"Dad, I was only seven when you sent me abroad. I was so scared, in a foreign country where I didn''t know anyone or even thenguage."


    "Dad, all these years abroad, I''ve missed home so much—I missed Grandma, I missed you, and Mom. I never even got to see my mother onest time. When she saw me off at the airport that year... I never imagined it would be our final goodbye."


    "Dad, I truly know I was wrong. You''ve left me abroad for nearly thirty years. Isn''t that punishment enough? Please, forgive me, won''t you?"


    Vanessa''s crying was heartfelt and dramatic. She pushed her son toward Frank. "Andy, go on, call him Grandpa."


    But Andy red at Frank. Seeing his mother cry, he shouted angrily at him. Frank''s face turned thunderous, and heshed out with his foot. "You little brat! Who taught you to be so disrespectful!"


    The kick sent Andy stumbling to the ground. He burst into a wail, his screams loud enough to shake the floorboards.


    Seeing her son get hit and crying so pitifully, Vanessa rushed over and scooped him into her arms.


    "Dad, Andy isn''t even six yet! How could youy a hand on him?"


    Mrs. Thompson Sr. also came over to check on the boy, then turned to Frank reproachfully. "Hitting a child during the holidays, Frank, what is wrong with you! Vanessa is your daughter, and this boy is your grandson! Or are only the ones that woman Emma gave birth to your children!"


    "Dad, I know you''re angry that I pushed Emma back then, but I''ve already exined. It was Eden who put me up to it! He said if Emma had a baby boy, you wouldn''t love us anymore. I was just a little girl, scared of losing my father, so I gave her a little push."


    "Dad, you knew I was innocent, but you abandoned me abroad all alone. You sacrificed me to protect your son!" Vanessa cried, holding her child.


    As she was crying her heart out, she was startled by a sharp crash.


    Vanessa jumped, nearly forgetting to cry.


    She instinctively looked toward the source of the sound and saw that Bet had swept a teacup off the


    coffee table shattering it on the floor.


    His gaze was cold and piercing as he looked at Vanessa. "Are you finished?"


    Vanessa, her face streaked with tears and snot, froze on the spot.


    Bet leaned his tall frame against the back of the sofa and continued with a neer, "This is the same act. you pulled at my house yesterday, isn''t it? The one that made my mother faint!"


    Years ago, when Emma was eight months pregnant, Carol Monroe had suddenly shown up with her two children and caused a huge scene.


    Emma, heavy with child, wanted nothing to do with them and had the maids try to remove them.


    But Vanessa, just a little girl, slipped past the maids and gave Emma a hard shove from behind.


    A seven-year-old can be surprisingly strong. Emma tumbled down several steps, started bleeding, and her water broke.


    Emma was rushed to the hospital, but she hemorrhaged badly and nearly didn''t make it.


    When Frank found out, he was


    furious. To give his wife justice, he first had, Carolmitted to a mental institution so she could never cause trouble again. Then, had Vanessa forcibly sent abroad.