01: You Started the Fire on Him!

"Adam Carter! You useless piece of trash! How could you be so careless?"

Adam was jolted awake by the shrill sound of his mother-in-law's voice. He rushed down to the sitting room to see her panicking and yelling.

"Useless man! You've burnt down the whole of my kitchen!"

His heart skipped a beat as he dashed towards the left, revealing a big cloud of smoke.

"Fuck! This is bad!"

When he was done with his chores, he didn't leave any appliances on earlier. But he recalled that David was walking towards the kitchen when he left.

With panic, Adam dashed into the kitchen.

David was the 8-year old son of his wife's elder brother, Nate Hemsworth. If anything happened to him, the whole family wouldn't spare him.

"David!" Adam adjusted his eyes, holding his breath in the fumes.

The smoke was coming from the microwave oven, and hadn't penetrated everywhere yet.

"David!"

He finally found the little figure huddled in one corner of the kitchen, seemingly unconscious.

"My poor grandson! Oh no!" Lori was screaming the roof down when Adam got out and placed him on the sofa.

After ascertaining that the boy was still breathing and his pulse was fine, Adam quickly placed a call to the fire extinguishers.

"What have you done to him? Is he still alive?" Lori kept yelling in panic, obstructing Adam who was trying to revive the boy.

Adam ignored Lori and unbuttoned the boy's shirt, pressing down to quickly perform a CPR on him.

A few seconds later, David woke up sneezing so he rushed to grab some herbs and lemon water for him. In a few minutes, the little boy's complexion was better.

The fire extinguishers had arrived and the fire had been successfully put out. "You're such a life-saver, Mister." they praised Adam. "Only a doctor would have such amazing and accurate skills you pulled off to receive the boy."

"Stop!" Lori hissed, pushing past to grab her grandson. "That enough, all of you! If it wasn't for this fool, my grandson wouldn't be caught in the fire in the first place!"

She settled to hug the boy tight. "You started the fire on him, didn't you?" Her hateful gaze whipped up at Adam.

"What? Of course, I didn't!"

Lori stood up and slapped him. "It's all your fault! How many times have I warned you not to let this little boy go near the kitchen? For placing a roof over your head and clothing you, this is the least we could ask for! How could you be so careless?" She grabbed his collar.

The fire extinguisher team tried to restrain her. "Ma'am, please calm down, it was only an accident!"

"An accident set up by this useless son-in-law of mine! He wants to murder my grandson so our family would have no heir! He wants my family to be destroyed just like his family was destroyed and exiled!"

Everyone in Colorado knew that Adam was the son of the Carters, a renowned family of doctors that owned the Carter Pharmaceutical Group of companies.

When they were still in their prime, Adam's father, Felix Carter had gotten his son engaged to Seraphina Hemsworths, beautiful daughter of a middle class family.

But everything changed when the Carters were accused of producing hard drugs as part of their medicinal pills. The family was destroyed, excommunicated and exiled from the Country.

Since then, Adam's place in the Hemsworth family had fallen and his in-laws would leave no opportunity to humiliate him.

"I left the kitchen locked, Mother. And I made sure to put off the microwave, I-" Adam was interrupted by a woman's shriek at the door.

"Ah, my poor son! What happened to you?"

Nate Hemsworth and his wife, Carmen rushed in with panic. "I'm so sorry, David. I shouldn't have left you back!"

"You bastard!" Nate grabbed Adam's collar violently. "What have you done to my son?"

Carmen grabbed her son. "Why didn't you get him the snacks that he had to go up the kitchen!"

Adam stood in the center, his head and throat hurting. He'd inhaled some smoke earlier which made him uncontrollably dizzy. "Look, I didn't do anything to the kid. How was I supposed to know what he wanted?"

By then, the whole family had arrived.

Adam's wife, Seraphina, had 2 elder brothers, Nate and Fred, and two younger sisters, Debra and Emily. Including their mother, Lori and their father, Ernest. All of them took turns to berate and blame him.

"Brother-in-law seems to be getting on in years. How could you forget the microwave on?" a sharp mouthed Debra snickered at him.

Ernest offered to take the boy to the clinic after throwing a glare at Adam. "Totally useless!"

Nate threw him a cruel glare. "I seear to the heavens, if as much as a strand of hair goes missing on my son's head. I'll make you suffer and beg to the extent that you'll be seeking for death!"

