Disgraced Son Returns to Crush Them All

My younger brother, Victor Bishop, has a silver tongue. That's why our parents, Paul Bishop and Jenna Cole, treat him like a treasure. I am socially awkward and blind to social cues, so they send me to the countryside to train. They even say there's no need to treat me well. They feed me scraps and make me sleep in the barn. After I turn 18, they put me in the family company to test me. Because of me, the Bishops become the richest family in Caldera. But Victor teams up with our parents and steals the credit that should've been mine. Everyone in the business world treats him like a star. Later, a building he cuts corners on collapses and kills dozens of workers. He makes me take the fall, and I spend ten years in prison. After I get out, he's afraid I'll fight him for the family fortune. Because of this, he hires someone to kill me. When I open my eyes again, I'm back in my senior year of high school. This time, I'm living for myself! Chapter 1 A slap cracked across my face. The blow split my lip. I staggered and fell. I knocked over the vase behind me. It shattered. I landed on the shards and cut my palms. "Kneel!" my father, Paul Bishop, roared. I knelt in front of him and my mother, Jenna Cole. "Noah, you're the older brother. An older brother is supposed to give in to his younger brother!" Paul shouted. "Victor always thinks of you whenever he has something good. What's the harm in giving in to him this once?" Jenna asked. "There's only one spot to study abroad. You have to give it to Victor!" I looked at my biased parents. Their favoritism was laughable. Ever since we were children, they had always been partial toward my younger brother, Victor Bishop. He was smooth and said the right things. I was just the quiet, honest one. They bought him expensive watches when I hadn't gotten new clothes in three years. When my shoes were falling apart, I glued the soles back on and kept walking. In summer, they slathered Victor in sunscreen and drove him everywhere so he would not get sunburned. They sent me to the countryside instead, leaving me completely at the mercy of the elements every day. He ate steak in fancy restaurants, while I ate leftover scraps. He slept in hotel suites, while I slept in a filthy barn that leaked when it rained. A sneeze from Victor, and they ran him to the hospital. I got sick in the barn and shook all night. No one bought medicine, and I almost died. They left me there for ten years. They only remembered I existed on my 18th birthday. I never gave up on studying, even in the countryside. My teacher said there was one exchange student spot abroad. Whoever placed first in the mock exam would get it. I came in first, as expected. I won the spot. But my parents said I had been in the countryside, so I couldn't have had the chance to study. They said I must've cheated on the exam. So they told me to give the opportunity to Victor. In my last life, Victor took my exchange student spot, and I was sent to intern at the family company instead. I climbed from an ordinary intern all the way to CEO. I built Bishop Group into the top company in Caldera. But after Victor came back, my parents kicked me out of the company. I worked so hard, only for Victor to take the credit. In the end, I went to prison and died. After I was abducted, I called my parents in tears. I begged them to save me, but they coldly refused. "You're a disgrace to the Bishop family. You might as well die," they said. I would still shake with rage every time I remembered how cruel they were. Now that I was reborn, I would make all of them pay! Chapter 2 Jenna slapped me hard. "You've been at this school less than a week! You don't even live on campus! And you took first in the mock exam? Who's going to believe that? "Go tell your teacher you're giving the spot to Victor. Do it now! If you don't, I'll report you for cheating and get you barred from the college exams!" she threatened. To them, Victor deserved the best, and I didn't. That was why they were using the college exams to force me to give up the spot. I let out a short laugh and stood up slowly. I was still bleeding from the glass, but I barely felt it. I coldly looked at my parents and shook my head. "I earned this chance myself. I won't give it up for anyone!" I told them. Victor shot me a resentful look. His words carried an edge of insinuation. "Stop talking tough, Noah. When Mom and Dad sent you to the countryside, they didn't even enroll you in a school. Are you that gifted? You taught yourself and beat students who've been grinding for decades? "Do you know how many tutoring classes they paid for before I even placed second in the whole school? What you're doing isn't just a slap in the face