Chapter 9 - THE DAUGHTER WHO FINALLY SPOKE
Nobody moved.
Not Leo.
Not me.
Not even Agnes.
The only person who looked surprised was Chloe.
Because even she seemed shocked by her own confession.
Leo slowly turned toward her.
“You helped her?”
Chloe’s eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t know it would become this.”
Agnes stepped forward.
“Chloe, stop talking.”
“No.”
The word came out quietly.
But it was the strongest thing I had ever heard from her.
“No, Mom.”
Agnes stared at her daughter.
“You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“That’s the problem.”
She wiped her face.
“I’ve spent my whole life doing whatever you told me.”
The room became silent.
For years, I had seen Chloe as cruel.
Lazy.
Selfish.
And she was.
But now I saw something else.
Someone controlled.
Someone who had learned cruelty from the person who raised her.
Leo looked at her.
“How did you help her?”
Chloe looked down.
“She asked me to move money.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Chloe.”
Her voice cracked.
“A lot.”
Leo closed his eyes.
Like he was trying to accept something impossible.
“Why?”
Chloe looked at Agnes.
“Because she said it was for the family.”
I almost laughed.
That sentence.
That same excuse.
Everything was always “for the family.”
The family.
The family.
The family.
But somehow, everyone always got hurt except Agnes.
Leo walked toward his mother.
“Did you use Chloe?”
Agnes didn’t answer.
That was enough.
“You used your own daughter.”
Agnes’s face hardened.
“I did what I had to do.”
There it was.
The truth.
No apology.
No regret.
Just justification.
I stepped forward.
“Why?”
Agnes looked at me.
And I expected anger.
Instead, I saw something else.
Jealousy.
“You took him away from me.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“You changed him.”
Leo looked confused.
“What are you talking about?”
Agnes pointed at me.
“Before her, you needed me.”
The room went silent.
“You called me every day.”
“You trusted me.”
“You listened to me.”
Her voice became bitter.
“Then she came along.”
I finally understood.
This was never about me.
Not really.
Agnes wasn’t angry because I failed to cook.
She wasn’t angry because I wanted to leave.
She was angry because she lost control over her son.
Leo looked at his mother like he didn’t recognize her.
“Mom…”
She ignored him.
“You think she loves you?”
She looked at me.
“She’s leaving you when things get hard.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I looked at Leo.
“I left because I was dying and nobody cared.”
That sentence broke the room.
Because it was the truth nobody could argue with.
Then Chloe suddenly gasped.
“Wait.”
Everyone looked at her.
She reached into her pocket.
“I have something else.”
She pulled out a small flash drive.
Agnes’s face changed instantly.
“No.”
Chloe held it tightly.
“I copied the files.”
Leo stepped forward.
“What files?”
Chloe looked terrified.
“The ones that prove what she did.”
Agnes moved toward her.
Fast.
Too fast.
And for the first time...
I saw Agnes panic.
May you like
Because whatever was on that drive...
Was something she never wanted anyone to see.
