Chapter 331:

Jake’s POV

Steve and I remained alone in the kitchen at the breakfast table after Julie’s stormy and loud exit. Steve looked at me with highly serious, grim features, and shook his head with regret and helplessness, saying in a brotherly, reproaching tone of blame: "Jake... by heaven’s sake, do not address her in this rude and hurtful manner."

I adjusted my seating over my chair with a grumble and tightness, and raised my eyebrow in disapproval and wonder, saying sharply: "Do you not see her yourself, how she acts crazily and attacks me without a reason, Steve?! She searches for problems with me in a provoking manner!"

Steve took a long breath loaded with worries, and rested his massive palms on the edge of the wooden table, saying quietly in an attempt to calm me: "I know all this and I feel it... it’s just that her nerves are ruined, and you, in your capacity as my friend, must tolerate her just for my sake."

I twisted my lips with a scathing, mocking mockery, shaking my head in an absolute rejection of his offer, saying: "My apologies, my precious friend... tolerating her and bearing this madness of hers is your work and your job in your capacity as her brother, not my work in any case whatsoever."

Suddenly, and without introductions, our futile conversation was cut off by the ringing of my phone with force and a loud vibration. I pulled it swiftly from my pants pocket and directed my sight toward the screen with apprehension, and saw the name of my lawyer. My chest constricted with anticipation, caution, and a sudden hope. I answered instantly with excessive eagerness and placed the phone to my ear: "Hello?"

The lawyer’s voice reached through the line, saying in a cheerful, confident tone that carried good tidings: "Mr. Jake Simon... I carry for you today wonderful and fateful news for your life!"

The features of my face tightened with absolute seriousness and I turned with my entire body toward the wall, saying with breaths imprisoned in my chest from the intensity of tension: "Please, give me what you have... I am in dire need of hearing it now."

The lawyer added with confidence and a decisive tone: "I have already submitted a formal request backed by evidence to unfreeze all your funds and bank assets that you previously obtained from the sale deal of your old scientific invention before your entry into prison."

I urged him with a sweeping tension that consumed my nerves while gripping with iron strength onto the body of the phone: "Yes... and what happened regarding it?"

The lawyer said in a cutting tone that restored life to me: "The request has already been accepted by the judge this morning, and it will be within your capability and power to use and withdraw all your massive wealth very soon, as soon as the routine signatures are finalized."

In that shocking and blessed second, I jolted, standing up from the chair with a sweeping power and violence so the wooden seat rebounded behind me violently and fell to the ground.

My eyes widened with overwhelming astonishment and a shock I didn’t comprehend at the first glimpse, and I shouted in a loud voice that shook the aspects of the kitchen entirely: "Are... are you serious, by heaven’s sake?! Is this real?!"

The lawyer answered me with absolute confirmation and a smile evident from his tone: "Yes, I am highly serious, Mr. Simon; the formal papers with the approval are on my desk now."

A broad, spontaneous, and overwhelming smile sketched upon my convulsed face, one that had been absent from me for years. I pressed with my free hand onto the table with sweeping triumph, saying: "Thank you... thank you very much, you have saved me!"

The lawyer said quietly: "No thanks for a duty; I will inform you and call you at the earliest possible time when all the banking procedures are completely finished for you to receive your assets."

I captured a deep breath filled with blind joy: "I await this call of yours with broad impatience and on the hottest of embers... good day to you."

I closed the line with a swift, disturbed movement under the impact of joy, and turned swiftly toward Steve, my eyes gleaming with a crazy brilliance glowing like lightning. I shouted with sweeping emotion while waving the phone in the air like a maniac: "Steve... we will become rich, by the curse’s sake, Steve! The freeze has been undone!"

Steve rose from his seat with captivated, shocked features and knitted his eyebrows in a lack of comprehension and astonishment, saying in a lost tone: "What... what do you mean by this talk of yours?!"

I stepped toward him with blind momentum, the veins of my neck prominent and massive from the intensity of joy and delight: "Very soon, all the funds of my scientific invention will become unfrozen and between my hands! This means, in short and useful terms, that I will truly become a millionaire again within days!"

The lines of Steve’s face relaxed under the impact of the shocking shock and genuine happiness for my sake. He advanced toward me with wide steps and hugged me with force and violence, patting my back heavily and harshly, saying: "Congratulations to you, my friend! Congratulations to you from the depths of my heart, you deserve this after all the torment!"

I tightened the embrace with two powerful arms and squeezed his body toward my chest with a rushing emotion: "Ah, Steve... I swear to you, we will bid farewell to this life of poverty and lowliness forever! I will compensate you for everything!"

Steve distanced himself from me while smiling widely and wiping his face with his towel in relief, his eyes gleaming as he said: "This is truly wonderful and crazy news! It’s as if I felt it with my heart, and for that reason I planned to go out today to stay up and celebrate indeed."

Instantly, and without introductions, I remembered the sole and fatal obstacle to our pleasure, so the ember of my joy extinguished a little. I twisted my mouth in extreme annoyance and disgust, saying with fury: "Damn it, you spoiled my joy and your cursed planning when I remembered that your annoying she-devil sister will come and stick with us in this stay-up!"

Steve’s face convulsed again with strict blame, and he darted a sharp, narrow look at me, saying with warning: "Jake... how many times have I said and warned you not to speak about my only sister in this manner?!"

I raised both my palms in the air in surrender and shook my head, retreating from my words: "Fine, fine... my apologies, but listen to me, do not inform her with anything regarding my wealth now; I want the matter as a secret."

Steve nodded with agreement and understanding, saying: "Fine, Jake, you have this." Then he turned toward the door and added while removing the fabric cooking apron from his body: "I will go right now to the nearby market to bring some groceries and meats; there are many deficiencies in the house refrigerator."

My looks lowered heavily and with care, and I scratched the back of my head with slight embarrassment and tightness, saying in a faint, serious tone: "I am truly sorry, Steve... because at this precise moment, I do not possess a single penny in my pocket, and you are the one who takes charge of buying everything for the house from the sweat of your brow."