TEACH ME NOT 2 HATE LOVE

13

🧑Nik Anthony POV🧑

"What do you want, Nikolas? And how the heck did you find my address?" From my tone, you could tell how much I resent the guy. After all, he's a traitor who broke the brother's code. He's worse than scum. And just the sight of him turned my stomach.

"Look, I know we are not on good terms, but I really need your help, brother." He pleaded. And he seemed so genuine, too. But don't be fooled. This man is the opposite of that word—the incarnation of the serpent from the Garden of Eden, who deceived man into committing the gravest sin of all time.

"How much money do you want?" I asked. I know money is his only reason for being here. Therefore, the quicker I give it to him, the quicker he'll get the hell out of my house.

"Two million dollars," he answered.

Humph, as if I'm out of my mind to give him that much money. However, I'm curious to know his purpose for it.

Gambling, clubbing, and girls, I presume. After all, a hyped life is very taxing, especially when you don't have the source of income to support it anymore.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's the money for?"

"It's Jr. He's in the hospital," he replied, breaking down in tears.

Honestly, that caught me off guard. It shocked me to my very core. I mean, wouldn't you be if your brother was using his child to scam you out of money? Just when you think someone can't sink any lower. That's the lowest level of low.

You see, this bastard is well aware that I love that kid with all my heart, even though he's not mine. He knows that I would move mountains just to make that kid happy, and he is trying to take advantage of that.

Just what kind of heart does one possess to do something this despicable? And why am I even shocked that he is doing something like this?

Money does bring out the worst in people like Nikolas. No. Money or not, some people are just too damn cruel. And the worst part is that Nikolas has no valid reason to even be this way. After all, he once had it all. But in the blink of an eye, it was all gone.

You see, on our eighteenth birthday, my two brothers and I received an enormous sum of money as a gift from our mother. Then, at a later date, she passed down the nine companies she inherited from her parents to us.

Well, to be more specific, eight of the nine companies were shared equally among my two brothers, who were nineteen and twenty-five at the time. As for the last one, it was gifted. No, it was forced upon me at the age of twenty-three—because unlike my two greedy brothers, who are lovers of vanity, I wasn't the least bit interested in my mother's riches.

I've always strived to achieve my goal with my own two hands, and I did just that. My strong-willed and persistent mother, however, just wouldn't take no for an answer. She insisted that I have that company, despite my countless objections. And honestly, I'm grateful that she did so. This company is, after all, one of my biggest establishments today. I will forever be indebted to her, even though she gets on my nerves most times.

OK. Moving on.

So even after giving those scums the majority of her companies, they were still jealous and upset because of the one I'd received. And according to the envious worms, Mother gave me the best of the nine companies.

Why? Well, because she loves me more than them. However, that was far from the truth. The truth is, she loved us all equally but was more concerned about their indecisive futures. So concerned, she gave them even more of her assets—houses, cars, and private jets, just to name a few.

For years, Mother has been spoiling these two rotten in an attempt to de-escalate the animosity between us brothers. Too bad she didn't calculate that someday a wh*ore would burn all bridges between us. But you already know how that story goes. Therefore, I won't elaborate on the matter.

Anyway, these two jackasses let all their riches get to their heads and squandered all their money on foolish things. They eventually run their companies into bankruptcy and gamble off all their belongings until they have nothing left but the clothes on their backs.

In a year and a half, a few billion dollars worth of assets and numerous amounts of cash all went down the drain.

Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but it's true.

But that was nothing to those shameless scums. After all, they can run to Mummy Dearest for help any time they screw things up, and that they did.

That foolish mother of mine, of course, sold all that was left of her assets to pay off all their debts. She then, little by little, gave these bloodsucking leeches all the money in her account, thus leaving her broke as a church mouse.

Obviously, all that money vanished without a trace, too. As they say, Easy come, easy go.

So now, the two are highly dependent on our father's money for survival. Well, the little he gave them to keep up appearances. After all, he didn't want those two broke asses to disgrace his name or tarnish his prestigious reputation.

If it weren't for that, these two trashes would have suffered and probably died a long time ago. After all, Father isn't as kind, honest, or foolish as Mother to give away any of his riches.

Like his two worthless sons, he's a greedy, selfish bastard. Father greed.

There was even a time when the man tried to steal all of Mother's companies. Luckily, Mother is a clever businesswoman, more than he is a sly businessman.

Not to mention, he cheated on her and started several other families. That is one of the many reasons why Mother divorced him and took half of what he owned at the time. And up to today, he's not pleased about it. In his own words, she humiliated and robbed him.