Chapter 443

Melody Summers took two deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She was really regretting it now. She never should have been so soft-hearted. The moment her third uncle’s family arrived at The Metropolis Residences, she should have just thrown them all out.

’Grandma was right,’ she thought. ’Gamblers don’t deserve any sympathy. They can’t change, and they won’t. They’ll only drag everyone around them down to hell.’

’Getting mixed up with a gambler only leads to misery.’

Looking at Jade Rowan, whose eyes were red and swollen from crying, Melody Summers had no idea what she was planning to do, or if she’d come to her senses at all.

She looked at Jade Rowan and asked in a low voice, "...Aunt Jade, what’s your plan now?"

It was clear Jade Rowan was devastated. She was crying her heart out, her face a mess of tears and snot.

Hearing Melody’s question, Jade Rowan wiped her face with her sleeve and answered in a choked voice, "...I want to get Cameron out first... Melody, Grace, can you lend me two hundred pounds of rice, ten cases of ham, and five hundred pounds of coal? Once the disaster is over, I promise I’ll pay you back every last bit!"

Hearing Jade Rowan’s answer, Melody felt her vision go dark. She almost fainted from rage.

Grace Sutton, who was standing nearby, couldn’t stop herself from saying, "Jade, Cameron has already gambled away all of your supplies! He didn’t give a damn whether you and your son lived or died while he was gambling, and you still want to help him pay off his debts?!"

’Shouldn’t she be cutting ties with him at a time like this?’

Jade Rowan wrung her hands helplessly and stammered, "...What else am I supposed to do? He’s my husband, after all... Besides, he’s only gambling. It’s not like he’s cheating on me. I can’t just abandon him..."

The words struck Melody like a physical blow. Her vision darkened again, and she had to take several deep breaths to keep from cursing out loud.

’Aunt Jade is a lost cause.’

’She knew to leave when a husband cheated, but she doesn’t know to run when he gambles! Instead, she’s dutifully helping him pay off his debts, hoping he’ll change, hoping they can have a good life once everything is paid off.’

’Little does she know, the dangers of gambling are no less than cheating. Losing everything you own is the least of your worries! Even things like killing your wife for insurance money or selling organs are par for the course with addicts like him!’

Melody almost wished her uncle had cheated on his wife while he was at it. Maybe then Aunt Jade wouldn’t be so hopelessly deluded.

Jade Rowan, oblivious to Melody’s inner turmoil, kept looking at her with expectant eyes, hoping she would lend her the rice, ham, and coal to rescue her husband, Cameron.

But Melody couldn’t be bothered with Jade Rowan anymore. She’d already helped her uncle’s family several times. She had paid their rent and given them so many supplies. She had done more than enough.

It was her uncle’s family who had let her down.

Now she didn’t want to meddle anymore. She knew she couldn’t make Jade Rowan see reason. All she could do was step back and let them face their own destiny.

But...

Melody’s gaze suddenly shifted to Clark Summers, who was standing to the side.

Ever since they had come in, Clark had been standing there silently with his head down, doing his best to make himself invisible.

He knew he had been wrong to gamble with his father, so now he didn’t dare say a single word, terrified that someone in the room would notice him.

Melody looked at Clark and said in a low voice, "...Clark, why did you go gambling with your father?"

Hearing Melody suddenly say his name, Clark flinched.

He timidly raised his head to look at Melody, his large eyes welling up with tears. He looked completely at a loss.

Grace added, "Yes, Clark. You knew your father was gambling. It’s one thing not to stop him, but how could you join him? You’re a student. You’re an educated person. Didn’t they teach you about the dangers of gambling in school?"

At her words, the tears in Clark’s eyes began to fall uncontrollably. His eyes filled with deep remorse, and with a THUD, he dropped to his knees before Melody and Grace.

The teenager’s face was a mask of regret. He cried, "Cousin Melody, Aunt Grace, I was wrong! I shouldn’t have gambled with my dad! I swear, I’ll never gamble again!"

Clark truly knew he was wrong now, and he was filled with regret. If he had another chance, he would never have followed his father to room 1105 to gamble. He would have tried to stop his father!

Thinking back to yesterday, Clark felt as if he’d been possessed.

He didn’t know how he’d gotten so swept up in the moment. He and his father had spent the entire day in 1105, caught in a gambling frenzy. They didn’t just lose their last case of coal; they ended up owing a mountain of supplies, until there was no hope of ever getting back on their feet...

The thought made Clark’s heart ache. If they hadn’t gambled, they would still have plenty of supplies—enough to survive the winter. They certainly wouldn’t be in this position, with nothing to their names and buried in debt.

Looking at the remorse in Clark’s eyes, Melody said gravely, "Clark, if I’m not mistaken, you’re sixteen now. You should be held responsible for your actions..."

At Melody’s words, Clark began to sob even louder.

He scrambled to Melody’s feet and pressed his forehead to the floor, sobbing, "Cousin, I was wrong! I really know I was wrong! I swear, I’ll never gamble again! I’ll never touch that poisonous stuff again as long as I live!"

Watching the scene unfold, Grace felt a sense of dazed familiarity.

She looked at Clark, kneeling and sobbing before them, and his image began to blur, overlapping with that of Cameron...

Cameron had been just like this once, kneeling on the floor, crying his eyes out, repenting endlessly, and making all sorts of promises to the family...

Any shred of sympathy that had begun to form in Grace’s heart vanished in an instant.

Looking at Clark’s display of remorse, Melody said in a low voice, "Clark, Aunt Jade, we can’t help you pay off the debt my uncle owes. We don’t have that many supplies."

’Melody was lying. She knew you could never, ever help a gambler pay off their debts—it’s a bottomless pit!’

’If she helped Cameron pay off two hundred pounds of rice, five cases of ham, and five hundred pounds of coal today, tomorrow her uncle could owe two thousand pounds of rice, fifty cases of ham, and five thousand pounds of coal!’

’Once an addict starts betting, it’s no laughing matter!’

Hearing Melody’s words, a look of utter despair washed over Jade Rowan’s face.

But a second later, Melody continued, "However, I can offer you two choices."

"First choice: Aunt Jade, you take Clark and cut all ties with my uncle. From now on, have nothing more to do with him. We’ll give you some bedding, and the two of you can go to the temporary shelter on the 23rd floor."

"They have food and a charcoal fire there, enough to get you through the winter. After the blizzard ends, I can help you find work so you can support yourselves."

"Second choice: I give you one hundred pounds of rice and one hundred pounds of coal right now. But after this, we cut all ties. Whatever happens to you from now on will have nothing to do with us. We’ll be strangers."

"It’s up to you to decide."