A Daughter's Judgment

My mother was in the kitchen preparing lunch when the heart attack struck. She collapsed on the spot.
My sister, the one she’d spoiled rotten her entire life, called me, her voice trembling.
“Charlotte, Mom’s dying! You need to wire some money, now! I need to charter a private medevac. The doctors say it’s her only chance!”
As one of the country’s top investment bankers, a few hundred thousand dollars is little more than a flickering number on a screen to me.
But I simply glanced toward the kitchen door, then ended the call.
“She’s not going to die.”
Then, I dialed the number for a high-end luxury boutique and ordered their latest limited-edition handbag. Price tag: five hundred thousand dollars.

1
“Ms. Thornton, congratulations! You’ve been upgraded to our SVIP status. We’ll arrange for immediate home delivery!” The boutique manager’s voice was electric with excitement.
At almost the exact same moment, my sister, Chloe, called back, screaming this time.
“Charlotte! Are you insane?! You just dropped half a million on a purse without blinking, but Mom’s life isn’t worth anything to you? Is a stupid piece of leather more important than our own mother?!”
Her voice was raw, the desperation palpable even through the phone.
Our housekeeper, Mrs. Gable, who was helping with lunch, stared at me with wide, horrified eyes.
I ignored them both and continued my conversation with the manager. “That particular bag… I believe it also comes in a sapphire blue, doesn’t it? I’ll take that one as well. It’s always nice to have a matching set.”
Just like that, I spent another half a million dollars.
“Charlotte!”
Chloe’s shriek nearly shattered my eardrum. “Are you even her daughter?! Did you not hear a single word I said?”
Realizing that screaming was getting her nowhere, her tone abruptly shifted to a tearful plea. “Mom collapsed in the kitchen. It was a massive heart attack. The doctors here say their equipment isn’t good enough; she needs to be transferred to a specialist hospital in the city immediately. We need a medevac… Charlotte, I’ll pay you back, I swear. Just front the money, please! She’s our mother!”
She was sobbing hysterically, repeating her promises, but I simply walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and watched the traffic flowing in the streets below.
After a full three minutes of her crying, my patience finally wore thin. “What are you making such a fuss about?” I cut in, my voice cold. “She’s still breathing, isn’t she? Call me back when she’s actually dead. I have important things to do.”
I ended the call.
Mrs. Gable had heard everything. The vegetables in her hands tumbled to the floor. She grabbed my arm, her own hand trembling. “Miss Charlotte, your mother… is she…? You have to do something! Saving her is what’s important!”
I yanked my arm away in disgust and calmly sat back down on the sofa, pulling out my phone and scrolling through social media. The bright, flashing colors on the screen were soothing.
It wasn’t until Mrs. Gable looked like she was about to burst into tears herself that I finally spoke, my voice a lazy drawl. “What’s the rush? Let me finish this video first.”
Mrs. Gable stared at me as if she were seeing a monster for the first time. She shot to her feet, clutching her chest in anguish. “Charlotte, that’s your mother! Her life is on the line, and you’re not only not worried, you’re sitting here watching videos on your phone? Is your heart made of stone?!”
In all her years working for our family, Mrs. Gable had always been timid and deferential. This was the first time she had ever dared to raise her voice to me. “That money is nothing to you! Send it to your sister, now!”
I acted as if I hadn’t heard a word, my thumb continuing its steady scroll. I even liked a funny cat video.
Mrs. Gable was shaking with rage. I finally deigned to look at her, my voice like ice. “Everyone has their own fate. If they need money, they’ll find a way to get it.”
“You!” She was so angry her face went white. She pointed a trembling finger at me, but the words wouldn’t come. Finally, she let out a long, shuddering sigh, her eyes welling with tears. “They say business people are heartless. I never believed it. But you… you’ve truly opened my eyes today.”
