A SON IN LAW TURNS BILLIONAIRE AFTER DIVORCE

Chapter 24

Leonard stood motionless in the middle of his gym, holding the phone against his ear long after Thomas Stone had ended the call.

He was completely stunned.

Susan had actually managed to get her hands on a million dollars this way.

For a brief, chilling second, the horrific memory of his previous life flashed vividly before his eyes—he saw the same cold, ruthless woman who had held a blade and carved into his frozen flesh without a single second of hesitation.

Only this time, the person she had sacrificed on the altar of her unyielding greed wasn’t her husband.

It was her own eight-year-old son.

Truthfully, little Mark had never treated Leonard with much respect or affection. In the end, he had called him a son of a bitch to his face without blinking. But Leonard had genuinely raised that boy as his own child for eight long years. He had carried him on his shoulders, bandaged his knees, and tucked him into bed every single night.

Hearing that the child had plummeted down a flight of stairs and died in a pool of blood left a heavy, bitter knot twisting deep inside his chest.

That night, Leonard returned to his temporary house, pulled a bottle of heavy whiskey from his cabinet, and drank until his mind went numb.

Before finishing the bottle, he walked out onto the dark back porch, raised his glass toward the sky, and poured the remaining liquor onto the cold earth.

"Goodbye, Mark," he whispered into the night wind. "You deserved better parents."

Suddenly, the wind carried a sound from across the street. Leonard turned his head, his eyes narrowing into thin, sharp blades.

Loud, joyful laughter and clinking glasses were echoing straight out of the open windows of the Miller home. They were celebrating. They were literally throwing a party because Susan had walked back through the front door with a million dollars in blood money.

The last remaining trace of human hesitation inside Leonard’s heart vanished completely, turning into solid, unshakeable stone.

What a family of absolute animals, he thought, staring at their glowing windows.

Fine. If they wanted to play monsters, he would show them what a real nightmare looked like. With people like Susan and the Millers, there was no longer a single reason on earth for him to show a grain of mercy.

Across the street, inside the Miller apartment, Susan stayed locked inside her bedroom for two full days. She didn't eat, didn't speak, and didn't open the door for anyone.

When she finally pushed the door open and stepped out on the morning of the third day, Joseph immediately jumped up from the couch, practically tripping over himself to hurry over to her.

“Susan! Hey, Susan!” Joseph beamed, his face practically split in two by a fake, kissing-up smile. “What do you want to eat today? Just name it! Tell me right now and I'll run down to the best restaurant in town and buy it for you!”

“Yeah, listen to your brother,” Michael added from the dining table, his tone unnaturally soft and affectionate. “Let Joseph go get whatever your heart desires, honey.”

Their entire attitude had flipped upside down.

After all, the news was official: Susan had received a full one-million-dollar cash compensation payout from Jonathan's family. Even after paying off the four hundred and ten thousand dollars she owed Leonard for the court settlement, she would still have nearly six hundred thousand dollars sitting in her bank account!

Susan didn’t even glance at either of them. Her face was as emotionless as a corpse as she walked straight past them into the bathroom and clicked the lock shut.

“Fuck’s sake,” Joseph muttered under his breath, his fake smile dropping instantly as he kicked a chair. “I’ve been sucking up to her for two whole days straight, and she still acts like I’m dirt under her shoe!”

Michael stepped up behind him and slapped him lightly on the back of his head.

“Watch your loud mouth!” Michael hissed in a quiet, harsh whisper. “That’s your sister! Show some respect!”

Michael glanced toward the locked bathroom door and lowered his voice even further. “Think about it, you idiot. We kicked her out, told her we were cutting ties with her, and then the second she got that million-dollar check, we invited her right back in. Of course she’s pissed off at us right now!”

Michael poked Joseph in the chest. “Be patient! Bite your tongue and keep her happy! Otherwise, you can go out into the street and figure out how to earn your own spending money!”

Joseph winced, rubbing his chest, and instantly lowered his head like a beaten dog. “Fine, fine. I get it.”

Inside the bathroom, Susan turned on the shower, stepped under the showerhead fully clothed, and let the ice-cold water pour over her face and body.

Her wet hair plastered against her pale cheeks as her expression slowly hardened into something terrifying.

Every single person in the city—the police, the hospital, Jonathan, and the lawyers—believed that Mark’s death had been a tragic, accidental outburst because Jonathan’s wife had lost her mind.

But was that really the whole story?

Of course it wasn't.

Susan had been the exact person who called Jonathan’s wife from an anonymous line just thirty minutes before heading to the hospital. During that phone call, Susan had intentionally used the cruelest, most disgusting words she could construct, repeatedly mocking the woman for being a barren, useless failure who couldn't give her husband a child, until the woman completely lost her sanity and rushed to the hospital in a blinding rage.

And that wasn’t even all.

Before dragging Mark out of the taxi, Susan had pulled out her phone, shown the boy a picture of Jonathan’s wife, and explicitly told him that if he saw that lady, he needed to scream at her and call her a barren monster who stole his father.

That was the exact reason why the confrontation in the hallway had exploded so fast. That was why little Mark had screamed those vile insults. That was why Jonathan’s wife had finally snapped and shoved him down the stairs.

Susan stood under the freezing water, her fists clenched so hard her nails drew blood from her palms.

“Jonathan... you betrayed me first,” Susan whispered through her clenched teeth, her body shaking violently. “You ruined my life... so I ruined yours.”

A few hot tears mixed with the cold shower water, sliding down her pale face. After all, despite everything, Mark had still been her biological child.

But only a few moments later, the trembling stopped. The grief in her eyes burned away, replaced by a dark, manic gleam.

A slow, terrifying smile slowly spread across her wet lips.

“Now Mark is gone,” she whispered, her voice echoing softly against the bathroom tiles. “The kid is gone... there’s no biological proof standing between Leonard and me anymore.”

Her mind spun with dark, desperate calculations. All she had to do now was win Leonard back! She could fall at his feet, cry about how much she missed him, and promise to give him his own biological children! A man like Leonard—who had loved her obediently for nine years—would surely take her back if she begged hard enough!

Four hundred million dollars.

There was no way in hell she was going to give up on that kind of money. No way.