Chapter 1

Married for ten years, I completely cut ties with my family.

Recently, a TikTok video titled "Mother begs on her knees for estranged daughter to return to dying father's bedside" blew up on the trending page.

Netizens quickly branded me as an ungrateful monster. They doxxed my personal information, trying to drag me out from behind the screen.

Later, my mother tracked me down to my company. In front of all my coworkers, she tried to morally hijack me.

In the next second, I threw myself to my knees right in front of her.

"Mom! I got scammed! I'm drowning in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. I was too ashamed to go home and ruin your lives, so I've been working day and night to pay it off. I wanted to come home after I cleared my name, but I never expected you to find me first!"

"It’s all my fault. I was greedy, wanting to make quick cash to support you and Dad. I never thought I’d fall for a scam."

On Friday afternoon, I was gossiping with my coworkers.

Brenda, who had been glued to her phone, suddenly sighed loudly.

"They say once a daughter leaves, she’s dead to the family. It’s so true. She hasn't visited her parents in ten years. How cold-hearted!"

"If I had a daughter like that, I’d break her legs."

Her sudden outburst caught everyone’s attention. We all leaned in to look at her screen.

In the video, a woman sobbed, claiming her husband was terminally ill and that their daughter had cut contact and vanished for ten years after she left home.

Curious, I peeked over too. The moment I saw the face on the screen, my mind went completely blank.

Ten years ago, that very same face had screamed at me.

"Your older brother needs to get married, and your younger brother needs private school! Is a fifty-thousand-dollar dowry all you're worth?"

"Tell him if he doesn't bring a hundred thousand, he can forget about marrying you."

My hands shook as I tapped on the video, which already had nearly a million views.

[Father Terminally Ill, Mother Begs Estranged Daughter of Ten Years to Come Home]

The words "Estranged Daughter of Ten Years" were highlighted in bold, bright red, as if she had committed an unpardonable sin that needed to be broadcasted to the entire world.

Ten years had passed, and she had aged significantly. Wrinkles lined her face, and her eyelids sagged.

In the video, she painted me as an ungrateful, heartless girl who abandoned her aging parents for a man, completely ignoring them for a decade.

"Her father and I worked ourselves to the bone, saving penny by penny to put her through college. We didn’t expect her to become rich and famous, just to be sensible and decent. But she threw her life away for a man, ran off, and cut us off completely. We didn't even know if she was dead or alive."

"Now, her father has terminal cancer. He doesn't have much time left. He just wants to see his daughter one last time before he dies. I had no choice but to turn to social media. Please, everyone, help us find her. Her name is Chloe Miller, born May 12, 1993, originally from..."

My mother sobbed, wiping away fake tears. The live comments section was flying by.

The outraged internet mob slammed me as a parasitic monster.

[The poor mother! This daughter is absolute trash!]

[Cutting contact for ten years? She's a monster. Why even look for her?]

[So heartless. Her father is literally on his deathbed, and she won't even visit. No conscience whatsoever.]

[Chloe Miller, your parents are looking for you. Go home!]

[Hey, I think I saw this girl around the West End in Austin. Her height and face look identical. Not sure if it's actually her.]

...

Once my coworkers understood the story, they joined the chorus of condemnation.

"That is incredibly cruel. No matter how bad the grudge, they are still her parents. How could she just ignore them?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions without knowing the whole story," someone else muttered.

Since internet dramas always have twists, most of them just made a few comments and were ready to move on.

But Brenda wasn’t having it. "I’ve always said daughters are useless! She ran off right after college. Completely worthless. An ungrateful brat."

"If you're going to have kids, have sons. Only sons are reliable."

The office fell silent. The atmosphere shifted instantly.

Our company specialized in women’s wellness products. Aside from a few roles, almost the entire staff was female.

Brenda constantly bragged about her son and preached about how superior boys were, which made her incredibly unpopular.

Olivia, who always spoke her mind, snapped back. "Brenda, you’re a woman too. Are you saying you're useless?"

"Ugh, please! How could you compare me to that girl in the video? I live literally five minutes away from my mother. I visit her every single day."

Olivia wouldn't back down. "Then why do you sound like having a daughter is a curse? Honestly, since you had a son, it feels like you've completely taken his side against women."

"Besides, if someone is willing to cut ties for ten years, her parents must have done something horrific to her. You can't trust just one side of a story on the internet. There's always a twist."

Brenda was furious, but she couldn't find a good comeback, so she shut up.

Trying to deflect, she turned her eyes toward me.

"Hazel, the daughter in this video actually looks a lot like you."