Her Boast Post: My Mother’s Killer Unmasked

On my way to visit my mother’s grave, I scrolled through a forum and saw a post titled, “What’s the most pathetic lapdog you’ve ever seen?” The top reply read: “My brother-in-law — but he’s not loyal to my sister. He’s mine. I’m the illegitimate daughter nobody acknowledged. On my 18th birthday, I ran over my dad’s wife to help my mom take her place. My sister wanted justice, so my lapdog married her, signed papers to clear me, and they sent me abroad. Every time she got pregnant, he’d arrange an ‘accident’—until she couldn’t conceive anymore. But I’m kind, so I’ll help her: my 5-year-old son with her husband will soon be ‘adopted’ by her. Soon she’ll raise my child herself.” She even posted a vacation photo, boasting how every year on the anniversary of “that woman’s” death, her brother-in-law, father, and mother celebrate her birthday instead. I stared at the photo. The man’s tattoo was exactly like my husband’s. Walking toward my mother’s headstone, it hit me. That lapdog… was my husband.

1. The forum users, stunned by Kiera’s shamelessness, unleashed a torrent of abuse. She just reveled in it. [Go ahead and curse me out. Nothing you type can change my reality.] [While she’s all alone, mourning her useless mother at some cemetery, her own father and her own husband are right here with me, celebrating my birthday.] [She and her mother are nothing but complete and utter failures!] Beneath that, she posted another picture. The deed to a house. The critical details were blurred out, but I recognized it in a heartbeat. It was the old house my mother had left me. Kiera added another comment, each letter a monument to her arrogance: [See this? All I did was mention I ‘liked’ the place, and her pathetic lapdog of a husband immediately transferred the deed of his wife’s childhood home into my name.] [Back in the day, her mother fought tooth and nail to keep my mom from ever setting foot in that house. And now? My mom and I live there, out in the open, and she’s still completely clueless.] [Save your energy. I was just born lucky. Every single person in her life pretends to be good to her, but deep down, they’re all on my side.] I stared at the screen, an icy dread crawling up my spine, freezing me from the inside out. A memory from five years ago flooded my mind with brutal clarity. Daniel had come home that night looking utterly broken, his voice trembling as he held me. “Sophia, honey, my investments… they all went bust. The credit line’s been cut… If I can’t cover the losses, I could go to jail.” “I’m so useless. I wanted to give you a better life, and instead, I’ve lost everything.” Seeing him so defeated, a sight I had never witnessed before, felt like a physical blow. Money could be earned again, but if his spirit was broken, we would have nothing. Without a second thought, I went and retrieved the deed to my mother’s old house. I pressed it into his hands and told him to use it as collateral to get through the crisis. He looked at me, his eyes red-rimmed, and pulled me into a crushing hug. “Sophia, thank you… Marrying you was the best thing that ever happened to me. Trust me, as soon as I get back on my feet, I will get that house back for you.” It was all a lie. The bankruptcy, the threat of prison… it was all an act. A performance designed to trick me into giving up the last thing my mother left me, just so he could hand it over to Kiera as a gift. Her posts had ignited a firestorm. Users started new threads just to condemn her. [This mother-daughter homewrecker duo makes me sick. The mom steals the husband, the daughter steals the next generation’s husband. They’re like vultures preying on one family!] [BUMP THIS TO THE TOP! The wife has to see this! She needs to see the true faces of the vipers she has coiled around her!] Reading the furious comments, silent tears streamed down my face. I knelt before my mother’s grave, carefully arranging the offerings. Mom, don’t you worry. Everything they owe us… I will take it all back. With interest. As I left the cemetery, the chill still clung to my bones. Just then, my phone vibrated. It was Daniel. The moment I answered, his voice, oozing with gentle apology, filled my ear. “Honey, I’m so sorry. A last-minute business trip came up, and I couldn’t get out of it. I couldn’t be there with you to see Mom.” “You’re always so alone… it breaks my heart. You know, maybe… maybe we should adopt a child?” “That way, when I’m busy, you’ll have someone to keep you company.”

