I Control Life and Death

Chapter 004

Two minutes later, my mother emerged from her room with an exhausted look on her face.

"Mom, what's wrong? Who called you just now?" I asked her.

"Some things in life are inevitable after all. I can't just keep running away from it," my mother muttered to herself before looking up at me. "Will, come with me to visit someone."

"Visit someone? Who?" I was even more confused now.

She did not answer my question and walked toward the door, so I trailed behind her.

A Rolls-Royce Phantom was parked outside our gate.

A middle-aged man in an expensive suit was leaning against the hood, a half-smoked cigar in his mouth.

Was that the man who called my mother earlier? I sized up the man in front of me and was even more baffled.

I came from an ordinary family. I did not remember us having any wealthy relatives at all. Besides, my mother hardly ever interacted with anyone else apart from a few ladies from her workplace.

So, who exactly was this man?

As I sized him up, the man turned to look at me as well.

When our eyes met, I immediately sensed disdain in the way he looked at me.

"So, he's that bastard child?" The man broke the silence first. The way he talked made him sound like a lofty king interrogating his servant.

"And who the hell do you think you are?" I retorted as I glared at him angrily.

"Will, don't be rude!" my mother chided me, then turned to speak to the other man, "Will is my son and your nephew! He is not a bastard child!"

"His nephew? Mom, what do you mean by that? He's my uncle?"

My mother's words truly shocked me. I had never heard my mother talk about her family before. Where did this uncle suddenly come from?

"That's right. He's my older brother, which makes him your uncle. Say hello to him," said my mother with a nod.

I looked up at the other man and was about to speak when he raised a hand to stop me. "I might be your mother's brother, but that doesn't mean you get to call me your uncle."

"Do I look like I care about that?" If my mother hadn't asked me to greet him, I wouldn't have bothered. Did he think that being wealthy gave him the right to talk down to us like that? I was better off without such an uncle!

My mother began to look a little upset as well. "Did you come here just to humiliate us?"

The man made a face. "Did you think I wanted to come? If the old man wasn't dying and said that he wanted to see you one last time, I wouldn't have bothered coming all the way to this god-forsaken place!"

"Dad? What happened to him?" my mother asked anxiously.

"He has late-stage lung cancer. The doctor says he has no more than three days left."

"I thought Dad has always been in good health. Why would he get lung cancer?" my mother asked again.

"I can't believe you have the gall to ask such a question." The man pointed his cigar at my mother and said, "If you didn't bring shame to the family, he wouldn't have become so depressed, and his health wouldn't have taken a turn for the worse."

"How… how did this happen?" My mother went into a daze as tears rolled down her cheeks.

I patted her back gently and consoled her, "Mom, don't be too sad. Maybe there's still hope for Grandpa."

"I've passed on the message, so you can decide if you want to go back or not."

He threw his unfinished cigar onto the ground and got back into his car.

After he started up the engine, he rolled the window down and pointed at me as he said to my mother, "This bastard is half a Gleeson, so if you're going back, bring him along."

He drove off without waiting for my mother to respond.

My mother and I stood there, the two of us only went back into the house after his car had disappeared out of sight.

Half an hour later, my mother and I arrived at a luxurious bungalow in the suburbs.

The bungalow looked very impressive. And based on what I could see, the entire estate was at least 2,000 square meters large.

Surrounded by a metal fence, one could see a garden in full bloom within the front yard.

A marble-tiled pond was built in the middle of the garden. The center of the pond featured a fake mountain with a water fountain.

"Mom, is this Grandpa's house?"

After seeing the luxury car my uncle drove, I guessed that my mother's family must be very wealthy.

When I actually stood before their family home, I realized that I had severely underestimated their wealth.

My mother's family wasn't just well-to-do. This was a wealth that must have been accumulated over generations!

"This used to be my home too," said my mother with a sigh.

On the way here, I asked my mother about her father.

All she said was that her father loved her and doted on her dearly.

It did not take long for a man in his 50s and a swallowtail jacket to open the gate for us.

"Miss…Helen? Is that you?" The man had tears in his eyes and looked rather emotional.

"Yes, it's me, Mr. Faulkner." My mother smiled and nodded at him.

"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back," said Mr. Faulkner as he smiled happily at us. He then looked at me and said, "This must be your son."

"His name is William Floyd, but you can call him Will." After she introduced me to him, she turned to me and said, "Will, this is Mr. Faulkner. He is your grandfather's butler."

"Hello, Mr. Faulkner." I bowed slightly and greeted Mr. Faulkner politely.

"You're being too polite with me, Master Will," said Mr. Faulkner with a laugh. "Mr. Gleeson Snr. has been waiting for both of you. Please come with me."

He turned to walk toward the house in the distance and led us up to the second story.

There were a lot of people already gathered on the second story. Men and women of all ages were present.

Some of them were smoking, a few were fiddling with their phones, and others were chatting in small groups of twos and threes.

When my mother and I appeared, all of them turned their heads to look at us.

"Mr. Faulkner, where did you get these beggars from? If they need money, you can just give them some and tell them to get lost. Why did you have to bring them upstairs?" A blonde-haired man in his late teens snapped at Mr. Faulkner as if the older man had done something wrong.

"Master Kevin, this is your aunt, Miss Helen. The gentleman behind her is her son," Mr. Faulkner introduced us to the crowd.

"My aunt?" Kevin Gleeson looked confused for a moment, then suddenly looked enlightened. "Oh! She's that filthy whore who got knocked up and abandoned!"

"What did you say?!" I hit the roof immediately. I was so angry that my teeth chattered loudly.

Kevin glanced at me and sneered, "What are you getting so angry for? I'm not the only one who thinks this way."

"Exactly! You did something to embarrass the family, and you get angry when someone else talks about it?"

"Is this boy the bastard child she was pregnant with back then? I can't believe he thinks he has the right to get angry!"

"The Gleesons are a prominent family! How could we allow a bastard child to make a scene in our own house?"

The people in the second story looked at my mother and me with contempt and took turns to say nasty things about us.

"That's enough!" said my mother in a firm voice and the corridor fell silent.

She looked at every single person with tears in her eyes, then continued, "I know what all of you are worried about. My son and I have come here today because we were told that my father is currently in critical condition. We are here to see him, not to fight for the inheritance with any of you. There is no need for all of you to gang up against us like this!"

After she said that, everyone along the corridor exchanged glances.

A woman around my mother's age wearing revealing clothes and thick makeup sashayed toward us. "How are we to believe you, the type of woman who throws herself at another man and lets him treat her like a toy?"

"What did you just say? You'd better watch your words!" I glared furiously at her and clenched my fists tightly.

She's lucky she's a woman, I thought. Otherwise, she wouldn't be standing in one good piece now.

She turned her head slightly to stare frostily at me. "Are you threatening me?"

I continued to glare angrily at her. "So what if I am?"

"Excellent! Excellent!" She smiled mirthlessly and said, "It has been more than 20 years since I married into the Gleeson family, and nobody has ever dared to even raise their voice to me. And yet, a bastard child dares to threaten me now?"

She suddenly screamed in a high-pitched voice, "Didn't you hear what I said? I've been threatened!"

Hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor immediately after she said those words as four tall and burly men came running toward me.