Greg eventually graduated from high school with honors and opened a business with the money he had saved from his job shortly after. Tina was extremely proud of the man Greg was blossoming into.

However, she worried about the anger Greg had begun to harbor for his estranged father. Greg never spoke much, but every time his father or the very idea of fatherhood popped up in conversation, Tina couldn’t help but notice the indignant glare in her son’s eyes.

As the years progressed, Greg’s business grew, doing better with each passing day. He eventually became fairly wealthy. He even hired his mother at one of their main offices.

At only 26 years old, Greg was one of the most successful people under 30 in his city. One day, Greg decided it was time to pay his old man a visit. He had been tracking his movements for a while but had never quite figured out when he’d make his grand entrance.

Greg pulled up near Richard’s driveway with his hand tightly clutched to the baseball bat on his passenger seat. He had yet to learn what he would do once he met him.

But his anger burned so furiously within him that the bat would most surely come to use even though he wasn’t quite sure what his intentions were. Whatever they were, they weren’t good.

As he sat in his car, contemplating where his next few steps would lead him down his long journey, he saw something that would shake him to the core. Greg was never a violent man or child, for that matter.

But he had nursed this particular scar for so long that he had never for a second considered the possibility of it actually healing. All the pain he had fostered over the years told him Richard deserved whatever was at the end of that baseball bat.

But as he saw his father walk out to take out the trash, frail and in rags, he realized his own demise. At this moment, Greg realized just how far and low his search for revenge had taken him.

This awful man who had almost destroyed him and his mother was surely no more. And even if he was somewhere in there, was he worth all he had worked tirelessly for?

Greg noticed the “for sale” board on Richard’s yard and decided to put down the bat and pick up his phone. He called the number on the board and concluded that Richard was in debt and the house was being confiscated from him to sell and cover his loans.

Greg immediately left Richard’s property with a grateful and clear conscience for not doing what might have been the biggest mistake of his life. He then bought Richard’s house shortly after.

A few days later, Richard met with the buyer to finalize the sale. His heart sank as he walked into the property agent’s office to find Tina and her son awaiting. Richard was lost for words, not that they would have done him much service.

Moments after he entered the room, Greg announced who he was and told him to vacate the property. “If I see you again, we’ll have a problem!” Greg said.

The words lingered in Tina’s head as she watched Richard leave in shame the same way she had all those years ago. What are the chances? she thought.