With that, she fumbled for her own old, beat-up phone, a look of grim determination on her face. “I have a few thousand dollars saved for my retirement. I’ll send it to your sister. Every little bit helps!”
I lunged forward, snatched the phone from her hand, and smashed it on the marble floor. The screen shattered into a spiderweb of cracks.
“Charlotte, you’re mad!”
To her accusation, I simply replied, my voice light and airy, “You are my housekeeper. I pay your salary. You are not to give my money to anyone without my permission.”
Mrs. Gable froze, utterly stunned. She looked at my cold, implacable face and saw a complete stranger.
Just then, a video call from Chloe came through. I was about to reject it, but Mrs. Gable lunged, grabbing the phone and answering frantically. “Chloe, how is your mother? Is she… is she okay?!”
Chloe turned the camera to our mother, who was lying on the living room floor. Her face was a terrifying shade of bluish-purple, her lips white, her chest barely moving. A young paramedic was performing CPR, his face beaded with sweat.
Through the phone came Chloe’s heart-wrenching sobs. “The doctor said we only have a few minutes! If we don’t get her on that medevac, she’s not going to make it! Charlotte, it’s just the two of us! How can you be so cruel? How can you just watch her die?!”
Her wailing had attracted the neighbors, who were now gathered at her open door, pointing and whispering in our direction. Even the paramedic looked up at the camera and yelled, “Ma’am! The patient is in critical condition! What are you waiting for? Is money more important than her life?!”
I leaned into the phone and shouted back, “Since when is it your place to judge my decisions?”
Then, I pulled out my own phone, opened my banking app, and in full view of everyone, transferred one million dollars to the luxury boutique.

2
Seeing that she couldn’t persuade me, Mrs. Gable clutched her heart, her face ashen. “Charlotte… you… you’re being completely unreasonable!”
On the other end of the line, Chloe let out a desperate, animalistic howl. “Charlotte, you’re killing her! You’re killing our mother!”
Her voice, raw with anguish, filled the living room. “She was always so good to you! She always put you first! What could you possibly be so unhappy about that you’d rather spend a million dollars on two purses than a few hundred thousand to save her life?!”
I nonchalantly cleaned out my ear. “Are you done? It’s my money. I’ll spend it however I want. Rose Thornton is almost seventy years old. Don’t you think she should know the state of her own health? At her age, if she doesn’t take care of herself, and then comes crying to her daughter for money when she collapses… well, I earned my money to enjoy life, not to pay for her medical bills. Adults have to take responsibility for their own choices. Stop bothering me with this nonsense.”
Through the phone’s camera, I could see Chloe’s bloodshot eyes boring into me. “Even if… even if you don’t care about her as a mother, what about me? I’m your sister! If Mom dies, our family is gone!”
“Oh?” I let out a sudden laugh. “She’s your mother too. You’re the precious daughter she doted on your whole life. Why don’t you figure out a way to save her instead of just screaming at me? I have money, yes. But it’s my money. What does it have to do with you? You figure it out. Don’t make me late for my handbag verification this afternoon.”
I ended the call. The room fell silent. The neighbors who had gathered at Chloe’s door, having overheard everything, were now staring at our house with a mixture of shock and disgust.
“How can she be so cold-blooded? That’s her own mother!”
“A few hundred thousand is nothing to a CEO like her! She just dropped a million on purses, but she won’t pay to save her mother’s life? She’s not human!”
“I can’t believe a monster like that lives in our neighborhood!”
My actions had ignited a firestorm of righteous indignation. And yet, I sat there calmly, brewing myself a cup of tea as if nothing had happened.
Mrs. Gable, trembling, approached me again. “Miss Charlotte, please, stop this foolishness. Send Chloe the money… save your mother!”
I made a sound of annoyance. “Shut up. One more word, and you’re out of this house.”
She collapsed onto the floor, muttering, “It’s over. It’s all over.”
That afternoon, I took my new handbag for a spin, enjoyed a leisurely shopping trip, and returned to my office in high spirits.