2. So the mask was finally starting to slip. A hot wave of rage surged through me, but I forced it back down, swallowing the bile in my throat. “Sophia? Are you there?” “Hello? Honey?” “…I’m here,” I finally managed to say. Daniel let out a sigh of relief, his voice becoming even more tender. “Sophia, you saw the results from your last check-up. The doctor said you’re prone to miscarriages… it’s going to be difficult for us to have a child of our own.” “And I can’t bear to see you suffer for it, all those shots and pills… it kills me.” “So, honey, please think about it. What if we just adopt?” I almost laughed out loud. No one on this earth knew better than him why I was prone to miscarriages. I thought of Kiera’s post, of the “accidents,” and I fought back the stinging burn in my eyes. I squeezed a single, sharp word from between my teeth. “Fine.” Getting the answer he wanted, he audibly relaxed on the other end. “Great! We can talk about the details when I get back!” “You just wait for me at home, okay? I’ll bring you back a present.” He hung up immediately, not bothering to waste another second on pleasantries now that he had what he wanted. After that call, Daniel vanished. For three whole days, there was nothing. Not a word. Before, I would have made excuses for him. He’s on a business trip, he’s working hard for our future, I can’t bother him. I would have sent him timid little texts—”Remember to eat,” “Try to get some rest”—my heart aching for how “hard” he was working. Thinking back on it now, it was pathetic. He wasn’t busy. He was just desperate to run to his true love and prove his loyalty. Three days later, Daniel finally reappeared. The moment he walked in, he opened his arms for a hug, nuzzling his chin into the crook of my neck, his voice syrupy. “Honey, I missed you so much these past few days~” “Do you know, looking at your pictures was the only thing that got me through it. Now that I’m back… you’re going to have to make it up to me.” His warm breath on my ear was heavy with suggestion. The old me would have melted, completely putty in his hands. Now, all I felt was a wave of physical revulsion. “Let go of me!” The words escaped as a harsh command. I tore myself from his embrace. He froze, stunned for a second. Then, as if a switch flipped in his brain, his expression softened into that familiar, considerate mask. “Sophia, I know you’re angry that I couldn’t go with you on Mom’s anniversary,” he explained, taking my hand and pressing it against his own cheek. “It was my fault. Go ahead, hit me. Get it out of your system. I won’t fight back.” “Anything, as long as it makes you feel better.” His acting was clumsy, riddled with flaws. It was laughable that I had been so blind for so long, that I had ever believed him. I said nothing. I didn’t hit him. He took my silence as forgiveness. He immediately pivoted to his real agenda. “By the way, honey, remember what I said about adoption?” he said, striking while the iron was hot. “I didn’t want you to worry about all the details, so I just brought him home with me. I wanted you to meet him first, see if you connect?” He clapped his hands. Before I could process what was happening, his assistant walked in, leading a little boy of about five or six by the hand. The boy was quiet, but his features sent a jolt of ice through my heart. In his eyes, his brow… there was an unmistakable resemblance to Kiera. Rage, pure and primal, shot through me. This was my mother’s killer’s son. If I’d had any lingering doubts about the forum post, they were now all but gone. “H-Hello, ma’am…” the boy whispered, his voice timid. My entire body went rigid, my fingertips turning to ice. Daniel, however, acted perfectly natural, taking my hand and guiding it toward the boy’s head. “His name is Cody. He’s five. Grew up in an orphanage, very smart and well-behaved. From now on, when I’m not home, he’ll be here to keep you company—” “Enough!” I snatched my hand back as if I’d been burned. The boy, startled by my outburst, burst into tears. Daniel immediately knelt down to comfort him. When he looked back up at me, his eyes were flashing with anger. “Sophia! I’m your husband, so you can take your anger out on me. But the child is innocent! How can you yell at a child like that?” The way he hovered over the boy, so protective and pained, he was the very picture of a loving father. And why wouldn’t he be? He was the boy’s biological father. This was the child he had with the woman who murdered my mother. It took every ounce of my willpower not to scream the truth in his face. I suppressed the violent trembling in my hands, gave him and the boy one last, cold look, and walked upstairs, locking the bedroom door behind me. I opened my palm. Inside were several strands of hair I had discreetly plucked from the boy’s head. I dialed my lawyer’s number. He had been my mother’s closest friend. For years, he had been quietly investigating her death, searching for the real killer. “Mr. Coleman, Kiera is back in the country.”

