Marvin was the future heir of The Connolly Group. Yet here he was, unable to handle a spat between kids,ing home in tears. Neville thought, maybe he really wasn''t cut out to take over the family legacy.


    It was one of the reasons Neville never intervened, not even when he saw Marvin get hurt because of Keen. He figured the boy would have to toughen up on his


    own.


    Neville''s way of raising Marvin had its ups and downs. On one hand, he was grooming the next head of the Connolly family-nothing wrong with that. But emotionally, Neville was distant, almost cold.


    So when he saw Ste worrying that Marvin might be bullied, Neville couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "Star, trust me, Marvin''s usually the one doing the bullying. No one''s going to push him around. That kid''s tougher than he looks."


    The truth was, Marvin had a streak of coldness running deep in his bones. He only cared about people or things that mattered to him. For everything else, he was shockingly indifferent-hardly like a child at all.


    Remembering the environment Marvin grew up in, Neville could only sigh quietly to himself.


    Ste, for her part, thought Neville was just trying tofort her.


    She didn''t press the issue. "If anything happens with Marvin, let me know right away, okay?"


    Every month, Neville wired money into Ste''s ount-right on schedule. She''d told him, more than once, that it wasn''t necessary; she genuinely liked Marvin and didn''t need to be paid to look after him. But Neville insisted-business was business.


    The billion she''d blown through was long gone, but with a few more months of caring for Marvin, Ste joked she''d be set for life.


    ***


    That morning, Marvin had barely set foot inside the preschool when he noticed a group of kids standing off to the side, whispering and pointing at him.


    Some parents spotted Marvin and, as if he were contagious, hustled their children away from him.


    Even the kids who used to be friendly with Marvin now kept their distance, scattering as soon as he came near.


    He nced at them, face unreadable, and walked straight into his ssroom.


    Across the room, the teachers exchanged looks tinged with regret. None of them approached him, either.


    This had been going on for days now. Whether it was the teachers or the other kids, everyone avoided Marvin, leaving himpletely alone.


    At that moment, Marvin was like an ind-isted from the rest of the world.


    Keen walked into the ssroom and immediately saw Marvin sitting by himself, staring at a book of English vocabry words.


    For reasons nobody exined, Marvin had suddenly be a pariah.


    Keen didn''t know why, but seeing Marvin unhappy filled him with a strange sense of satisfaction.


    He strutted over, barely able to hide his smug grin.


    “What''s wrong, troublemaker? Did everyone finally figure out what you''re really like? Is that why nobody wants to talk to you now?"


    Keen knew exactly how it felt to be left out. That time in his life had been nothing short of a nightmare-all because he had an embarrassing mom.


    Back then, he hadn''t known how to talk to his mother about what was happening. So he''d turned to his grandmother instead.


    She''d told him that when he switched to a new preschool, he should never admit Ste was his mother. If nobody knew, then no one would tease or ostracize him again.


    Keen had listened, and it had worked. The teasing, the istion-it all stopped.


    Now, with everyone ignoring Marvin, Keen was the only one who dared approach him.


    Marvin looked up at him for a moment, then turned back to his book, saying nothing.


    When it became clear Marvin wouldn''t take the bait, Keen slunk back to his seat, disappointed.


    After lunch, Marvin walked alone down the hallway toward his ssroom.


    Suddenly, a little girl about his age pulled him aside into a corner.


    "Marvin, do you know why everyone''s suddenly ignoring you?"