Chapter 120 Family Reunion

Chapter 120 Family Reunion


\-Lilith-

I couldn't move.

My eyes moved from the woman beside me to the boy across the room. My real mother.

My brother… No, twin brother. But the words refused to make any sense.

I looked at the woman again. Mother called her Camille.

There was something familiar about her face now that I knew to look for it. The shape of her eyes. The curve of her mouth.

Then I looked at the boy, he was already staring at me.

My breath caught because I had seen that face before. Not his exact face, but the resemblance was unmistakable.

Dad.

My stomach twisted.

I swallowed hard and turned toward Mother, and for the first time in my entire life, I realized that there was not a single resemblance between us. She was tall, and slender, and had sharp features I never had.

How could I have missed all that?

“Who are they?” I asked, meeting her cold gaze. 

Her lips curved into a small smile. “You heard me the first time, Lilith.” 

I shook my head. “No. You don’t get to say something like that and expect me to understand.”

She stepped into the small circle our seats had created. “Camille is your biological mother. David is your twin brother.”

My gaze snapped back to them. And once again, David's eyes met mine.

Neither of us spoke.

I couldn't even decide whether I wanted to cry, scream, or laugh.

“Then what does that make you?”

Her smile faded. “Someone who raised you.”

“You lied to me.”

“Yes.” The answer came so easily that it hurt more than an excuse would have.

“For my entire life?”

“For your entire life.”

My throat tightened. Why was she so cold? Why was it so easy to say things like this? I wanted to say them all at once, but only one word made it out of my mouth.

“Why?”

She looked at the woman I was suddenly supposed to accept as my mother. “Because your mother was never supposed to survive.”

The woman lowered her head as I stared at her.

“What?”

Mother continued. “It’s a long story, Lilith, but today, we have all the time in the world. So we’re going to sit here, and we’ll listen… together." 

At that moment, one of her men brought a seat for her, and she sat with us. Now we looked like people at group therapy. Only this time, she was the only one untied. 

Once she was settled, she began, her voice devoid of any emotion. 

“Once upon a time, a woman named Camille lived happily with her husband James, and their little daughter, Celeste,” she said with a grin.

Realization suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. Me and Celeste… were full-blooded sisters.

I struggled at the ropes, but it was no use. They were too strong.

God, what had I done? 

“One day, a man called Reginald Blackwell decided to break up this happy family. And for that, he needed me.” She pointed to herself with a wild smile. 

“He wanted an insider. He wanted to control that family from within. So we planned the accident. She was on her way to the hospital, probably to confirm her pregnancy… but she didn’t make it. She was supposed to die in that accident. She didn’t… She survived with not a single scratch.”

She turned to me with a smirk. “After the accident, I made sure everyone believed she was dead. There was enough confusion for me to make it believable, and Reginald handled the people who needed convincing.”

Camille’s eyes filled with tears. “You’re a monster.” 

Mother nodded. “I am. And I can’t change that. When Reginald found out you were pregnant,” she turned to Camille, “That’s when our plan changed.”

“Reginald’s plan was simple. He propped me up with a grieving James. I faked a pregnancy, and when the child is born, I’d take them as mine.” 

“And then you locked me away, stripped me of my agency and took everything from me!” Camille’s voice trembled. 

“Yes,” Mother nodded again. “Our plan worked out perfectly. And when the time was right,” she paused, and turned in my direction. “You were taken from her and raised as my daughter.”

I laughed bitterly. “So that's what I was? A way in?”

“You had a home. A family. Everything you needed.”

“I had a lie.”

Her expression remained unchanged.

“You had a life.”

“A life you stole from me.”

She didn't answer. Instead, she looked toward David. “There was one thing I didn't know.”

David finally lifted his head. “I thought Camile had given birth to one child.”

His expression hardened. She went on.

“Apparently, she went into labor before I arrived. And with the help of that French nurse, you called your mother,” she said. “Camile hid you… Thus depriving you of the life you deserved.”

Camille looked at David, tears slipping down her cheeks. “I was afraid of what she would do.”

Mother laughed quietly.

“And you were right to be afraid.” She looked at David. “If I had known there was a male heir, I would have taken him too.”

David's jaw tightened. “Why?”

“Because a son would have given me leverage. Over the Ashfords. Over the company. Over everyone. That could’ve been the plan from the get-go.”

I stared at her. “So you took me because you thought I was the only one.”

“Exactly.”

The room seemed to shrink around me. She hadn’t just taken my mother, erased her, built my entire identity around a lie and still believed she’d done me a huge favor. It suddenly made sense why we never completely felt like mother and daughter.

I pulled against the ropes. “You destroyed my life.”

Her gaze settled on me. “No. I shaped it. I made you who you are.”

“You don't own me.”

Her expression hardened. “You'd be surprised how much control I still have.”

“How long are you keeping us here?” I asked.

“As long as necessary.” She stood and walked toward the door.

“You can't hide us forever.”

“I don't need to,” she paused at the door. “I’ll make everyone believe you went away. I’ll make sure of that.” 

My stomach dropped. “What?”

“Oh, I’m talking about the letter I’ll find in your room saying you need time away from everything. No one will look for you.” 

She opened the door. “By the time they realize something is wrong, it will be too late.”

“Vanessa!” I screamed.

She looked back at me. “Oh, it’s no longer Mother, eh?”

I glared at her. “You're going to pay for this.”

A faint smile touched her lips.

“Perhaps... For now, enjoy your family reunion.

Then she walked out, and the door slammed shut.