As I walked into the lobby, a figure rushed forward and threw herself at my feet. It was Chloe. She was sobbing, banging her head on the floor.
“Charlotte, I’m begging you! I’ll pay you back! I’ll sell a kidney if I have to, just please, save Mom! She’s the one who raised you! She’s the only mother you have! If she dies, you won’t even have a home to go to for the holidays! If you save her, I’ll be your slave for the rest of my life!”
The employees and clients in the lobby stared, stunned, as a crowd began to form. The young woman at the reception desk, her heart going out to Chloe, tried to help her up. “Ma’am, please, get up. You’re hurt, you shouldn’t be kneeling on the floor.”
It was then that everyone noticed Chloe’s forehead was red and raw from her prostrations, her face streaked with tears and dirt. She was a pathetic sight.
“That CEO is a real piece of work!”
“To just stand by and watch her own mother die… she doesn’t deserve to be a daughter!”
I ignored the whispers and Chloe’s wails, glancing at the Patek Philippe on my wrist. “I have a charity gala to attend this evening. If you’re done crying, you can leave.”
Chloe froze, her eyes filling with a venomous hatred. “Your mother is dying, and you refuse to spend a penny to save her, but you have money to throw away at charity?! Charlotte, how can you be so cruel?!”
Her accusation was almost funny. “If you were that desperate, you could have sold your house and your car.”
Chloe was silent for a moment, then she slammed her head against the polished marble floor again, letting out a heart-wrenching scream. “I wanted to! But when I got married to Ethan, Mom gave us all her savings! You didn’t contribute a single cent! The house we live in, the car we drive, it was all from her! We don’t have any liquid assets! Three years ago, when Ethan and I got married, you looked down on him because he wasn’t wealthy enough for you. You didn’t come to our wedding, you didn’t give me a dowry, not even a wedding gift! To save me from embarrassment, Mom gave us everything she had! Ever since you became successful, you’ve looked down on all of us! You won’t even come home for Mom’s birthday! The last time you visited, you gave her a twenty-dollar bill as a gift! Charlotte, if you have a problem with me, I can change, okay? But you can’t just let Mom die!”
As she sobbed at my feet, I didn't interrupt her. Because every word she said was true. I hadn’t given her a penny for her wedding. And I knew perfectly well that for years, none of them, including my mother, had any real money to their names.
But in the next second, I waved to the security guards. “Get her out of here. I don’t want her dirtying the company’s carpets.”
My actions sent a shockwave through the crowd. Someone shouted, “That woman is a cold-hearted monster! It’s just a few hundred thousand! We can all pitch in, we’ll raise it in no time!”
A chorus of agreement rose up, and people started pulling out their phones.
I surveyed the crowd, my voice cutting through their charitable fervor like a shard of ice. “Anyone who gives them a single cent today is making an enemy of Charlotte Thornton. And you will never see a dime from any of my future projects.”
As the city’s largest real estate investor, no one dared to doubt the weight of my words. The would-be saviors reluctantly put their phones away.
Chloe let out a piercing shriek and lunged at me. “How can a daughter as evil as you exist in this world?! You don’t deserve to be human!”
Suddenly, her phone rang. On the other end, the paramedic’s voice was tired and heavy with regret. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We did everything we could… Your mother’s vital signs ceased five minutes ago.”
Chloe froze, a guttural, animalistic cry tearing from her throat. Then, she fainted dead away.
Several employees rushed to catch her. Everyone was now staring at me with a mixture of fear and revulsion.
“Well, Ms. Thornton, I hope you’re satisfied,” an older, respected employee said, pointing a finger at my nose. “You’ve personally murdered your own mother.”
Under the weight of all their judgmental stares, a relaxed smile spread across my face.
“I am very satisfied.”
After all, now that she was dead, I wouldn’t have to listen to any more of that tiresome crying.