to how they raised you. It's a slap in the face to my hard work too," Victor chided. I looked at that disgusting act of his and shot back mockingly, "Oh really? So your second place is clean? No padding? It's all from your hard work?" Victor immediately got flustered and raised his voice. "Of course! The mock exam is strict. How would I even cheat?" he asked. I looked at him calmly and shot back coldly, "Then why did you transfer 100 thousand dollars to the invigilator? Don't tell me it was for tutoring materials." "I…" Victor panicked. Sweat poured down his face. He dropped to his knees in front of Paul and Jenna and explained aggrievedly, "Mom, Dad, I've never been a liar. You know that about me! "That 100 thousand dollars was tutoring fees. I wanted to improve before the mock exam. How was I supposed to know that he was the invigilator? It was a complete misunderstanding!" Paul stroked his hair fondly, and his voice was soft as he said, "Of course we know you'd never cheat." Jenna's face turned cold, and she cursed at me furiously, "Noah, you cheated yourself, and now you have the nerve to falsely accuse Victor? Is this how we raised you?" "Raised me?" I laughed. "Sorry, but ten years ago, you shipped me off to the countryside and never raised me again. And now you stand here in front of me, talking about how you raised me?" "You… What did you just say?" Paul and Jenna were stunned by my words, never imagining that I, who had always obeyed everything they said, would say something so defiant to them. I looked at them coldly and said in an icy tone, "Stop dreaming. I'm not giving up this chance. If you want to report me for cheating, go ahead. I earned this spot myself anyway!" I glanced at Victor on purpose and continued, "When it comes out that someone got their scores by cheating, we'll see what you do then!" Victor's expression turned awkward as he lowered his head. He twisted the hem of his clothes as sweat covered his forehead. Someone really had cheated in the mock exam. It just wasn't me—it was Victor. Chapter 3 Paul snapped. He jabbed a finger at my face and started shouting, "We're your parents! You wouldn't even be here without us! How dare you talk to us like that!" "Is that so?" I asked. I let out a cold laugh and shook my head. "You had me, but you didn't raise me. Are we even family? "You dumped me in the countryside when I was eight, dressing it up as training. Does eating scraps and sleeping in a barn count as training? What was the point of that? "If I hadn't been too stubborn to die, would you even be standing here now, scolding me like you actually parented me?" My questions left them stunned. It seemed to hit them then, just how much they owed their older son. I continued questioning them, "You said, 'No need to treat him well.' Do you have any idea how much I suffered because of that? What right do you have to stand here as my parents and lecture me?" Paul sensed his authority being challenged, and the flicker of guilt on his face vanished in an instant. He glared at me coldly and roared, "You dare talk to me like that?" I looked up at him calmly and replied, my smile faint, "Even in front of outsiders, I still have every right to talk to you like this. "But would you dare—would you dare stand in front of everyone and admit how you abused me, ignored me, and cast me aside, all while spoiling your younger son rotten?" Jenna turned livid with rage at my words. She jabbed a furious finger at me and screamed, "Shut up, you ingrate! I never should've given birth to you!" I sneered back and retorted, "Did I beg you to give birth to me? The two of you don't even deserve to be my parents!" "How dare you!" Paul bellowed. He was beside himself with rage. He raised his hand furiously, about to bring it hard down across my face. I caught his wrist with a reverse grip and shoved it away hard. He stumbled backward, nearly falling into the broken glass. Fortunately, Victor was quick enough to catch him. "Well, well, well, look at you, actually raising your hand against your own father!" Victor said. Paul was so angry that he was panting, his bloodshot eyes drilling holes into me. It was as if, if he'd had a knife in his hand right then, he would've plunged it into me without a second thought. I laughed coldly. "Whether you're really my father or not, that's still up for debate, isn't it? Otherwise, how could you treat your own son like this?" Sensing the tension about to boil over, my two-faced brother stepped in again to stir things up. He grabbed Paul's and Jenna's hands aggrievedly and said, choking up, "Forget it, Mom, Dad. Please don't fight because of me. Since Noah insists on going on the overseas exchange program, then I'll just give it up to him." The more he