Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Sons I Raised Tried to Replace My Daughter: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 8

On the drive home, Emily stayed curled up in the corner of the back seat, clutching the edge of my coat.“Mom, I didn’t bully her. Ava asked to borrow the dress I’m supposed to wear to my debutante ball. I said no, so she spilled coffee on my shoes. I only told her to be careful. Then my brothers showed up.”I gently rubbed her back.Ten years ago, I had brought four boys with nowhere else to go into my home and raised them as my own.On their first night with us, Jack stood beside Emily’s crib for a long time.“She’s our little sister now?”“Yes.”Baby Emily wrapped her tiny fingers around his, and Jack smiled.“Then I’ll protect her.”Those words still echoed in my ears.And now, the boys who had once sworn to protect her were the reason she was trembling in my arms.The next morning, I canceled their credit cards and ordered the cars they kept at the main house removed.Less than an hour later, my house manager came to me looking uneasy.“Ma’am, the four young masters moved into the

The reckoning came far faster than Jack and the others had imagined, and it was far more complete.In less than forty-eight hours, the four of them learned what it meant to fall from the clouds straight into the mud.Every bank account under their names was frozen.Carter Group’s legal department filed lawsuits against them for embezzlement and corporate fraud.To cover the mounting penalties and legal fees, they were forced to sell everything of value they owned.Their designer suits. Their Patek Philippe watches. Even their limited-edition cufflinks.The four once-proud heirs of the Carter family were now crammed into a run-down apartment in a poor neighborhood, barely forty square meters.The walls were peeling, and yellowish water stains spread across the ceiling.That afternoon, Emily was in my study, learning how to read complex financial statements from Lorenzo.She was learning at an astonishing pace.After that betrayal, the fragile shell around her had been completely shatter

Autumn rain fell without end.Several days of plunging temperatures had left the city bitterly cold.Outside the Carter estate, the iron gates stood firmly shut.Jack, Alex, Daniel, and Ryan had been kneeling in the rain for three straight hours.They were soaked to the bone, their worn-out clothes clinging to their bodies. Their lips had turned blue, and they were shaking uncontrollably from the cold.Jack clutched a faded pink jewelry box in his hand.Ten years ago, he had saved his allowance for six months to buy Emily her first bracelet.Inside the gate, the butler stood beneath an umbrella, watching them without expression.“Gentlemen, you should leave. Mrs. Carter and Miss Emily don’t want to see you.”“Please, Mr. Waston. Just give us a chance.”“We know we were wrong. We finally saw Ava for what she really is. She’s a liar! We’ll never see her again!”“Please, just let Emily come out and see us. If she’ll forgive us, we’ll do anything!”Daniel clutched his still-aching ribs, hi

Five years later.The annual Pan-Atlantic Business Summit was being held at the International Convention Center downtown.As the host, Carter Group had taken charge of all reception and sponsorship arrangements.Emily, now the head of Carter Group, stepped onto the red carpet in a deep crimson evening gown, surrounded by a sea of cameras and spotlights.Her presence was so commanding that people instinctively lowered their eyes.Camera flashes erupted around her as Emily smiled and nodded calmly toward the press, completely unruffled.I sat in the VIP lounge, watching the live broadcast on television as I took a slow sip of champagne.My daughter no longer needed me to worry about her.She was running this empire even more securely than I ever had.“Ma’am.”The butler entered and handed me a tablet.“This is the routine report from the prison.”I glanced at it without much interest.Over the past five years, Jack and the other three had certainly had an eventful time behind bars.The m