The Atkinson family was plunged into wails and groans at this moment.
All the grief started from the moment they witnessed Nathan’s body was brought back home. Now it seemed the entire family was enveloped in a thick, suffocating fog.
“Son! My son! You can’t leave us like this! You can’t treat us so cruelly!” Nathan’s parents cried. In the room echoed their roars of anguish, like thunder rumbling through a stormy sky. Tears poured down their faces like a rainstorm.
Not only Nathan’s parents, but even his aunts and uncles were in tears. Everyone stood in a circle around his body, and nobody could accept this tragedy of him dying so young.
But among the grieving crowd, there was one person who did not shed a single tear, Fletcher Atkinson. Fletcher was glaring at the weeping crowd, and his face clouded over with anger. In his eyes, Nathan was the very source for their family’s misfortune. He didn’t see any reason to mourn for that loser’s death.
Finally Fletcher failed to suppress his roars, “Enough! Save your stupid tears! Look at the chaos our family is in now! What a mess!”
All eyes turned to Fletcher, who let out a snort and continued in a stern tone, “Nathan’s death is not worth all this crying.”
His heartless remarks sent shock waves through the whole family. They exchanged glances, each seeing astonishment in the eyes of the other. Eliot asked in a shaking voice, “Fletcher, are you hearing yourself? Nathan is your nephew! He died, and you’re not even offering any word of comfort!”
In most cases, contradicting Fletcher would be the last thing Eliot would dare do, given Fletcher’s position.
But now Nathan’s death shattered Eliot’s faith. And Fletcher had gone too far by saying Nathan’s death was not worth all this crying! It sounded like pure sarcasms which were unacceptable for a father.
“Fletcher, Nathan is family to us. He died, and we have the right to cry for him. Tears may be a stupid thing to you, and we understand you’ve seen so much death that you may be immune to it, but we are not. Nathan is Eliot’s only child. It’s a devastating blow for Eliot,” Wayne said in a hoarse voice.
“Eliot, tell me who killed Nathan? We must avenge him!” Wayne’s sadness now receded like the retreating tide, only to be replaced by a blazing inferno of anger.
Eliot’s forehead knotted in a frown as he heard this. He said through gritted teeth, “It has to be that guy, the one who pushed Nathan down the stairs! He has no respect for our family!”
“No!” Fletcher took his seat on the chair and straightened up. He calmly scanned everyone present with his gaze. Word by word, he said seriously, “I killed Nathan!”
The room was thrown into an uproar, with everyone widening their eyes in disbelief. “N-No… How is this possible?!” Wayne stammered.
“Yeah, how could this even be possible!” No one present was willing to believe that Fletcher killed his own nephew. After all, even fierce animals like tigers wouldn’t even harm their cubs. No matter how ruthless Fletcher may act like, at least he should not harm his own nephew. And with their family’s current prominent status, there was no reason for him to do it. Who would believe such a thing?
“I did kill Nathan. I had to, or else our family would have been destroyed,” Fletcher continued.
Eliot shook his head vigorously, clearly unable to accept the truth. “That’s absurd! In the Southwest, who would dare challenge us? We are the leading clan here, and in terms of both power and wealth, we far surpass others. Who would have the audacity and strength to destroy us?”
“Eliot Atkinson!” Fletcher burst out in a roar of anger. “Your ignorance and brazen arrogance will bite you in the ass! You still have no idea why you lost your son, huh? His death is entirely your fault. I clearly warned you not to provoke that guy, remember it? But you never put my words in heart and instead went enticing your son to go after him. Now look what’s happened! The price you paid is your son’s life!”
“And you nearly dragged Enoch Bernard down! If anything had happened to him, you’d be no way to get away with it.” Despite being the head of Atkinson family, Fletcher was still younger than Eliot according to family hierarchy. Usually he would show respect for Eliot.
Now everyone felt uneasy about Fletcher’s disrespect toward Eliot. They felt as though some subtle, unsettling change had come over Fletcher.
Eliot’s eyes were hollow and glazed. He stared at Fletcher with a look of bewildered despair. “Why? Why did you do this? He is your nephew, your family. Blood is thicker than water. I would rather have him die at someone else’s hand than to see him die at yours. You would never imagine how desperate he was! He took you as his role model from childhood, and yet he ended up dying at your hands.”
Eliot was overwhelmed by waves of moods–the grief of losing his son, and the despair to find out the murder was none other than his brother. Only those who had lived through same experience could truly understand him at this moment.
Fletcher took a deep breath and chose to place all the blame on Eliot’s failure to properly raise his son.
“You need to reflect on yourself. You know well what kind of person you son is.” His words sounded cold and merciless, devoid of any trace of sympathy for Nathan’s death.
Eliot revealed his tear-streaked face as he gave a nod, “I know, I know what kind of child Nathan was. His excellence was evident to all; he was the most talented in the family, the one most qualified to inherit the position of family head. The crime you did is out of nothing but your fear that he would take away this position from you son.” These words stirred up a storm of churning emotions within Fletcher. He hadn’t expected Eliot to view it this way.
“You have the nerve!” A roar escaped from Fletcher’s lips. His fury whipped up a gale in the courtyard, causing the surrounding trees to rustle violently.
Wayne hurried forward to intervene, “Fletcher, Eliot didn’t mean that. Forgive him. He got too carried away by the grief.”
However, Eliot started fixedly at Fletcher without flinching. “I mean exactly what I said!”
Wayne tried to explain, but was cut off by Eliot’s forceful interruption, “I understand, I understand it all!” While Fletcher fixed his unwavering gaze on Eliot and declared each word through gritted teeth, “His death is not worth shedding tears over!”
Eliot nodded mechanically. The devastating blow seemed to age him a decade in an instant. He cradled Nathan’s lifeless body in arms, agony written all over his face. “Fine, one day I will avenge my son. When that day comes, both you and that bastard are gonna pay your blood as the price!”
With that, he turned on his heel and left the room alone. “Eliot…” Wayne called out, but then his shouts were interrupted by Fletcher’s stern order. “No one is allowed to follow him. Whoever steps out of this door today will be kicked out of the family, forever.”
Wayne couldn’t help turning his head, yelling, “Fletcher, don’t you think this is a bit much this time?”
Fletcher let out a snort. “If it were my own son who provoked that guy, I’d make the same choice and end his life in person.”