This was especially true for Arthur. He was shocked and frightened by Lindsay’s accusation. He stamred, "No, no, it’s not like that. We didn’t know in advance that you were coming to our house. Dad and Mom are working, so we couldn’t prepare anything ahead of ti."
Maria also stood up and added carefully, "Lindsay, it’s your first year here. Indeed, we didn’t receive you well on your first visit, but we honestly didn’t know you would be here. Otherwise, we definitely would have prepared a proper welco for you..."
Alaric frowned. "Lindsay, don’t criticize Arthur. He didn’t do anything wrong..."
Josie was a little nervous. She hugged Dolli and hid behind Maria while Avery said, "Miss Dudley, this is your first ti here. We may have treated you a bit casually, but it’s also because we already consider you one of us not an outsider..."
"Treat as one of you?" Lindsay slamd the table, stood up, and sneered. "If you don’t even treat Brandon as one of your own, do you think I believe you treat like family? Do you really believe what you’re saying?"
"Hey, you.." Alaric jumped up, clearly unhappy and wanting to argue, but Arthur grabbed his wrist and shook his head at him.
If there was only one man in their family who couldn’t find a girlfriend, it would be Brandon. Not because he wasn’t outstanding enough, but because with his temper, most girls wouldn’t be able to stand him.
It was rare for Brandon to bring a girlfriend ho. They had to make an effort for Brandon’s sake.
Maria’s face went slightly pale. She stood in front of Josie and endured the accusation. "Lindsay, Brandon is a part of our family. We have always respected and loved him. Maybe you have a misunderstanding..."
"There’s no misunderstanding!" Lindsay interrupted, her cold gaze sweeping across them. The dissatisfaction she had long been holding back finally erupted. "While you’re living in luxury, driving expensive cars, enjoying a good life, and rubbing shoulders with celebrities have you ever thought about how Brandon is living in Aeloria?"
Maria said in a trembling voice, "We... we really didn’t know..."
"Of course you didn’t know!" Lindsay snapped. "Let tell you how he lives in Aeloria.
"For four years, he only did three things: study, work, and sleep.
"He only slept four to five hours a day. Occasionally getting eight hours of sleep was the happiest thing for him.
"Whether it was late at night during Hanukkah or early in the morning on Christmas, he was always working because those were the tis he got the highest pay.
"To earn more money, he worked in unsafe neighborhoods, where he was often harassed and bullied. Getting robbed beca a common occurrence. Every ti it happened, he would rather risk his life than give up his money. Once, soone even pointed a gun at his head.
"And once, a bullet flew past his car. If it had tilted just a little more, you would have been looking at his corpse..."
"Do you know how talented he is? He’s easily the most talented person in his school. He received scholarships every year, but still lived off discounted food daily."
The Carter family was stunned. None of them spoke for a long ti. Tears welled up in Maria’s and Josie’s eyes.
"We... we really didn’t know..." Arthur was at a loss. His voice was hoarse. "Brandon never told us. Even when we asked, he wouldn’t say anything..."
"Just because he doesn’t say anything, does that an you get to enjoy your wealth in comfort while thinking he’s doing fine in Aeloria?" Lindsay’s voice grew louder. "After he was expelled from school in Aeloria, he didn’t even have enough money to buy a plane ticket ho. But he was so proud, he refused to ask anyone even his friends for help."
"Do you know what he did in the end? He secretly robbed a few of the people who had previously robbed him, just so he could afford the cheapest flight back ho..."
"Wait, did you say Brandon was expelled?" Alaric asked, suddenly alard. "When did that happen? Why didn’t we know anything about it?"
"You didn’t even know that?" Lindsay was stunned. "Brandon’s thesis was plagiarized by his advisor. He was accused by that very advisor and almost didn’t receive his graduation certificate.
"Are you all really his family? Is he really your biological son? Or is he adopted or an illegitimate child?"
"Of course Brandon is our biological brother," Arthur said, his face pale. "We didn’t know he was suffering so much in Aeloria. It’s our fault, but "
"You still want to defend yourselves?" Lindsay shouted angrily, picking up the food box on the floor. "This food box is a high-end product from the V Group. One set costs about $4,000. Brandon wouldn’t be able to afford sothing like this even after working for a month in Aeloria."
"The watch you’re wearing what is it, worth $15,000 to $20,000? But let’s not even talk about that."
Arthur tucked his left hand behind his back, glancing at Alaric in surprise. This guy actually gave such an expensive watch? I never realized that...
Lindsay picked up the phone Arthur had left on the coffee table. "This phone is worth over $200,000 and is sold in limited quantities. You can’t buy it on the market it has to be custom-ordered from the V Group. And even then, money alone might not be enough to get one."
Everyone turned to look at Avery in unison, their eyes filled with shock.
This phone had been a gift to Arthur from Avery and it was worth over $200,000. Truly shocking.
Arthur’s hands trembled. I’ve been playing gas on a $200,000 phone? I must be committing a sin... God might punish ...
"This smart massager!" Lindsay pointed at a semicircular device. "It’s extrely advanced. If it were sold on the market, it would go for tens of thousands of dollars. Even our company can’t develop sothing like it."
"And those two owls your family has they’re world-class and priceless. You couldn’t buy them for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"Brandon runs an AI company. With all the advanced AI technology in this family, why didn’t you help him?
"If you shared the research and developnt technology with him, he wouldn’t have to struggle so much constantly recruiting talent, entertaining clients day and night, begging for partnerships."
The more they listened, the more shocked the family beca. No one was even focused on Lindsay’s accusations anymore. Their eyes were all on Avery.
They had known Harry and Hommy (the owls) were impressive, but not this impressive. Everything around them could easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. From now on, no one would dare casually ask Harry or Hommy for help again.
"And there’s more!" Lindsay, growing increasingly emotional, pointed toward the garage. "The two cars in there one’s worth about $100,000, and the other nearly $200,000. What about Brandon’s car? It’s secondhand and barely worth $20,000!"
Maria opened her mouth to explain. She hadn’t intended to buy such an expensive car originally but everyone had told her it would hurt the company’s image if she didn’t, so she bought it.
She also wanted to ntion that Alaric’s car was a gift from the club because his endorsent had been so successful. The club saw him as the face of their brand and insisted he drive a premium vehicle not just for safety, but to elevate their image and his own.
She also wanted to say the family had offered to buy Brandon a car many tis, but he had always refused and insisted on buying it himself.
But in the end, Maria said nothing.
Lindsay had more to say. "Brandon, a company founder, owns only one presentable suit worth just over $2,000. The clothes he usually wears are discounted items he buys online, about $20 apiece. Even the branded watch he wore to et clients was borrowed from a colleague."
"I really don’t understand. Knowing how hard Brandon lives how frugally how can you still say he’s a mber of your family? How can you say you respect him?"
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