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“Youssef” stepped out of his office, which was located on the ground floor of the house, when the sound of loud screams came from upstairs.

He hurried out of his office. He had been sleeping there since last night and had only just woken up to the sound of the screaming.

As he made his way upstairs, he ran into his youngest daughter, “Sereen,” who was rushing down from above, sheer panic clearly written across her face.

The moment Sereen saw her father, she hurried toward him, speaking anxiously as she struggled to catch her breath.

“Dad, come with me!”

His forehead creased in confusion, and his expression shifted to irritation and concern.

“What is it?! What’s that noise? Who’s screaming like that?”

She answered nervously, terrified and on the verge of tears as she rubbed her hands together.

“Mom found out that Omar left the house. She’s upstairs crying and screaming!”

His irritation deepened as he demanded,

“When did she get back?!”

“Only ten minutes ago. Dad, go upstairs and calm her down. She’s extremely upset and hasn’t stopped crying since she found out.”

He shouted angrily,

“And who told her?!”

Sereen tensed.

She was the one who had told her mother that her brother had left. Her mother had been away visiting her aunt in Alexandria and had returned today. Youssef had specifically warned everyone not to tell her—not even the servants, his eldest daughter, or her husband.

“Honestly, Dad... I did. But before you get angry with me, I swear she asked about him and I panicked. I didn’t know what to tell her. She started suspecting that something was wrong, so I told her that…”

Before she could finish, the two of them heard Nadia’s voice.

She had just come downstairs, speaking furiously, her eyes red and swollen from crying.

“Where is my son, Youssef?! Tell me! Where is my son?! What did you do to him? What did you do to make him leave the house and walk away?!”

Youssef twisted his lips mockingly and muttered sharply,

“What could I possibly have done to him, Mama’s precious little boy?”

Sereen gasped in shock.

Her mother immediately approached Youssef, grabbed him by the lapels of his suit, and screamed fiercely in his face,

“Where is Omar, Youssef?! What did you do to him?! I swear to God, I’ll turn this entire world upside down on your head if anything happens to my son!”

He angrily pulled her hands away from his collar.

“And how am I supposed to know?! Your constant pampering and worrying over him are exactly what made him incapable of relying on himself. He turned out just like his mother instead of becoming a man like his father!”

Nadia clenched her jaw in anger and defended her son.

“Watch your tongue! Anyone who says that about my son will regret it. My son is a real man, the finest of them all! You’re the one who keeps belittling him in front of himself and all of us. Can you deny that you wouldn’t have gotten where you are today without that ‘Mama’s boy’ you despise?”

He shouted at her furiously, his eyes blazing with anger.

“No, Mama, you need to wake up! I’m the one who built all of this through my own hard work and effort. Your son wouldn’t have become a man—or earned anyone’s respect—without me! And now you’re telling me that some spoiled brat from yesterday is the one who made all this happen?!”

He pointed angrily at himself.

“I’m Youssef El-Turki, the owner of one of the largest engineering companies! Your son is the one who made me who I am?! Watch what you’re saying, Nadia!”

Tears streamed heavily down her face, devastated over her only son.

“May God deal with you, Youssef. May God deal with you, you heartless man… Is your heart made of stone? Your only son has been gone for a week, and you don’t even know where he is! You haven’t even bothered to look for him.”

He answered her coldly, as though the person she was talking about wasn’t even his only son.

“And why should I look for him? Is he a little child? Didn’t you just say he’s a man, the finest of all men? Then let’s see what this great man is going to do without me. Let’s see how well he can stand on his own.”

He curled his lips into a biting smirk and continued,

“Come see me when he comes crawling back in two days, after the little money he has runs out.”

Sereen wrapped her arms around her crying mother while her father turned around and returned to his office.

She began crying as well, heartbroken for her mother and her brother, and for everything that had happened to their family overnight.

Nadia collapsed into the nearest chair while Sereen went to get her some water.

She sat there sobbing bitterly, unable to stop repeating in a hoarse voice,

“May God deal with you, Youssef… May God deal with you.”

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