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Lahat ng Kabanata ng I Saw the Comments, Then Cut Him Off: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

11 Kabanata

Chapter 1

The smile on my son, Desmond Kinsley’s, face froze for a split second. Then he looked at me with concern. “Mom, did you forget something? I can mail it to you when I get home.”I shook my head, and his voice grew noticeably more anxious. “Then why aren’t you going anymore? You’re practically about to board. Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of myself and my sisters, just like I always do!”I said nothing. I simply stared at him.His eyes darted away. After an awkward chuckle, he asked, “Mom, did you… misunderstand something about me?”I remained silent, then I lowered my eyes to my phone. My husband, Sebastian Kinsley, had finished putting away the luggage. He stepped in with a smile, trying to smooth things over.“Come on, honey! We need to board. Desmond has always handled the living expenses, and Wendy’s a good girl. You can put your mind at ease.”When I did not move, he looked completely baffled.“You never used to worry about these things. What’s gotten into you today?”

Chapter 2

Early the next morning, I went straight to Mr. Lane’s house.Mr. Lane was the Kinsley family’s retired butler. He had copies of the security footage from the Kinsley family villa stored at his home.Back then, we installed the cameras years ago to protect against anyone with ulterior motives. However, the Kinsley family’s security system was top-notch, so the footage had never really been needed in all these years.Besides me, only my husband and Mr. Lane knew about it. Now, it certainly made investigating my own son much easier.The first footage I pulled up was from my previous business trips. The more I watched, the colder my heart grew.We had never intended to hide the truth from Wendy. She had always known that she was not biologically related to the Kinsley family. We only kept her informed because we were afraid someone might take advantage of her not knowing and use her birth circumstances against her.What I never expected was that my 'well-behaved' son had been using i

Chapter 3

Yet both my daughters went completely stiff in my arms, too afraid to move.I sniffled and filled two bowls with stew for them.They waited until I had left before cautiously starting to eat, then they lowered their voices and whispered to each other.“Mom made us stew. What if Desmond finds out? Won’t he be mad?”“Shh! Don’t let Desmond know. Otherwise, we’ll go hungry again for two days!”My heart clenched painfully in my chest, squeezing the breath from my lungs.That afternoon, I dug through the financial records from top to bottom.Living expenses, education funds, money set aside for my daughters’ projects— every last payment had been secretly transferred by my son into Linda’s account. She used the money to buy cars, handbags, real estate, jewelry…It was all money I had given for my daughters, yet not a single cent had ever been spent on them.I stared at the transactions and let out a cold laugh. My own son had been bleeding the family dry right under my nose. Whene

Chapter 4

The night before the party, I finally finished compiling all the evidence—bank records, security footage, and witness statements. Page after page went into a brown envelope.For years, whenever my husband and I left town, Linda would move straight into our house.She wore my clothes, my jewelry, even my makeup. Desmond always made sure the blame, one way or another, fell on Wendy.Linda would beat her, make her kneel, force her to stand outside under the scorching sun…Sometimes, she would not even give her food for days. Wendy got so hungry that she had to dig bark out of trees with her bare hands and pick through trash cans for leftovers.Desmond told her it was because I thought she was being disobedient, so I had Linda discipline her for me.Little by little, Wendy stopped talking. She became so careful around me that she was afraid to say more than a few words.The millions I gave them for living expenses went straight into Desmond and Linda’s pockets.I was so furious tha

Chapter 5

Sebastian hurried inside and pulled me into his arms, his overcoat still creased from the long journey.“I’m sorry, honey. I’m late.”He looked around the room, his voice turning cold and composed again.“When I married Quinley, I made one thing clear—everyone in the Kinsley family should answer to her. So why, after only a few days away on business, are all of you suddenly standing in her way like you have the right to stop her?”Desmond was still clinging to the hope that his father would save him. He shouted at the top of his lungs, “Dad! Mom misunderstood me! She’s trying to have me arrested! I’m your only son! You have to talk some sense into her!”Sebastian did not even spare him a glance. “Serves you right.”Then he walked straight over to his two daughters and crouched down in front of them. “Wendy, Nicole, I'm home.”The girls shrank back in fear, tears still clinging to their cheeks.Sebastian’s hand stopped halfway, his expression darkening with rage. He rose to his