spoke, the more wronged he sounded. It was as if I had genuinely snatched something away from him. As expected, Paul's and Jenna's hearts ached for him. Seeing him act so pitiful, they immediately turned on me, cursing viciously. "Noah, some older brother you are! You bully your own brother like this, and he still speaks up for you! "You're nothing but a thankless piece of shit who has no respect for your parents. We never should've had you!" I stayed unmoved by their curses. Because I knew that they only ever believed what Victor said. They'd never believe a single word from me. Paul's face darkened. He stared at me coldly and demanded, "Noah, I'm asking you—are you giving up the spot to Victor or not?" I shook my head coldly and resolutely replied, "No!" Chapter 4 "Fine!" Paul snapped, his eyes turning vicious as he glared at me. In a fit of fury, he roared, "If you won't give it up, then get out of the Bishop family. We're disowning you!" Even though I'd braced myself for this, now that the moment had actually come, my heart still throbbed with pain. So it was true—my own parents had never once regarded me as their real son. In their eyes, I was nothing more than an unwanted extra. Even now, casting me out, they still had to protect Victor to the bitter end. I took a deep breath and let out a bitter smile. "Fine. From now on, I'm no longer a part of the Bishop family. Whatever happens to me has nothing to do with you anymore." With that cold declaration, I turned and strode away. "Noah, stop right there!" Jenna shouted. She bit her lip, her eyes reddening as she tried to chase after me, but Paul grabbed her wrist. His face twisted with malice as he bellowed, "Let him go! Keeping an ingrate like that around is nothing but trouble! I'd like to see what trash he becomes without our support!" Paul thought threatening to disown me would scare me. Little did he know, his little display was nothing but pathetic to me. For ten years, he'd never once acknowledged me as his son in front of others. Even when I was home, I still slept in the storage room. I never had a bedroom of my own. Whatever meals the family made were always whatever Victor liked to eat. My new clothes and shoes were always just hand-me-downs he'd already worn and didn't want anymore. Back when they had me come work at the company, it was only as an ordinary intern. I was never given any special treatment. The employees there even assumed I came from a poor family and went out of their way to look out for me. Little did they know, I was actually the chairman's biological son. Paul and Jenna had never once fulfilled their duties and responsibilities as parents. They made sure I suffered at every turn. And now they actually believed that disowning me would make me hand over my one chance to change my fate to Victor. How laughable, and how shameless of them. I went back to my room, intending to pack up my things and leave. But when I picked up my suitcase, I realized that I didn't actually have anything worth taking. Just then, a sudden cry of alarm rang out from beyond the door. I pushed the door open and found Victor collapsed on the floor. His face was deathly pale, and his lips had gone purple. In my past life, it was on this very day that he was diagnosed with kidney disease. Paul and Jenna had me packed off to the hospital that same night. They wanted me to undergo surgery to donate a kidney to him. The surgery had been a success, but I ended up lying in the hospital bed, unconscious for three days, due to a bacterial infection. The whole time, Paul and Jenna stayed glued to Victor's bedside. They didn't so much as glance at me once. They even said that donating a kidney to Victor was an honor I should be grateful for. I had given so much for him and this family. But in the end, what I got in return was an early death. I was gone from this world while still young. All of it caused by their favoritism, and Victor's schemes. Now that I had a second chance at life, I'd never again let anyone else dictate the course of it. I grabbed the exchange student approval form and slung my backpack over my shoulder. Without a single backward glance, I walked out of that cold, loveless house. With the two thousand dollars I had left to my name, I rented a tiny single room. Inside there was just a bed and a desk. And yet, even so, it still felt far warmer to me than that cold, indifferent house ever had. I studied hard and worked part-time jobs to support myself. Half a month later, my application was finally approved. I stood at the airport entrance, my heart pounding with excitement. As long as I had the chance to study abroad, I was certain that I could change my fate through my own effort. But just then, uninvited guests showed up.