<i>They both heard Mr Wace demand from the front door as their mother’s tears streamed down her face. </i>


    <i>She quickly rushed to hug Xander and he cleaned her face. </i>


    <i>"Come back inside, son. Don’t listen to your father. He’s just overreacting," she said, pulling his arm so he coulde back inside but Xander wasn’t moving one bit. </i>


    <i>"If you dare step foot inside this house, I will gun you down!!" Mr Wace threatened. </i>


    <i>From the looks of things, it seemed Mr Wace had always wanted to kick Xander out of the house, but was simply looking for an opportunity, and now he finally found one. </i>


    <i>"What’s wrong with you Thomas? Are you going to kick your very own son out of this house because of something so frivolous?" Mrs Wace questioned him. </i>


    <i>He tore his gaze away from her and continued to pay deaf ears to her pleadings. </i>


    <i>"You don’t have to worry about anything, mother. I’ll be fine," he assured her with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. </i>


    <i>Although he was given the worst father, he was given a caring mom who looked out for him. </i>


    <i>He took his mother’s hands from his face as he tried to keep his smile from faltering. </i>


    <i>"I’ll be fine," he promised, then left the mansion without turning back for ast nce. </i>


    <i>Xander walked till he reached the gates of the estate. </i>


    <i>He quickly searched for an ATM stand and redrew as much money as he could. Because knowing his father, he would freeze all his ounts. </i>


    <i>Internally, he hoped his father would call him back and apologize for how he’d treated him. It’d only been fifteen minutes since he left the mansion. That was more than enough time for Mr. Wace to regret his actions and decide to call him back so that he would apologize and talk things out. </i>


    <i>However, Xander had received nothing. </i>


    <i>Sighing, he pocketed the money inside his pocket and decided to look for a hotel. With the money he had, he would be able to book a small room and sleep for the night. </i>


    <i>While he was walking to get a cap, Xander noticed four men who seemed to have been following him for a while now. </i>


    He recalled seeing them at the ATM stand where he’d redrawn his money. He’d been focused on his thoughts about his father to realize they were monitoring him.


    <i>Tapping the fat wad of cash in his pocket, Xander immediately realized what was happening. </i>


    <i>He was far from the estate where he could probably get some security. Now that he was alone in an empty street, he feared those men would do something to him. </i>


    <i>"Hey, there kid!" </i>


    <i>He heard one of them call for his attention, but he didn’t stop to listen to the rest of his words. If anything, his step only quickened as if his life depended on it, which it did. "Hey kid, I’m talking to you!" The same man repeated, and then the other three men chuckled. </i>


    <i>Xander nced down at his smartwatch. It was expensive, and it was worth a lot more money than the fat wad of cash in his pocket. </i>


    <i>"I don’t want any trouble," he said, taking off the smartwatch. "Take this and leave me alone."</i>


    <i>Although he was replying to him, his legs were still covering distances. </i>


    <i>"Hey boy, I’m talking to you," the same man from earlier said, pulling Xander by his hood. </i>


    <i>His hair was brown and dirty all the same time which would leave one confused and unable to differentiate the color from the dirt. His teeth were as yellow as cheese, he could be a suitable candidate to make a toothpastemercial. </i>


    <i>The man grabbed the smartwatch from Xander and grinned at his men. </i>


    <i>"Now, isn’t he a sweet little thing? Giving us his stuff without us needing to ask?" The man turned to Xander. "Sadly, we see more on you than this smartwatch."</i>


    <i>Xander counted the equipment in their hands and what most of them carried was some wood they would use to beat him up. </i>


    <i>Xander had been going to a martial arts ss but he wasn’t strong enough to take down four grown men all by himself. </i>


    <i>"I have nothing more to give to you. So, please just take the smartwatch and leave me alone," he pleaded this time around. </i>


    <i>The same man scoffed as he took a step towards Xander with a challenging gaze. "And what if we don’t?"</i>