3. I carefully sealed the strands of hair in a small plastic bag. “She has a child with her, about five years old.” “I have a hair sample from the boy. I need you to arrange a paternity test and a full background check on him. Immediately.” “This time,” I said, my voice low and hard, “I’m going to make sure she pays for what she did.” After hanging up, I stared at the bag in my hand, a heavy weight settling in my chest. My phone buzzed. The forum post had been updated again. [That idiot actually dared to give me attitude. I generously let my lapdog bring our son for her to raise, and she’s not even grateful?] [Whatever. It’s not like she’s ever been smart. The lapdog only married her so he could sign my release papers, and she still hasn’t figured it out after all these years.] [I’ll just have him sweet-talk her a bit more. There’s no way she’ll refuse to adopt him in the end.] [Besides, I even ‘sacrificed’ the failed prototype of that seashell bracelet we made together. He can use it to calm her down.] Attached was a close-up photo of an exquisite seashell bracelet on her wrist. Just as I exited the app, Daniel pushed the door open. “Honey, I’m sorry. I was too hasty with the adoption thing. I didn’t think it through.” I quickly shoved the bag of hair into my pocket. He sat down on the edge of the bed, his voice soft and placating. “I’ve already had my assistant take the boy for now. We can wait until you’re ready.” “Don’t be angry anymore. Look what I brought you.” He produced a velvet box. Inside lay a seashell bracelet. It was identical to the one in Kiera’s photo, but the craftsmanship was crude, the shells and tiny diamonds dull and lifeless. The “failed prototype,” just as she’d said. “It will look beautiful on you,” he murmured, leaning in to fasten it around my wrist. A sickening feeling rose in my throat. I instinctively recoiled, yanking my hand away. “Don’t touch me!” The bracelet flew from his grasp, shattering on the floor. Daniel shot to his feet, the gentle mask cracking and falling away. “Sophia, there’s a limit to your tantrums!” he roared. He wasn’t even trying to pretend anymore. Was he angry because of my attitude? Or because I had just destroyed the precious keepsake he made with his true love? He continued his tirade. “So what if I was busy with work and missed your mother’s anniversary? I was doing it for our future!” “Besides, I tried to make it up to you! I brought home a child so you wouldn’t be lonely, I bought you a gift to cheer you up, and what do I get? You throw it all back in my face! Is this how a wife is supposed to act?” “Let me tell you something,” he snarled, his voice raw with fury, “you’re adopting that child whether you like it or not!” Seeing his rage finally boil over, revealing his true intentions, a cold smile formed on my lips. “Honey, I…” Daniel trailed off, seeing the look on my face. He seemed to realize he’d gone too far and tried to backtrack, but I gave him no chance. I pushed past him and left the room. That same day, I delivered the hair sample to the lab Mr. Coleman had arranged. Then I checked into a hotel to wait for the results. Two days passed. I didn’t hear from my lawyer, but I did get a call from my father. “Sophia, why are you becoming as unreasonable as your dead mother?!” he bellowed the moment I answered. “Daniel is a busy man! He was thoughtful enough to find a child to keep you company, and you throw a fit?” Thoughtful? I laughed silently, bitterly. They had all conspired to trick me into raising my mother’s murderer’s child, and I was supposed to be grateful? Before I could say a word, he delivered his ultimatum. “I don’t have time to argue with you. Daniel’s idea to adopt is a good one, and I’ve already given him my approval.” “The adoption ceremony is tomorrow. As the child’s adoptive mother, you are required to be there.” He hung up. Almost simultaneously, a message came through from Mr. Coleman. I opened the attached file, my eyes scanning the key lines of the paternity test and the background investigation. A slow, cold smile spread across my face. Oh, I’d be there. I wouldn’t miss the adoption ceremony for the world. I wanted to watch, with my own two eyes, as a murderer was finally brought to justice.