PORTAL BEAST SLAYER

"What the fuck are you talking about? Let me go this instant! Do you have any idea who you're messing with?" Vance snapped as he tried to free himself from Kellan's grip, but he was too weak.

"I left my Fx2 Watch close to that vase. I usually don't care where I drop my things because there are no thieves in our home. But I saw you put that watch in your pocket. You must be stupid or broke." Kellan scoffed

He wasn't even expending much energy holding onto Vance, yet Vance couldn't even free himself.

"Why would I steal your stupid watch, huh?"

"Maybe because it costs about three million fucking dollars?" Kellan reached into Vance's pocket and took out the watch. "If you didn't take it, then did it walk into your pocket by itself?

Vance's face turned red, but he still tried to deny it.

"I didn't take it. You must have put it there to frame me."

Kellan sighed and pushed Vance away.

"Just get out, and don't ever set foot here if you don't want me to slice off your arm."

Vance looked like he wanted to talk back, but the glare on Kellan's face forced him to leave and join the rest of his family. They all got back to the cars they came in, and drove out of Alrik's home. Jett was fuming as he drove. All through the drive back to the Zerdon house, he considered multiple ways of bringing up the topic. He wondered if he should try to be nice in the hope of changing his father's mind. Or if being hostile would make his father intimidated and sign over the assets to him instead of Alrik.

Jett began to speak as soon as they stepped out of the car, after driving for almost an hour. "After all I've done all these years, following your orders. You…"

"Jett, I'm not in the mood to have this discussion with you today." Griffin said as they walked inside the house.

"When will you be in the mood then? When it's already too late? When you've already signed over everything to Alrik? He doesn't even want a dime, nor does he care about the damn company, yet he's still the best candidate in your eyes? Even if you want to skip me, what wrong did my son commit except not being born to your favourite dead son?" Jett snapped back in reply as he grabbed his father's arm to stop him from leaving.

"It's my damn money, and my company. I can will it to whoever I damn well please!"

"It doesn't belong to you alone. It belongs to the family. And as your son, it's mine by right. Then to be passed down to my own son. That is how it should be. You're not the only one who kept the company running, are you? I've been handling…"

"Don't even go there, Jett. You're right about one thing. You can never be as competent as your brother. The worst tragedy to happen to this family is his death. I wish he were here instead of you!"

Everyone present gasped. Vance had been about to leave for his room to avoid the drama, but even he paused, and stayed back to watch what would unfold.

"Now the truth is finally coming out. You wish your dead son was alive. You always denied it, but now you're admitting you love him more than you ever loved me. That's the reason why I can never be good enough in your eyes. You think a corpse is better than me!"

"Yes. He was ten times the man you will ever be. He was loyal, focused, and dedicated. Everyday he worked to keep the family legacy strong. What did you do except slack off, and spend my money as you pleased? Even when you finally decided to clean up after his death, if it weren't for me making sure you got promoted, you would never even make it past the first job interview." Griffin scoffed.

"You say you've been following my orders? You've been working hard for the company? How many losses have happened due to your incompetence over the years, Jett? Should I count them? All you do at work is order employees around, steal or copy other people's proposals to pass them off as your own, and use the family name to clean up your messes. Even among the soldiers when you decided that rising in rank would make you look good, no one really respects you. They only pretend to because of the power of the Zerdon name. The power that every generation of Zerdons worked hard to keep up. You also passed that down to your damn son. "

He shook his head, and paused to give Kalen a look of disgust. "No. He might even be worse. At least you clean up your own messes. He can't even do that. He waits for you to clean up his own messes, like a toddler waiting for formula. I've been silent about all your damn faults because my only hope was Alrik, but I knew you would be vindictive if I made my choice obvious. So I gave him the worst jobs, ignored him on purpose, and made it look like I was on your side. It wasn't enough though, because despite all the hardship, Alrik proved himself. His competence was obvious even to you, and you began to see him as a threat. That's why you sabotaged him. Yet I remained silent. All so I could one day hand over everything to him peacefully."

"What about us? How will we live if you hand over everything to Alrik, huh? He already has all the money he could ever need? Why hand more to him?" Vaida said as she stepped closer.

"And who exactly do you think you are to meddle in family matters? You're not a Zerdon, by blood or by marriage. You have been engaged to Kalen for who knows how long, making never ending plans for a wedding that keeps getting postponed. I only let you and your brother freeload here because of the long friendship with your family, but you don't even have a sense of loyalty. First you dumped Alrik and chose Kalen because you assumed he would be the Zerdon heir, and now that Alrik is better off, you switched so fast. Desperation is written all over you. You think I don't know that your father is trying to use you to get his hands on my family's assets? " Griffin asked, and Vaida stuttered.

She hadn't expected him to be so hostile to her because he had always been gentle with her previously.

"Hey, don't speak to my sister that way." Vance tried to step in and Griffin chuckled.

"And what makes you think you're even in a position to defend her? You're even worse than Kalen because your father knows not to expect anything good from you. He dumped you on me to get rid of a burden in his life. How many crimes has he covered up for you? Ten, twenty? You can't even behave inside the house. How many of my watches have you stolen? How many shoes and clothes? You think I didn't notice my missing items?"

Vance looked away.

"I know a lot more than I let on. I just choose to keep my cards close, and my enemies closer. Even without all the support and money I gave you all, Alrik managed to make a name for himself. He started at a low rank at war camp, and became so respected before you tried to destroy him despite knowing that it would affect the family image."

"You're making a lot of accusations, but I don't see any proof." Jett scoffed, even though he was beginning to feel anxious.

He thought he had hidden his tracks well, and kept all his shortcomings and failures away from his father's eyes. As well as Kalen's.

Griffin laughed at Jett's request for evidence. "You think I don't know Kalen stole the sword and committed high treason by conspiring with Valderran soldiers? I found out later, after Alrik had already been disowned and disappeared so there wasn't much I could do to clear his name. Even if there was, what could I do? Clear one grandchild, and then have the other condemned to death and soil the family legacy?"

Jett went pale, and so did Kalen. They never thought their concealed crime would ever be found out.

"H..how did you…"

"Does it matter how I found out? What matters is that I know. So do you still think I have no justifiable reason for making Alrik my heir instead of you or your son? Do you still think you are worthy of it?" Griffin asked but got no response since the rest of them were too stunned to reply.

He just scoffed and left for his room.