Everywhere went silent. They all knew Nate was the one that hated Adam the most, and he was capable of doing such a cruel thing!

"I've always said it, you're nothing but a jinx, after you came into this family, bad things keep happening!" Fred hissed before making his way up the stairs.

"If my father hadn't been so hasty and gotten you engaged to my daughter, how could a nonentity like you get into this family?" Lori screamed, her chest heaving with rage.

The fire-fighters shook their heads and left in the midst of the argument.

"You're useless and incompetent! Till today you haven't found a decent job, you only sit around everyday while your wife slaves to make money to feed you! Is that how a man is supposed to behave?"

Adams gritted his teeth. He'd applied for jobs in every damn place, from factory workers to trash collectors, but none of them agreed to employ him.

He was weak, malnourished, with no College degree and completely penniless. The only skills he had were cleaning, cooking and some residual knowledge from his parent's Chinese and Western Medicine.

After his family's legacy was destroyed, they handed him and his little sister to the Hemsworth family and disappeared.

That's what gave them the audacity to always treat him like trash. A year ago, he'd lost his sister to a terminal liver disease, and now he was all alone, no relatives or friend.

Adam swallowed his anger, willing himself to be calm. "I'm so sorry for being careless, Mother. I'll make sure to keep a better eye on him next time." He knew that if he didn't try to apologize, he was gonna be in trouble.

Lori huffed. "That's what you keep saying every damn time! We're totally fed up with your nonsense!"

At that moment, the door burst open and Seraphina stumbled in, her arms wrapped around a man's neck.

"Seraphina!" Adam wanted to rush to her, but his mother-in-law dragged him back.

"Ah, you're here again, Mr Walters." Lori hurried over with a smile.

Roberto Walters was a well-known business tycoon. He was the President of the billion-dollar Walters Corporations here in Colorado. Seraphina was a staff at a subsidiary where Roberto was inspecting.

The few times he'd been to the Hemsworth, he would offer them loads of money and lavish gifts. Adam already detested him.

"I'm so sorry ma'am. Seraphina got drunk at a company dinner and I couldn't let her arrive alone." Roberto beamed, helping to lower her to the sofa.

Adam's eyes bulged. No one seemed to mind that another man was openly caressing his wife!

"Ah, it's fine." Lori waved it off with a smile. "If only her husband was as caring and diligent as you are."

Adam gritted.

"Hmm." Roberto's eyes scanned the entire sitting room immediately. "What happened here?" He didn't even acknowledge Adam's existence.

Carmen rushed to reply. "This good-for-nothing Adam left the microwave on, and the kitchen caught fire with my son in it!" She tried to look teary and pitiful.

"Oh, it's nothing much. Mr Walters." Lori tried to wave it off, but her eyes showed intense eagerness.

"I'll go have a look!" Roberto nudged.

He returned with a blank face, and after throwing a glare at Adam, he said. "I'll have some men come quickly renovate the kitchen."

"Ahh, no. You don't have to do that." Lori said, her eyes twinkling in excitement.

"I'm only doing it for Seraphina. My company won't tolerate it when she's all distracted cause of a minor family accident." Robert smiled, leaving to make a call.

"If only he was my son-in-law! How lucky would I be?" Lori sighed dreamily, sending a kick to Adam knees.

"What was that for!"

"Immediately Mr Walters returns, hurry and kowtow to him, thanking him for his kindness that has spared you from my wrath!"

"I can't do that!" Adam clenched his fists in anger. He could endure anything but this. How could he kowtow and humiliate himself in front of someone he loathed?

Roberto returned just then. "You can't do what?"

"No worries, Mr Walters. I was just asking this idiot to kowtow and thank you for your immense kindness." Lori chuckled.

"Never!" Adam hissed. "Why should I kowtow to someone that is after my wife? Apart from trying to blind you all with gifts, what else is he?"

"Well, he is the current Vice President of the Walters Corporations, and the richest and hottest bachelors in this country, something you can never aspire to!" Debra threw hotly at Adam.

"I don't care! President or whoever he is, Adam Carter would never kowtow to that sort of person!"

"Then you have to get out of this house!" Lori flew into a rage. "Tonight, you're sleeping outside in the cold, with no blanket or mat!