They Humiliated My Mother, So I Made Them Pay the Price

After three years abroad on a top-secret mission, I finally returned to my homeland.

With permission granted, I came home, filled with excitement, thinking I’d finally see my wife and mother again. But the moment I arrived, that joy was crushed.

At the entrance of my house, my mother was crouched inside a small, doghouse-like shelter. In front of her sat a metal basin. She was lying on the ground like a dog, eating rotten food from it.

A man stood nearby, watching her with a mocking smile.

“If you want someone to blame, blame your useless son. He died young and left you here to suffer alone!”

He raised his hand mid-sentence and slapped my mother across the face.

My mother flinched but didn’t say a word. She lowered her head and quickly swallowed the stinking, spoiled food.

Furious, I stepped forward and kicked the man aside. Then I pulled my mother up, tears streaming down my face.

I had risked my life for the country, thinking I was protecting the people I loved.

But this—this was how my mother had been treated in my absence? Locked in a kennel, eating moldy scraps, like she was some stray animal?

——

Her eyes, once so warm, were now clouded and dull. She looked up at me but couldn’t recognize me.

“Boy, leave quickly!” she said, trembling. “You hit Emily Prescott’s secretary, she won’t let you go!”

“Emily Prescott’s secretary? He did this to you?” My voice shook with rage.

“Just go!” she said again, desperate. “They’ll hurt you too!”

“I know you mean well,” she added, her voice breaking, “but it’s useless. Ever since my son disappeared, she’s been tormenting me. If I hadn’t been waiting for him to come home... I would’ve ended it all long ago.”

Her words broke something inside me.

I had trusted others to take care of her. I had believed my mother would live peacefully while I was away. But I was wrong.

Behind me, the man I had kicked was getting back up. He wiped the blood from his mouth and glared at me.

“You’re dead!” he spat. “You think you can touch me? Do you know who my boss is? She’s the law around here! You mess with me, you dead!”

I looked at him, my anger cold now, steady. Without a word, I took out my phone and called Emily.

“Hello? Who is this?” she answered, her voice flat and emotionless.

“So, you’re the queen of the capital now?” I said coolly.

There was a pause on the line. Then she replied, “I don’t know who you are. But if you’re calling to threaten me, I’ll find you. And when I do, no one will be able to save you.”

Her words cut deep. She didn’t even recognize my voice. She hadn’t saved my number. In just three years, she had completely erased me from her life.

I clenched the phone tighter, every last trace of patience gone.

“I’m at your house right now,” I said flatly. “You have thirty minutes. Get back here immediately.”

There was silence. Then panic bled into her voice.

“You’re at my house? What did you do to my secretary?! You’d better not touch him. Stay right there! If anything happens to Tyler Morgan, I won’t let you off the hook!”