After 2 Years Abroad, the Billionaire Returns Home and Finds His Mother Living in a Broken Hut… But When He Confronts His Fiancée, a Long-Buried Secret Suddenly Comes to Light!
PART 2 — THE TRUTH BEHIND HIS MOTHER’S SUFFERING
For a few seconds, neither of them moved.
Margaret simply stared at her son.
Then the broom slipped from her trembling hands.
“Ethan…”
She took one hesitant step toward him.
Ethan rushed forward and caught her before she could fall.
“Mom, what happened to you?”
Margaret looked away.
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
“Fine?”
Ethan looked at her worn clothes, her rough hands, and the exhaustion written across her face.
“You’re living in a shed.”
Margaret’s lips trembled.
“It’s not a shed. It’s… where I stay.”
Ethan’s heart sank.
“You stay there?”
She didn’t answer.
He looked toward the small wooden structure.
“Why?”
Margaret lowered her eyes.
“Please, Ethan. You shouldn’t have come back.”
The words hit him harder than anything else.
“I came back because I missed you.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you telling me to leave?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because some things are better left alone.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Who did this to you?”
She immediately shook her head.
“No one.”
“Mom.”
His voice became firmer.
“Look at me.”
Margaret slowly raised her eyes.
“I know you. You don’t lie to me.”
She tried to smile.
But the smile broke almost immediately.
“I didn’t want you to worry while you were away.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“Worry about what?”
Before Margaret could answer, they heard footsteps approaching from the mansion.
A woman’s voice floated across the garden.
“Margaret! Why have you stopped working?”
Margaret froze.
Ethan turned around.
A woman in an elegant cream-colored dress was walking toward them.
Vanessa Whitmore.
Ethan’s fiancée.
She was holding a designer handbag and wearing the diamond bracelet Ethan had given her before leaving for the overseas project.
For a moment, Vanessa didn’t notice Ethan.
Then she did.
Her expression changed instantly.
“Ethan?”
He said nothing.
Vanessa stared at him as though she had seen a ghost.
“You’re… you’re back?”
“I am.”
She forced a smile.
“You should have told me.”
“I wanted to surprise everyone.”
His eyes remained fixed on her.
“Apparently, I was the one who got surprised.”
Vanessa glanced at Margaret.
Then back at Ethan.
“What’s going on?”
Ethan pointed toward the hut.
“Why is my mother living there?”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
“She chose to.”
Margaret immediately looked down.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“My mother chose to sleep in a broken hut?”
“She said she preferred a quiet place.”
“And the clothes?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“She insisted on helping around the property.”
Ethan looked at his mother’s hands.
“Helping?”
He slowly turned toward Margaret.
“Mom, is that true?”
Margaret couldn’t speak.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Ethan, you’re misunderstanding the situation. Your mother and I simply had some disagreements while you were away.”
“Disagreements?”
His voice was calm now.
Almost too calm.
“What kind of disagreement turns a woman who owns this house into a servant?”
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“She doesn’t own the house anymore.”
Silence.
Ethan stared at her.
“What did you just say?”
Vanessa realized she had said too much.
Margaret immediately whispered:
“Ethan, please…”
But Ethan wasn’t listening anymore.
He looked at Vanessa.
“What do you mean she doesn’t own the house?”
Vanessa took a breath.
“Your mother signed the documents.”
“What documents?”
“She transferred control of the estate.”
“To whom?”
Vanessa didn’t answer.
Ethan’s eyes slowly moved toward the mansion.
Then he noticed something.
The nameplate beside the main entrance had changed.
The old plaque bearing his family’s name was gone.
In its place was a new one.
WHITMORE ESTATE.
Ethan’s expression turned cold.
“Who owns my family’s home?”
Vanessa remained silent.
“Answer me.”
Finally, she said:
“I do.”
Ethan stared at her.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Your mother agreed to the arrangement.”
Margaret suddenly spoke.
“
