"What father? My dad died ages ago. Who even are you supposed to be?"
He said it without a hint of hesitation, completely disowning him.
Roth was never going to recognize this man as his father anyway.
Before Danny got married, he worked hard running a stall selling rough stones. He seemed like a go-getter. When he first got married, he treated his wife pretty well. But after tHeiress kid was born, someone roped him into gambling, and that was the start of the end.
Everything flipped upside down.
He started drinking all the time, lashing out at his wife and kid, trading hard work for living off his wife's income. If she didn't give him gambling money, he'd go into a rage at home.
Roth grew up surrounded by all that mess. There was no way he would ever call this man his father.
By the time Roth was twelve, he couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed a kitchen knife and forced his parents to get a divorce. He told them straight up if they didn't split, he'd knife Danny the next time he passed out drunk.
That was enough to scare Danny for real.
Danny beat him up, then stormed out to go gamble. When he stumbled home the next day and tried to sleep, he opened his eyes and saw his son sitting there, sharpening a knife.
Danny shot upright in bed, completely freaked out and wide awake.
It happened more than once. After a few more times catching Roth sharpening that knife, Danny started thinking maybe the kid wasn't bluffing. If he didn't leave, Roth was totally capable of killing him one day.
So Danny caved.
He agreed to the divorce, but insisted on taking all the money in the house. He wanted the house too, but that property belonged to his wife's family and she wasn't backing down. All the while, Roth stood off to one side, knife in hand, telling Danny if he tried to take the house, he'd just set it and Danny on fire together.
That image alone was enough to terrify Danny down to his bones. He gave up on the house, grabbed all the cash he could, and ran.
Danny already had a woman on the side. He moved his stuff over to her place and scraped by, hustling up small business gigs for pocket money When he had extra cash he
gambled it away when he was broke, he'd sometimes go back to his ex-wife's house, demanding money.
Honestly, Roth had more than enough reasons to hate him.
"You little brat, how dare you curse me like that!" Danny bristled when he heard his son say he was already dead.
He snatched up a shoe and chased after Roth, meaning to teach him a lesson.
But Roth was sixteen now, taller and stronger than Danny. His mom had always been sick, so Roth handled most of the heavy chores at home and even picked up tough jobs outside to earn money. He was young, but solid muscle.
Danny couldn't catch him, and instead, Roth got in a couple of heavy kicks.
Roth didn't care what anyone thought about him. He wailed in fake pain just for show, all while listing every awful thing Danny had done.
"You even stole the money Mom needed for her medicine. Shame on you. Seriously, what kind of dad are you? Anyone off the street would be better than you!"
"You want to hit me? Do it. See if you can kill me.”
"If you don't, trust me...I'll take you out myself one day."
Roth's kick landed right in Danny's chest.
Off to the side, Dewitt signaled his bodyguards. Honestly, they weren't stopping the
fight; they were holding Danny down so Roth could get his hits in.
Danny was hurting all over and clutching his chest.
"You little bastard, trying to kill your own father. I should've never had you; I
should've just left you on the hospital doorstep and walked away."
"So what if I took a little money from your mom?" Danny snapped. "I just wanted to win it back. Once I won I'd pay her back And gouty rough stone-if you and your hadn't hidden it, I'd already be rich by now!"
mom
“I'm your real father, you know. If I ever got rich, don't you think I'd take care of
you?"
Roth snorted. "If you ever hit it big, the only person you'd care about is that widow you've been shacking up with. Like you'd ever actually do anything good for me or Mom."