They called me worthless, now the beg.

Chapter 6: Family or Thief?

Ethan's fist tightened around Daniel's shirt as the stolen cash and bank cards scattered across the floor. Daniel's face drained of color, and for a moment, he seemed unable to breathe, his eyes darting between Ethan's furious expression and the evidence lying at their feet.

“What the hell are you doing in my room?” Ethan demanded, tightening his grip when Daniel tried to pull away. “And why are you holding my money and bank cards?”

Daniel swallowed hard, but before he could find an answer, his girlfriend stepped forward, forcing a nervous smile onto her face. “Ethan, don't misunderstand us. We were only borrowing the money, and Daniel was going to return it.”

“Borrowing?” Ethan repeated, staring at her as though he could hardly believe what he had heard. “You sneaked into my room, took my money and bank cards without asking, and you expect me to believe you were borrowing them?”

His cousin shifted uncomfortably beneath Ethan's grip, his face reddening with embarrassment and anger. “That's right. We only needed the money temporarily, and we would have returned it once we had sorted everything out.”

Ethan let out a short, humorless laugh, but there was no amusement in his eyes. “Then why didn't you ask me? Why were you sneaking around like thieves instead of coming to me openly?”

Neither Daniel nor his girlfriend answered immediately. Their eyes moved toward the open doorway, where Margaret and George stood frozen, their faces tense with worry as they watched the confrontation unfold.

Margaret hurried into the room, her voice trembling as she tried to intervene. “Ethan, please calm down. Daniel is your cousin, and family members sometimes make mistakes. There's no need to turn this into a huge problem.”

Ethan looked at his grandmother, then at his grandfather, who remained near the doorway without meeting his eyes. Their nervous behavior finally made sense to him; they had known Daniel was inside his room, and they had deliberately tried to keep him from entering.

“Grandma, you were standing outside to stop me from coming in, weren't you?” Ethan asked, his voice growing colder. “You knew what he was doing, yet you still tried to help him hide it from me.”

Margaret's lips parted, but no convincing explanation came. George cleared his throat and stepped forward, attempting to sound authoritative, though the uneasiness in his expression betrayed him.

“Ethan, don't accuse your grandmother of something like that. Daniel only made a poor decision because he was desperate, and we should settle this matter within the family instead of making it worse.”

“Desperate?” Ethan repeated, turning his attention back to Daniel. “Was he so desperate that he couldn't ask for help? Or did he simply think he could take whatever he wanted because he believed I wouldn't dare hold him accountable?”

Daniel's embarrassment quickly gave way to irritation, and he jerked his shoulders, trying to free himself from Ethan's grasp. “You're making this sound worse than it is! I already told you that I was going to return everything, so why are you acting like I committed some terrible crime?”

“Because you entered my room without permission and stole from me,” Ethan replied firmly. “You don't get to decide that taking someone else's property is acceptable simply because you intend to return it later.”

His girlfriend crouched suddenly and reached for the scattered cash, apparently hoping to gather it before the situation became any more serious. Ethan released one hand from Daniel's shirt and blocked her with his arm, forcing her to stop before she could pick up the money.

“Don't touch anything,” he warned, his gaze fixed on her. “You've already explained that you were only borrowing it, so there's no reason to be in such a hurry to take it back.”

She straightened, her face flushing with indignation. “You don't have to treat us like criminals! It's just money, and Daniel is your own cousin. How can you be so heartless over something that could easily be settled?”

“It's just money?” Ethan asked, his voice sharp enough to silence her for a moment. “If it's so insignificant, why didn't you use your own money? And if you believe borrowing is acceptable, why did you have to sneak into my room to do it?”

The questions left her with no immediate response, but Daniel seized the opportunity to twist the argument in his favor. He pointed toward the cash on the floor and glared at Ethan, as though the person who had caught him stealing were the one behaving unreasonably.

“You have plenty of money, Ethan. You don't even need all of this, but you still want to humiliate me in front of everyone over a little cash. Is this how you treat your own family?”

Ethan's expression hardened. “Don't use the word family to excuse what you did. You had no problem taking my money, but now that I've caught you, suddenly I'm the villain for refusing to let you walk away with it.”

Margaret looked increasingly distressed, while George shifted his weight and glanced at the open doorway. Neither elder seemed willing to acknowledge that Ethan had been the one wronged, and their attempts to protect Daniel only made the betrayal more obvious.

“Enough,” George said, raising his voice. “You have made your point, Ethan. Tell Daniel to return everything, and let this matter end here. There is no need to involve outsiders in a family disagreement.”

Ethan slowly released Daniel's shirt but remained between him and the money. He watched his cousin straighten his clothes, and the brief relief on Daniel's face only strengthened his resolve to stop them from turning this into another incident that would be buried under family excuses.

