When my ex-wife demanded the money I saved for our late son be given to her stepson, I thought grief had dulled my hearing. But as I sat across from her and her smug husband, their audacity crystal clear, I realized this wasn’t just about money — it was about defending my son’s legacy.
I sat on Peter’s bed, and the room was too quiet now. His things were everywhere. Books, medals, a half-finished sketch he’d left on the desk. Peter loved to draw when he wasn’t busy reading or figuring out some complicated problem that made my head spin.
A boy drawing | Source: Pexels
“You were too smart for me, kid,” I muttered, picking up a photo frame from his nightstand. He had that crooked grin, the one he’d flash whenever he thought he was outsmarting me. He usually was.
This picture was taken just before my smart boy got into Yale. I still couldn’t believe it sometimes. But he never got to go. The drunk driver made sure of that.
A man mourning his loved one | Source: Pexels
I rubbed my temples and sighed. The grief hit me in waves, like it had since November. Some days, I could almost function. Other days, like today, it swallowed me whole.
The knock on the door brought me back. Susan. She’d left a voicemail earlier. “We need to talk about Peter’s fund,” she’d said. Her voice was sweet but always too practiced, too fake. I didn’t call back. But, now, here she was.
A woman on her phone | Source: Pexels
I opened the door. She was dressed sharp as always, but her eyes were cold.
“Can I come in?” Susan asked, stepping past me before I could answer.
I sighed and motioned toward the living room. “Make it quick.”
She sat down, making herself at home. “Look,” she said, her tone was casual like this was no big deal. “We know Peter had a college fund.”
A woman on her couch | Source: Pexels
I immediately knew where this was going. “You’re kidding, right?”
Susan leaned forward, smirking. “Think about it. The money’s just sitting there. Why not put it to good use? Ryan could really benefit.”
“That money was for Peter,” I snapped. My voice rose before I could stop it. “It’s not for your stepson.”
Susan gave an exaggerated sigh, shaking her head. “Don’t be like this. Ryan is family too.”
An angry man | Source: Midjourney
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Family? Peter barely knew him. You barely knew Peter.”
Her face reddened, but she didn’t deny it. “Let’s meet for coffee tomorrow and discuss it. You, Jerry, and me.”
That evening, the memory of that conversation lingered as I sat back down on Peter’s bed. I looked around his room again, my heart aching. How did we get here?
A man sitting in his late son’s bedroom | Source: Midjourney
Peter had always been mine to raise. Susan left when he was 12. She didn’t want the “responsibility,” as she’d called it. “It’s better for Peter this way,” she’d said like she was doing us both a favor.
For years, it was just me and Peter. He was my world, and I was his. I’d wake up early to make his lunch, help him with homework after school, and sit in the stands cheering at his games. Susan didn’t bother. She’d send a card for his birthday, sometimes. No gifts, just a card with her name scrawled at the bottom.
A birthday card | Source: Pexels
That’s what made the one summer with Susan and Jerry so hard. Peter wanted to bond with them, even if I didn’t trust it. But when he came back, he was different. Quieter. One night, I finally got him to talk.
“They don’t care about me, Dad,” he’d said softly. “Jerry said I’m not his responsibility, so I ate cereal for dinner every night.”
I clenched my fists but didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to make it worse. But I never sent him back.
A sad boy | Source: Pexels
Peter didn’t mind, or at least he never showed it. He loved school, and he loved dreaming about the future. “One day, Dad,” he’d say, “we’re going to Belgium. We’ll see the museums, the castles. And don’t forget the beer monks!”
“Beer monks?” I’d laugh. “You’re a little young for that, aren’t you?”
“It’s research,” he’d reply with a grin. “Yale’s going to love me.”
A happy teenage boy | Source: Pexels
And they did. I remember the day the acceptance letter came. He opened it at the kitchen table, his hands shaking, and then he yelled so loud I thought the neighbors might call the cops. I’d never been prouder. Now, it was all gone.
That night, I barely slept, preparing for the conversation with Susan.
The next morning, I walked into the coffee shop, spotting them immediately. Susan was scrolling through her phone, looking bored. Jerry sat across from her, stirring his coffee so loudly it grated on my nerves. They didn’t even notice me at first.
A couple drinking coffee | Source: Freepik
I stood by their table. “Let’s get this over with.”
Susan looked up, her practiced smile snapping into place. “Oh, good. You’re here. Sit, sit.” She gestured like she was doing me a favor.
I slid into the chair across from them, saying nothing. I wanted them to speak first.
Jerry leaned back, his smug grin plastered across his face. “We appreciate you meeting us. We know this isn’t easy.”
A man in a cafe | Source: Pexels
I raised an eyebrow. “No, it’s not.”
Susan jumped in, her tone syrupy sweet. “We just think… it’s the right thing to do, you know? Peter’s fund — it’s not being used. And Ryan, well, he’s got so much potential.”
Jerry nodded, folding his arms. “College is expensive, man. You of all people should understand that. Why let that money sit there when it could actually help someone?”