I left the unconscious Chloe on the floor and had my driver take me to the charity gala. There, in front of all the media, I publicly pledged three million dollars.
Afterward, I had my assistant post a picture of the donation certificate on my social media. It immediately went viral. Someone had filmed the scene in my office lobby and posted it online. The video quickly trended, and my identity was revealed. I was crucified online, branded the most cold-blooded, unfilial daughter in history. Animals, they said, at least have the decency to care for their parents. I was worse than an animal.
The public began to boycott all of my company’s real estate developments. Some even started trying to dox me. My assistant anxiously asked what we should do.
I just smiled and told her to schedule a press conference for the next day.
No need to rush. A good show needs a grand finale.

3
As expected, Chloe showed up at the press conference.
She didn't come alone. She brought my brother-in-law of three years, and a whole flock of wailing, grieving relatives. They were all dressed in black, clutching a framed portrait of my mother.
The moment she saw me, Chloe’s eyes, red-rimmed and venomous, locked onto mine. “Charlotte! Because you wouldn’t pay a few hundred thousand dollars, Mom is dead! She died with her eyes open! Is this the ending you wanted?!”
I casually twirled a pen in my fingers, not even bothering to look at her for more than a second. “She had a sudden heart attack. That was a result of her own health. What does it have to do with me?”
My coldness was like gasoline on a fire. Chloe was shaking with rage, pointing at me, speechless. The reporters in the audience could no longer contain themselves. One after another, they hurled sharp, accusatory questions at me.
“Ms. Thornton, our investigation shows that your mother, Rose Thornton, worked tirelessly to raise you and your sister. During the early stages of your career, she sold her family home to support you. But after you became successful, you completely abandoned her. Why?”
“You’ve had a strained relationship with your sister, Chloe, since childhood. Your mother constantly tried to mediate. She would start preparing your favorite dishes a month in advance just to get you to come home for the holidays. How could you be so cruel to the woman who gave you life?”
“Was it just because she favored your sister a little more?”
I glanced at the reporter who had asked the last question. “Every family has its problems. Do I need to report my family dynamics to all of you?”
“But your family has consistently sacrificed for you!” a female reporter shot back. She then played a recording of a statement from our housekeeper, Mrs. Gable.
“Mrs. Thornton always loved Charlotte the most. She would always say how hard it must be for her, building a business all by herself. Whenever she made something delicious, she would insist on taking a portion to Charlotte’s office. Even if Charlotte didn’t eat it, she would still take it. When Chloe got married, Mrs. Thornton spent all her savings. She was afraid of embarrassing Charlotte, the successful CEO. She always said, when the older sister is successful, the younger sister can’t fall too far behind, otherwise people will laugh at the older sister…”
After hearing this, the crowd’s disdain for me intensified.
“What a thankless wretch! Her mother was so good to her, and she just let her die!”
Chloe chose that moment to let her tears fall, her voice thick with grief. “Mom did all of that willingly. I don’t blame my sister. I just don’t understand why she would do this to her.”
The relatives behind her started to wail. “Charlotte, if you don’t give your mother a proper explanation today, we’ll die right here!”
“You killed your own mother, and now you want to keep the entire inheritance for yourself! We demand that you give us the share your mother was entitled to!”
I met their greedy, hateful gazes and smiled. “I’m sorry, but nothing in this family has anything to do with my mother.”
My words were like a splash of cold water on a grease fire. The room erupted.
“She’s evil! She’s even trying to steal her own mother’s inheritance! She’s an animal!”
“Thornton Industries is worth billions! She wouldn’t pay a few hundred thousand to save her, and now she wants to take what little her mother had left? She’s trying to drive her sister’s family to ruin too!”
The enraged relatives and some of the more emotional members of the press started to surge toward the stage, ready to tear me apart.
Just then, the doors to the conference room were pushed open, and a group of uniformed police officers marched in.
“Nobody move!” the officer in charge commanded.

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