“That way, he can balance his schoolwork and make friends with you.”
“And in the future, he can bury you when you die.”
My mom became tempted, and I had to talk her out of it.
“We are all women, Chad shouldn’t live here.”
“Mom still has me, who would want to adopt a son?”
I saw my aunt squint her eyes at me, “You don’t want people thinking you only want sons, right?”
My aunt had a smile, but didn’t bring it up again.
But I knew, my mom wanted to adopt Chad as soon as he got into university.
If my aunt was really good to my mom, I wouldn’t ignore this thing.
But every once and a while, she comes over and asks for money.
My aunt looked around the apartments, clearly unhappy with Chad’s room.
She looked at me with resentment.
“Sister, if I didn’t know you were so kind, others seeing Chad living in a small dirty room, would think you were abusing him?”
“Your room is perfect, sun, wind, winter warmth and summer cold.”
“He should live in your good house.”
My mom paused, “Huh?”
My aunt became frustrated, “You see Chad is almost at the end of high school, shouldn’t you let him live in the master bedroom?”
My mom really thought about how she could do it.
I was disgusted that my aunt was convincing my mom to get rid of her room, and I told her to do it.
But now I won’t be.
I giggled, “Auntie’s jokes, in this home, who is the host and guest, everyone knows.”
My aunt started to get louder, “What is wrong with this, I wanted Chad to live with you.”
My mom was quiet, I knew my aunt’s words were stuck in her heart.
My mom was always kind to others, everyone knew she had a good reputation.
But ever since my aunt left Chad, people were avoiding her.
It wasn’t the same as it was before, and my mom was disappointed.
My aunt couldn’t take my mom’s words.
“Since that’s the case, let’s take a step back, let the brother and your mom live in the master bedroom, ok?”
Me and my mom both widened our eyes.
“Sister, are you sick?”
How could you say something so rude?
That’s almost breaking the law.
My aunt decided to live in the master bedroom.
She thought this weird thought.
She plotted, and that night I sat in the second bedroom.
I looked at my mom, who was sitting next to the bed, sad, and sighed, “Mom, you should believe it now, your sister’s family isn’t kind.”
“Mom, you also know of her situation.”
“Living with Chad, is just to get money off us.”
My aunt was greedy, and gave up on her first love and wanted to marry rich.
In the end, she married a gambling addict, who lost all their money.
And my mom married my dad, who worked hard together and became millionaires.
Later, my dad died from working too hard, and mom took time off.
My mom was still stuck, not wanting to jump to conclusions.
She sighed, “Let’s give them another chance.”
And this chance, was the time my sister got sick and turned into an idiot.
Saturday morning, me and my mom were pretending to go out.
Before we left, mom couldn’t bear it, and told the teenager that she watched grow up.
She told him, “Auntie is going to work, Chad remember to take care of your sister, okay.”
The teenager nodded.
My mom was relaxed.
I hoped he could show his true colors, but I didn’t want my mom to be sad.
We already set up cameras, and went behind Chad’s back while he was in class.
The teenager started doing his homework quietly.
Later, he went crazy.
Looking at his phone screen, there was a picture of a cat.
At this time, my sister suddenly cried.
Chad left.
But before he left, he raised his hand, and stared hard at my sister, making my mom worried.
In the end, he thought of something, and let her go.
His eyes went deep, “I’ll let you go this time, it’s not worth it to hit you…”
He said it quietly.
I grabbed my mom’s hands, and didn’t let her go back.
“Mom, now do you see, people can’t change.”
Luckily, we came back in time, and my sister didn’t get a fever.
After Chad came back, he saw that we were home.
The teenager was shocked, “Auntie, I went out to buy some food for sister, I was back in half an hour.”
My mom didn’t say anything, but I laughed, “It was probably more than half an hour.”
Chad’s face didn’t move, he said, “I misremembered, I probably had something to do on the way, it was an hour.”
My mom was disappointed as she looked at him, “Chad, we came back after you left.”