A man talking to a serious woman | Source: Midjourney
“Someone?” I repeated, my voice low. “You mean your stepson?”
Susan sighed like I was being difficult. “Ryan is part of the family. Peter would have wanted to help.”
“Don’t you dare speak for Peter,” I snapped. “He barely knew Ryan. And let’s not pretend you cared about Peter either.”
Susan stiffened, her smile faltering. “That’s not fair.”
A serious woman talking to a man in a cafe | Source: Midjourney
“No?” I leaned forward, keeping my voice steady. “Let’s talk about fair. Fair is raising a kid, showing up for them, being there when it counts. I did that for Peter. You didn’t. You sent him to me because you were too busy with your ‘new family.’ And now you think you’re entitled to his legacy?”
Jerry’s smugness cracked for a second. He recovered quickly. “Look, it’s not about entitlement. It’s about doing the right thing.”
A smiling man in a cafe | Source: Freepik
“The right thing?” I laughed bitterly. “Like the summer Peter stayed with you? Remember that? Fourteen years old, and you wouldn’t even buy him dinner. You let him eat cereal while you and Susan had steak.”
Jerry’s face reddened, but he said nothing.
“That’s not true,” Susan said quickly, her voice shaky. “You’re twisting things.”
An annoyed woman in a cafe | Source: Midjourney
“No, I’m not,” I said sharply. “Peter told me himself. He tried to connect with you two. He wanted to believe you cared. But you didn’t.”
Jerry slammed his coffee cup onto the table. “You’re being ridiculous. Do you know how hard it is to raise a kid these days?”
“I do,” I shot back. “I raised Peter without a dime from either of you. So don’t you dare lecture me.”
An annoyed man talking to a woman | Source: Midjourney
The coffee shop had gone quiet. People were staring, but I didn’t care. I stood, glaring at both of them. “You don’t deserve a cent of that fund. It’s not yours. It never will be.”
Without waiting for a response, I turned and walked out.
Back home, I sat in Peter’s room again. The confrontation replayed in my mind, but it didn’t make the ache in my chest any lighter.
A man in his son’s room | Source: Midjourney
I picked up his photo from the desk — the one of us on his birthday. “They don’t get it, buddy,” I said softly. “They never did.”
I looked around the room, taking in the books, the drawings, the little pieces of him that still felt so alive here. My eyes landed on the map of Europe tacked to his wall. Belgium was circled in bright red marker.
A map of Europe | Source: Freepik
“We were supposed to go,” I whispered. “You and me. The museums, the castles, the beer monks.” I chuckled softly, my voice breaking. “You really had it all planned out.”
The ache in my chest deepened, but then something shifted. A new thought, a new resolve.
I opened my laptop and logged into the 529 Plan account. As I stared at the balance, I knew what to do. That money wasn’t for Ryan. It wasn’t for anyone else. It was for Peter. For us.
A man on his laptop | Source: Freepik
“I’m doing it,” I said aloud. “Belgium. Just like we said.”
A week later, I was on a plane, Peter’s photo tucked safely in my jacket pocket. The seat beside me was empty, but it didn’t feel that way. I gripped the armrest as the plane lifted off, my heart pounding.
“Hope you’re here with me, kid,” I whispered, glancing at his picture.
A man on a plane | Source: Freepik
The trip was everything we’d dreamed of. I walked through grand museums, stood in awe at towering castles, and even visited a brewery run by monks. I imagined Peter’s excitement, crooked grin, and endless questions at every stop.
On the last night, I sat by the canal, the city lights reflecting on the water. I pulled out Peter’s photo and held it up to the view.
A man sitting by the canal | Source: Pexels
“This is for you,” I said quietly. “We made it.”
For the first time in months, the ache in my chest felt lighter. Peter was gone, but he was with me. And this — this was our dream. I wouldn’t let anyone take it away.
A man sitting by a canal | Source: Midjourney
At 15, Vivienne, Brad Pitt’s youngest daughter, is a little “Brangelina,” gorgeous.
Despite their short but lovely marriage coming to an abrupt end, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had some amazing kids.
In addition to having the most famous double surname, Vivienne, 15, is the picture perfect daughter of picture-perfect parents and one of the most beautiful young women living. Her twin brother Knox and biological sister Shiloh share this surname.
Read on to learn more about the newest member of the Pitt-Jolie family!
Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt was born into an aristocratic Hollywood family and became well-known at an early age.
After the birth of their twins in 2008, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, anticipating a circus of media attention, took control of the situation and sold People and Hello! the rights to the kids’ earliest photos! They donated the $14 million they collected from the sale of the images to their organization, the Maddox-Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
In a 2008 Rolling Stone interview, Brad Pitt talked about how the paparazzi invaded their personal lives, stating, “Well, we get run out of every major city.” That’s the cause of my b****ing. These photographers are pursuing the kids as they call out their names.
All eyes were focused on the couple and their growing family, though.
