PART 3: THE TWO-MILLION-DOLLAR SECRET
"Two million dollars?" I let out a laugh. The sound echoed through the mall corridor, bitter and dripping with sheer contempt. "Mrs. Mercer, do you truly believe your money is that omnipotent? I have never seen a single cent of that two million dollars. And a child that no longer exists? Look at them!"
I pulled Ethan and Noah forward, forcing them to stand directly in front of the two trembling figures.
"They are standing right here. In flesh and blood. For five years, I worked three jobs simultaneously, staying awake through the night in cheap rental rooms just to feed them. Meanwhile, your son sat on the throne of his precious empire, and you used two million dollars to buy a massive, sickening lie!"
Damien collapsed inward, his shoulders shaking violently as he stepped closer to Victoria. "Five years ago, you told me Mara had terminated the pregnancy. You handed me a letter saying she hated me, took your money, and fled to Europe... It was all a forgery? You fabricated an entire conspiracy just to deceive me?"
The memories of five years ago flashed through Damien’s mind like a cruel, slow-motion film. Back then, after Mara walked away, Damien had been struck with deep regret. He wanted to chase after her. But it was his mother who blocked him at the villa’s gates. She presented a forged dossier containing Mara’s faked signature, an anonymous wire transfer receipt for two million dollars, and a cruel goodbye letter filled with insults aimed at Damien.
It was that very two-million-dollar lie that convinced Damien that Mara was nothing but a ruthless gold digger who had sacrificed their child for wealth. It turned his regret into bitter resentment, forcing him to give up and live like a hollow shell under the family's strict arrangements for five long years.
"I did it for you! For your future! For the Mercer Group!" Victoria shrieked, desperately clawing at a noble justification. "She was just a penniless girl! She would have ruined your engagement to the Vance family heiress! Do you have any idea how our stocks would have evaporated if this scandal had leaked back then?!"
"And your solution was to murder my children?!" Damien roared, a gut-wrenching scream that forced every bystander to stop dead in their tracks. For the first time in his life, the obedient son looked at his mother with absolute disgust.
I didn't want my children to witness this chaotic breakdown any longer. Noah’s eyes were tearing up, while Ethan stood firmly in front of me like a little protector, trying to shield his mother.
"Damien," I called his name, cutting through their explosive argument. My voice was terrifyingly calm. "Do you know what the biggest difference between you and me is?"
Damien turned to look at me, his face drenched in tears.
"Five years ago, you handed me an envelope to absolve yourself of responsibility. You blamed it on family pressure, but it was nothing but your own cowardice. You chose to believe whatever was easiest so you wouldn't have to face your own conscience. But me? I chose my children. Even though it cost me my youth and plunged me into poverty, I have never regretted it for a single second."
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I knelt down, picking Noah up in my arms, and tightly grasped Ethan’s hand.
"Don't ever show your faces to us again. As for that two million dollars, Mrs. Mercer, you should keep it. Use it to buy back whatever shred of conscience you have left."
