I cried so hard. I knelt on the dusty floor and hugged my mother very tightly.
“Forgive me, Mom… My God, forgive me for leaving you to this monster,” I whispered, crying as I kissed her sweaty hands. I picked her up slowly. Her weight had decreased, proof that she hadn’t been fed properly for a long time.
I picked up my mother. I walked out of the warehouse. Every step I took was filled with a deadly, icy rage.
I entered the grand living room while carrying Nanay Belen.
“Yes, my charity foundation aims to help the elderly. They deserve to be treated like royalty!” I hear Cassandra’s proud speech in front of the media cameras.
CRASH!
I kicked a large glass table with all my might. Expensive vases and wine shattered. Guests screamed and reporters panicked. The music stopped.
All eyes turned to me. When Cassandra saw me standing in the middle of the living room, carrying my mother who looked pitiful and covered in dirt, all the blood drained from her face. The microphone she was holding dropped.
“A-Arthur…? B-Babe?!” Cassandra stammered, pale and trembling. “B-Why are you here?! I-I thought you were in Singapore?!”
Taking Off the Mask in Front of the Media
I carefully laid Nanay Belen down on the softest sofa. I faced Cassandra and her guests.
“Charity foundation?!” I roared, echoing throughout the mansion. I pointed at my wife. “Do you see that woman?! She boasts about helping the elderly, but she locked her own mother-in-law in a dark cellar and fed her from a dog bowl!”
The guests gasped. The media cameras, which had been taking beautiful pictures earlier, now quickly recorded a huge scandal.
“NO! T-That’s a lie! B-Babe, let me explain!” Cassandra cried in panic, trying to get closer to me but I quickly backed away as if disgusted by an insect. “T-The servants just made a mistake! They locked Mama up!”
“DON’T INSULT MY BRAIN, CASSANDRA!” I shouted. “I obey all your commands! You fed the woman who worked so hard to build the empire you’re enjoying now, rotten!”
I faced the security guards standing around, all of whom I paid for.
“Security! Lock the doors! No one is coming out!” I ordered. I grabbed my cellphone and called my lawyer.
“Atty. Mendoza. I want you to freeze all of Cassandra and her family’s bank accounts. Take back all of the companies I bought for her politician father. And send the police here right now. I want to file charges for Serious Illegal Detention and Elder Abuse!”
The Last Judgment
Cassandra’s knees gave way and she fell to the floor, sobbing. « Arthur! You’re so pitiful! I’m your wife! My name will be ruined! My family will be ruined in the media! »
I stared at him from head to toe. “I don’t have a husband anymore. And your name is buried in the mud.”
I turned to my men. “Take all of this woman’s designer bags, shoes, and expensive clothes from the room. Take them out into the garden and burn them right in front of her!”
“NO! Those are my things! Arthur, please!” Cassandra screamed as she watched the guards take out her millions of pesos worth of belongings and pour gasoline outside.
Within minutes, the police arrived. They dragged Cassandra away, crying and begging, while reporters filmed the fall of a “philanthropist socialite” who had become a monster behind the camera.
I went back to my mother and hugged her tightly. “Yo
u’re safe, Mom. No one will hurt you anymore. I’ll never leave you.”
Eventually, Cassandra went to jail and her family went bankrupt because of the lawsuits I filed. I shut down her fake foundation and used my wealth to build real facilities for abandoned seniors.
I learned the hard way that no matter how beautiful a person’s face is, if their soul is rotten, it’s worthless. The true queen of the home is the mother who never leaves you in the dark—and I’m willing to burn the whole world down just to see her smile in the light again.