At the age of fifteen, Vivienne Marcheline, who went by her mother’s name Angelina Jolie, is widely recognized as one of the most stunning young women in the world. She is the youngest of six children, with her twin brother Knox being a few seconds older.
Given how stunning her parents are, it should come as no surprise that their children share their beauty.
Her father, a good-looking 60-year-old, is one of the only two men to have won People’s Sexiest Guy Alive twice, along with George Clooney and Johnny Depp. Numerous times, her mother has been named the world’s most beautiful woman.
In 1990, a young man from Missouri started to change Hollywood. His charming grin, bleached blonde hair, and innate acting abilities captivated every scene.
His perfectly sculpted features and dimples make him incredibly attractive to women. All he needed to win their hearts was a cowboy hat and a seductive sequence starring Geena Davis from the 1991 film Thelma and Louise.
Whether he plays a vicious psychopath in Kalifornia, an assassin in Bullet Train, or a kind-hearted blood sucker in Interview with the Vampire, Pitt never fails to captivate an audience that can’t get enough of him.
Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were one of the most alluring couples in Hollywood in the early 2000s, so many fans were devastated when they announced their divorce in 2005.
Only one month after Aniston filed for divorce, there were reports that the 48-year-old Mr. and Mrs. Smith actress and the Once Upon a Time star were dating.
Although the exact cause of Aniston and Pitt’s breakup remains unknown to the public, the Tomb Raider actress insists that the two were not intimate until Pitt’s divorce was finalized.
“To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive,” she said, alluding to her father’s adultery. Her father is the well-known actor Jon Voight, who played Angelina Jolie’s father in the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie from 2001. She continued, saying, “I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that.” I would not be interested in a man who had an affair with his wife.
The couple’s biological kid Shiloh was born in 2006, and they were married in 2014, together with Knox and Vivienne. The family also consists of three adopted children: Maddox Jolie-Pitt, 22, from Cambodia, Zahara Jolie-Pitt, 18, and Pax Thien, 19, from Vietnam.
The Tomb Raider star explained that every child has reaped tremendous benefits from having a cosmopolitan upbringing.
They’re genuinely amazing people, and I think their sheer quantity has greatly influenced one another. Not that I led anything, really. I’m resolved to not give any of her children the benefit of the doubt. I always tell the truth to my children. And I’m incredibly human when it comes to my kids,” Jolie previously told People.
There are six remarkably diverse people living in my house. I’m infatuated with all the different stages, feelings, and interests that children go through. From whence could you not be? It’s our responsibility to help them find their identity. You can’t learn who they are if you don’t actively grow alongside them, she added.
Furthermore, since their divorce in 2019, Jolie and the Oceans 11 actress have shared parental responsibilities for the children.
Vivienne
Jolie greeted her, “My mother comes to mind every time I see or say Vivienne’s full name.”
“I dare to say Viv is proving to resemble Ange in spirit, attitude, and physicality,” says Vivienne’s loving father. with regard to her character. She has the same grace as her mother.
The screen that she and her mother are using is the same one.
Vivienne costarred with her Oscar-winning mother as a young Princess Aurora in the 2014 film Maleficent. when he was five years old.
Jolie told Entertainment Weekly that she didn’t think Vivienne would be in the film and that she thinks parents should give their children the freedom to make their own decisions.
“Although they like coming on set and making brief cameos, our kids are not actors in our eyes. That’s not at all what Brad and I hope to accomplish. However, none of the other [performers], who were three and four years old, would come up to me. It had to be a child that liked me and didn’t run from my eyes, claws, or horns. It had to be Viv after all.
Although Vivienne is now assisting her mother in creating the Broadway musical adaptation of The Outsiders, which is scheduled to open in April 2024, her only performing credit to far is this one.
For the stage adaptation of the 1983 movie of the same name, Jolie’s daughter Viv acts as her assistant. Jolie told E! News that Viv “reminds me of my mother in that she isn’t focused on being the center of attention but in being a support to other creatives.” “She is very thoughtful and serious about it, and she works really hard to figure out how she can contribute to the theater.”
benevolent spirit
Apart from her hereditary endowments, Vivienne’s magnanimous disposition stems from her generous parents. In 2019, she was seen at a neighboring dog park in Los Angeles, where she was selling treats to raise money for a nearby rescue shelter.
As a passionate animal lover, Vivienne was devastated to hear in 2020 that her favorite bunny had passed away. Jolie spoke with Harper’s Bazaar on the loss and said,Following the death of Vivienne’s bunny during surgery, we adopted two cute but little rabbits with disabilities. They have to work in pairs. Because they are so gentle, it has been helpful to focus on their care for her at this time. And speaking of dogs, snakes, and lizards…
It’s amazing that the twins are fifteen years old, and it will be interesting to see what they decide to do with their lives.
What are your thoughts on this stunning family? Please share this article with others and let us know what you think so we can hear from them too!
If you enjoyed this story as much as I did, you should read Shiloh, Vivienne’s older sister!
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