“Return everything?” Ethan asked. “The money is already on the floor, and the bank cards are right there. What exactly is left to return, Grandpa? An apology you don't seem to think he owes me?”

Daniel's girlfriend bent forward again, trying to snatch one of the bank cards before Ethan could stop her. He caught her wrist and moved her hand away from the scattered belongings, his patience finally wearing thin.

“I told you not to touch anything,” he said, releasing her wrist once she stepped back. “If you truly believed you had done nothing wrong, you wouldn't be scrambling to hide the evidence.”

“Let go of me!” she snapped, pulling her hand against her chest. “You're acting as though we came here to rob a bank. Daniel only wanted to use the money for a short time, and you're making a simple matter impossible to resolve.”

“Then you can explain that to the police,” Ethan replied.

He reached into his pocket and took out his phone, keeping his eyes on Daniel as he unlocked the screen. The small movement changed the atmosphere in the room almost immediately; Daniel's confidence faltered, and his girlfriend stared at the phone as if she had only just realized that Ethan might actually follow through with his threat.

“Ethan, put the phone away,” Margaret pleaded, stepping closer. “Think carefully before you do something you cannot take back. Once the police become involved, this family will never be able to live peacefully again.”

Ethan looked at her with visible disappointment. “Grandma, you were worried about the family when I caught him, but you weren't worried about me when you stood outside and helped him hide what he had done. Why should I be the only person expected to protect everyone's reputation?”

Margaret flinched at his words, and George's expression darkened. For a moment, neither of them spoke, leaving Daniel to face the consequences without the immediate protection he had expected from his grandparents.

Daniel's anger collapsed into panic as Ethan began dialing. He lunged forward, reaching for the phone, but Ethan stepped back and kept it beyond his grasp.

“Don't call the police!” Daniel exclaimed, his voice cracking as he grabbed Ethan's sleeve. “Please, Ethan, I made a mistake. I swear I wasn't planning to keep the money, so give me another chance. We're cousins, and you can't seriously want to send me to the police over this!”

“You were willing to take my money without asking, and you didn't seem concerned about our relationship then,” Ethan answered. “Now that you might face consequences, you suddenly remember that we're family.”

Daniel's girlfriend glanced between the two men, her face growing pale. Instead of supporting Daniel as she had earlier, she began edging toward the doorway, clearly looking for a way to escape the situation before the police arrived.

“Wait,” Daniel said, turning toward her when he noticed her movement. “Where are you going? Say something!”

She avoided his eyes and continued toward the door. “This is your family matter, Daniel. You should have listened when I told you to be careful.”

Before he could stop her, she slipped past George and hurried out of the house, leaving Daniel standing beside the scattered cash and bank cards. His mouth fell open in disbelief, but the sound of Ethan's phone connecting to the call quickly dragged his attention back to the more immediate danger.

“Please, Ethan,” Daniel begged, his grip tightening around Ethan's sleeve. “I'll apologize, and I'll never do this again. You can take the money back, and I'll make sure everything is returned exactly as it was. Just don't involve the police.”

Ethan looked down at Daniel's hand before meeting his eyes. The fear on his cousin's face was unmistakable, but Ethan had seen enough of his family's double standards to know that forgiveness demanded under pressure would only become another excuse for the next betrayal.

He pulled his sleeve free and spoke into the phone, reporting that someone had entered his room and taken his money and bank cards without permission. Daniel's expression crumpled as he realized Ethan was no longer bluffing, while Margaret hurried forward and George began protesting that he was destroying the family over a matter that could have been settled privately.

Ethan ended the call after providing the necessary details, then gathered his scattered belongings without taking his eyes off Daniel. He refused to let his grandparents turn the theft into a harmless misunderstanding, even as their expressions hardened and the room filled with accusations that he had gone too far.

“You'll regret bringing the police into this,” George warned, his voice low and angry. “You think money gives you the right to treat your own relatives this way, but one day you'll need this family, and you may find that no one is willing to help you.”

Ethan placed his bank cards safely in his pocket and looked at his grandfather without flinching. “If this family only stands together when someone is stealing from me, then perhaps I need to understand exactly what your support is worth.”

The words settled heavily over the room, but Ethan knew the confrontation was far from over. His relatives had already begun to look at him differently, and the theft had exposed a deeper problem: they believed his inheritance made his money theirs to claim, while none of them had any idea how much he truly possessed.

As Margaret and George continued to accuse him of bringing shame upon the family, Ethan remained silent, keeping his real circumstances to himself. They thought he was spending his inheritance recklessly and would eventually have nothing left, and that belief would soon lead them to make decisions they never imagined he could turn against them.