Yours, Until Needed
Chapter 147: Truth

Chapter 147: Truth

ALDRIN

He was back at school after a long absence. Honestly, he wished he didn’t even have to go back.

Staying in school was much better than staying at home and seeing his family, but Aldrin knew better than to think that this life was permanent.

He knew about the bankruptcy and only managed to stay in school like normal because the full year had been arranged when he was initially enrolled.

Before, he thought that it was them trying to ship him off again. They didn’t even check if he’d like to stay there and just paid for everything upfront. And now he was partially thankful for that. If not, he wouldn’t have anywhere else to go.

With the school’s tight lock on outside communication, people wouldn’t hear much unless an absolute emergency happened, like when his Grandfather had an accident.

But clearly, that wasn’t the worst part. What was worse was that Alexa picked him up and forced him to return when he was against it.

He really didn’t want to be involved in anything else, but if his Grandfather was really hospitalized, then he at least had to see him.

Normally, Alexa and their mom wouldn’t care about him. He was initially salty about this, but as he realized how his family members thought about the world, he felt better about being ignored.

However, this changes when he gets a proper inheritance from their late Grandmother. Understandably, his mom and sister didn’t get anything more than a dollar. And he could totally understand. If he was in his Grandma’s shoes, he would do the same thing.

The change wasn’t because of what they initially called ’negligible inheritance.’ They even said mean things about how he only got this much. But then they went bankrupt, and he only had some money and a house for himself.

They kept forcing him to sign it over, but Grandma wasn’t stupid and was clearly prepared for this possibility. Until he became an adult, his share and estate would be managed by the law firm her grandmother hired.

This really pissed the two of them off, so he was thrown back into the boarding school. But today, when the teachers came to get him again, he was shocked to see someone else picking him up.

It was his Aunt and Uncle.

Aldrin didn’t know what could’ve happened for these two people to show up.

"Aunt, Uncle. Did something happen?"

"Hi, Aldrin, sorry we went here without giving you a heads-up, sweetie." Aunt Eloisa had a soft expression.

In all fairness to their entire family, they’ve never treated him badly. In fact, considering everything, they treated him far better than his actual family.

Even though his family had done so many embarrassing things that they demanded an apology, they never re-directed their anger toward him.

"It’s alright, Auntie. But what brings you here today?"

"We were hoping to talk to you about a few things since this would probably affect you the most."

They were certainly making it easier for him. When they mentioned it before leaving the school, he didn’t think it would be as explosive as both his mom and sister being in the detention center.

And for actual criminal charges, not just those petty crimes they used to do.

Attempted murder? For both of them?!

And the targets were his Grandfather, cousin, and her unborn baby?!

Aldrin didn’t know where to hide, considering the shame this brought him. And yet the people before him didn’t blame him for everything.

This was really a different feeling from when his mother would even blame him for existing—like he asked to be born.

But just when Aldrin thought the influx of shocking news was over, he was told about a tip they had obtained that would really affect his life. They wanted him to make a choice about what to do.

"We are very sorry to be bringing you this news. None of them are particularly good for students who should be concentrating on their studies, but we want to arm you with a way to protect yourself." Aunt Eloisa held his hand, and by the look on her face, Aldrin saw that she actually meant it.

"Those two would definitely need financial assistance, and you would be the first person they think about once they find a way to summon you from here."

"But Aldrin, if possible, please don’t help them financially because they will lose. They were caught red-handed, and they will just exhaust what you have on your name right now."

It was Uncle Matthew who asked for the favor, and he was right. They had already ’asked’ before and were adamant about him giving it up.

"I won’t help them like that, Uncle. I’ll try not to. I hope the lawyers would keep it as is."

"If you need help defending it, you can come to us."

"Umm, was this everything?" With how these two looked at each other, Aldrin wasn’t sure that was the biggest bomb just yet.

"Maybe we should take a seat for this one."

Yep. Something else, then.

"We think that we’ve discovered why your mother pushed the Patriarch off the stairs. We received information that your mother was called to discuss your parentage."

"!!!"

"What?!" Aldrin exclaimed, not thinking about this possibility at all. He even assumed it was something else, like him being sold off somewhere without his knowledge.

But his parentage?!

"We learned that my brother had been diagnosed as infertile after your mom and sister first arrived at the mansion."

"While we have yet to determine if that was temporary, we surmised that it was what triggered the altercation."

To make matters worse, his Uncle, who is now probably not really his Uncle, took a few photos of her mother with another man.

"This had been your mother’s long-time partner. We’ve long known about this but didn’t think it had much effect on anyone."

"So, instead of doing this illegally, we wanted to ask you if you would like to take a DNA test for confirmation." Uncle Matthew had a serious expression, but there was nothing else but that.

He didn’t even look angry.

"Now, I know this is by no means easy, but rest assured that whatever it is that you have as Aldrin Thornhill will stay as yours."

"In our opinion, you had no choice in this matter, and even Grandma never chose by virtue of blood. Even the loyal caretakers got what she thought they deserved."

"So, what she gave to you is rightfully yours."

This was all hard to take in, but as he looked into his own emotions, there really wasn’t anything much but surprise.

He knew how bad his mother was, and his sister was basically a clone.

Because of this, he never felt like he was actually part of this clan.

No wonder his father, who already had an inkling, never bothered much with them.

If anything, he was just lucky to be treated like a human being and to receive his basic needs and sometimes more.

Even he wouldn’t be able to connect with a child who was forced onto him, especially when the children were reminders of the threat her mother made on his actual lover.

"I’ll take it. I agree to do the DNA test."

Maybe he could have some peace of mind after this?