Chapter 6

I turned away, refusing to look at Desmond. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Linda edging along the wall toward the door.“Stop.” My voice was not loud, but it was clear enough to freeze her in place. Linda turned around and forced a smile.“Ms. Gray, I… I had no idea Desmond was doing any of this… I swear, I had no idea…”I let out a cold laugh and gave one of the other officers a meaningful look. “Then you can go to the station and explain everything.”The officer strode over and grabbed her by the wrist. Linda let out a piercing scream. “Why are you taking me?! I didn’t do anything illegal! Dating him isn’t against the law! If you send me to jail, there’s no way I’m paying you back!”I walked up to her and spoke slowly, one word at a time, “You really think I don’t know where those three hundred million went? Or about that fake ledger of yours, and that fake family background? Linda, you’ve hooked plenty of rich men. It’s time to reel them all in.”The color drained from L

Chapter 7

Three days later, the police station called. Desmond wanted to see me.I was in the middle of a meeting at the company, going over our plans for the new quarter, when I got the call.The officer said, “The suspect has been very cooperative. He says he wants to apologize to his mother in person.”I closed my folder and replied, “No.”There was a brief silence on the other end.“Ms. Gray, he is your son, after all…”“Adults have to learn to take responsibility for their mistakes.”“When he was hurting his sisters, he didn’t show them an ounce of mercy. It's too late for him to be asking for mercy now."I hung up and continued the meeting. The executives around the table exchanged uneasy glances, but no one dared ask what the call had been about.…The next day, the phone rang again. This time, it was Desmond himself. His voice was so hoarse I could barely recognize it.“Mom, please… Just give me one chance to see you… Just once… I’ll tell you everything. I swear I’ll explain i

Chapter 8

Wendy shook her head.“Grandma once told me that hating someone is exhausting. I don’t really know what hatred is supposed to feel like, but I still don’t want to be around you. Mom said it depends on what you do from now on. Maybe once you change, you won’t seem so scary anymore.”Desmond covered his face and bent forward, his shoulders shaking violently.Nicole peeked out from behind me, then pulled another piece of candy from her pocket and pressed it against the glass. “Here, Desmond. Can you please stop taking my things from now on? I never said I didn’t want to share with you.”Desmond broke down completely. He dropped to his knees, sobbing as he repeatedly knocked his forehead against the table.I could not bear to watch anymore. I took both girls by the hand and turned to leave.Just as we reached the door, his voice came from behind us. “Mom! I’ll change! Just wait for me! I swear I’ll change!”I did not turn around. When we stepped outside the detention center, the sun

Chapter 9

Wendy was still young, but she had already finished courses in finance and marketing.Nicole showed me her design sketches, her eyes lighting up as she talked about them. “Mom, I’d like to open my own studio someday. I could draw illustrations and design the packaging for Wendy’s cosmetics.”I smiled and gently ruffled her hair. “Sounds good. I’ll invest in your venture.”Just like that, life kept moving forward, one day at a time.The two girls moved into the rooms next to mine. Every night before bed, they would run over just to say goodnight.Wendy still had nightmares every now and then, sometimes crying out in her sleep, “Don’t make me kneel…” However, it happened less and less often.Nicole was finally starting to wear pretty dresses instead of reaching for nothing but those plain, dusty-looking tracksuits.One afternoon after school, she grabbed Wendy’s hand and came running over to me. “Mom, guess what? Someone called Wendy a kid you picked up off the street today! I m

Chapter 10

Nicole held the dress up against herself to see how it looked, then grabbed my hands and spun me around. “Mom, look! Desmond bought this for me!”I reached over and gently patted her head. “Do you like it?”“I love it!”That night, I received a text from an unknown number. [Mom, I’m not asking you to forgive me. I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for everything I did. As long as you’re all doing well, that’s enough for me.]I stared at the screen for a long time before typing back a single word: [Okay.]…Another year passed. Desmond had worked his way up to crew leader at the construction site, supervising more than a dozen workers.Lilian secretly went to visit him once. When she came back, she told me he had lost weight, but he seemed to be doing well.“There’s not even air conditioning in that prefab room he lives in. He just toughs it out through the middle of summer. He eats nothing but steamed buns and pickles. The same kid who used to insist on knowing exactly whe

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