บททั้งหมดของ I Refused to Hand Over My Newborn: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 9

The apartment finally fell silent.Victoria Bellini, my sister, furrowed her brow and looked at me as if I were insane."You've lost your mind, Emilia."Mom, meanwhile, coldly declared that her 28 years of raising me had been a total failure.Stepping over the shattered glass, I held my daughter close, retreated into the bedroom, and locked the door behind us."Emilia, open the door. You're scaring Lily."Mom's voice was as calm and controlled as ever, making me sound like the utterly unreasonable one for locking myself in the room.I leaned against the wall and gently patted Lily's back. She'd only just stopped crying, and tear tracks still stained her cheeks. Her tiny hands clutched my collar in a death grip."Emilia," Victoria called from the other side of the door. "Don't blame Mom. You just got out of a toxic marriage. You have no steady income, and you don't even have health insurance. How are you going to raise her?""I can find a job," I called back through the door, m

The next day, my family's "trial" against me officially began, and the tiny apartment was soon packed with relatives, including Uncle Roberto, Mom's younger brother who was a venture capitalist, and Aunt Matilda, Mom's older sister who worked for a charitable foundation.They sat around the living room as if they were holding a board meeting.Mom had locked me inside the bedroom, so all I could do was listen through the gap in the door."Emilia's never been able to handle anything," Mom said as she poured coffee, her voice heavy with exhaustion. "This divorce has completely destroyed her mental health.""Goodness, how did things end up like this?" Aunt Matilda said, sighing. "Thank goodness for you, Victoria. You're willing to step up at a time like this and take this mess off everyone's hands just to protect the family's reputation.""We all carry the Bellini name, Aunt Matilda. If I don't step up, who will?"Victoria's words were always so polished and flawless, leaving no room

After a soft beep, the recording app on my phone started playing crisp, clear audio.It was a recording of a conversation that had happened right outside the bedroom door after it had closed."Dr. Cordone has already told us to note down that she has severe depression with manic episodes and self-harm tendencies."It was the voice of the bespectacled evaluator."Okay," the other evaluator replied. "But aside from being a little emotional earlier, her logic was perfectly sound, and she didn't show any signs of self-harm, either.""Are you dumb?" The first voice dropped to a whisper. "Are the checks from Alexander and Margaret not big enough? As long as we give them this preliminary report, they can initiate the emergency adoption process. All we have to do is sign it. If anything goes wrong, Dr. Cordone's private hospital will take the fall."The faint scratching of pen on paper followed.When the recording ended, a deathly silence fell over the bedroom.Aunt Matilda and Uncle R

After joining Astral Group, my life finally started getting back on track.With a steady income, I moved out of Sarah's place and rented a high-end apartment close to the office with top-notch security. I also hired a reliable nanny, Mary Barrino, to look after Lily during the day and took over childcare myself in the evenings.Life was hectic but fulfilling.On a typical afternoon two months later, I was in a conference room reviewing a marketing proposal for a new product when the receptionist knocked on the door and came in with an awkward look on her face."Ms. Bellini, there's an older woman here to see you. She says… She says she's your mother."The conference room instantly fell silent.I closed my laptop."Got it. Have her wait for me in the reception room."When I opened the door to the reception room, I found Mom sitting there on the couch. It had only been two months since I'd last seen her, but she looked nearly a decade older. Her hair, usually styled to perfection

The damning evidence hit the Bellini family like a wrecking ball, leaving them shattered.The public's outrage shifted direction instantly, and this time, it was even more intense than before."Goodness! He fabricated psychiatric records to steal her child? What kind of unhinged criminal is this brother-in-law?""The mother stole the divorced daughter's last savings to give to her eldest daughter, and she calls that 'supporting' her? That's straight-up robbery!""LOL! Gravely ill? What? Is she getting surgery in the Losta Isles? What a family of entitled, parasitic leeches!"The story exploded across social media.Not only did it completely clear my name, but my image as an independent, clear-headed single mother struck a chord with the public and brought Daybreak's core values into sharp focus. Countless working women and mothers flooded the official store, showing their support by opening their wallets.First-week sales tripled.As I was leaving work that evening, a dishevele