Chad had a flash of resentment, “Really?”
I called my aunt to come over.
“Today, I wanted to bring back the money you spent on Chad these 3 years.”
My aunt looked exploded, “What, you want money from me?”
I smiled, “Auntie, we raise your son, and you don’t want to spend any money?”
“We saved you room and board, you can’t expect us to pay for it ourselves?”
Chad gave his mom a look, and said, “Auntie, didn’t we agree that I was going to get adopted?”
My aunt pouted, “We are all family, why do we have to argue so much?”
My mom soothed my sister, “Good, don’t cry.”
“You’re family, Chad is still going to hit his sister?”
My aunt was confused, “What hitting?”
Seeing her eyes hiding, she must have said something to hurt me and my sister.
“The security footage is already out, the money spent on Chad these 3 years, 10 grand!”
My aunt couldn’t believe it, her mouth was agape.
“10 grand, you are robbing me? I only make 3 grand a year.”
Looking at her clothes that were 10 years old, my eyes moved around.
Today’s show, had a bunch of neighbors in the apartment.
“I don’t know what happened, but now the neighbors say we are abusing our brother.”
A wide and plump woman walked up, and put Chad behind her.
She said angrily to me, “Why do you do something, and don’t claim to do it?”
“Chad told us, that you don’t let him study in the house, and eat all the leftovers.”
My mom heard this, and her pupils opened, as she looked at Chad.
“You, you were saying this about me?”
My mom remembered going to PTA, and the teacher looked down on her.
Chad must have made even worse rumors!
I had a cold smile, “Mrs. Henderson, why don’t you find out more about the situation?”
“We spent 10 grand in these 3 years, and you think we are abusing him?”
The neighbors nodded, “Mrs. Henderson, how much have you spent on your son these 3 years?”
I joined in, “Yeah, why don’t you show it.”
My aunt felt guilty, she said loudly, “Ah, so you were planning all this.”
“And you want us to be grateful to your family?”
My mom went pale, “In your eyes, am I someone like this?”
Luckily, there were some neighbors that saw through this.
“Wang Cuifen, they are raising your son, you don’t even thank them, and you are slandering them.”
“If you’re not a wolf, what are you?”
I couldn’t help but laugh in my heart, this family is something else.
I said, “Then can my aunt write this number down, and don’t lie to us.”
My aunt’s face was red, “We aren’t going to give you this money.”
I turned to look at Chad.
And Mrs. Henderson didn’t dare to speak, and went to the door.
I feigned surprise and picked up a piece of Chad’s hair.
The hair was brown, and not smooth.
“Brother did you go see the cat today?”
He picked up the hair that was in my hand.
“Yeah, cats are so cute, and it helps me relax.”
But I knew, Chad didn’t go to see the cat.
He went to abuse the cat!
In my past life, Chad did well hiding it.
Because he got good grades, no one thought he would abuse the cat.
I remembered the bloody screen in my mind, and I wanted to puke.
The brother happily grabbed the cat, and ripped it open, ignoring the cat’s struggles.
The blood splashed on the teenager, but he kept panting, his eyes red.
And today I saw the picture of the cat, he was going to hurt it.
I had secretly called the police, but he was wary, and came back before.
I said interested, “Is that a stray cat on the street?”
Chad’s pupils opened, and covered, “No, I usually go to a cat cafe.”
His breathing was fast.
“But when you left, Mrs. Henderson saw you.”
“Brother likes doing what, and going where, I know a thing or two.”
I was bluffing, but he let it slip.
Chad looked at me with uncertainty.
And my aunt was confused, she pushed the brother.
“Chad, what are you talking to her about, we aren’t going to give you money.”
My aunt was jealous, “Sister, you live so well, do you want to argue with me?”
My mom was remembering the good old days, but everything has been changed.
I laughed, “Brother, are you giving us the money?”
I turned to look at him and made a sign.
“I know everything about you.”
