Chapter 53 The Family I Never Knew
BELLA
I stood frozen, the weight of my father’s words pressing down on me like a collapsing building. My hands trembled as I wiped my damp eyes, trying to grasp the reality he had just laid before me.
“I’m not your biological father,” he had said.
The words echoed in my head, each syllable slicing through the fragile threads of my understanding. I moved closer to his hospital bed, my knees weak, my heart hammering against my chest. This had to be a mistake. Maybe the illness had clouded his mind.
“Dad,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “Let me call the doctor. Maybe… maybe you’re confused.” I took a shaky step toward the door.
“Bella,” he called, his voice firmer than I expected. “I’m not confused. I’m telling you the truth.”
I turned back, my breath catching in my throat. “Why now? Why tell me this now?” I asked, my words laced with disbelief. “Why couldn’t you just” My voice broke. “Why couldn’t you just keep it to yourself? If you’re not my father… then who is?”
I sank to the floor, my hands clutching the sides of my head as tears spilled freely. He reached out, his hand resting on mine, a touch that still held warmth despite the chill of the hospital room.
“I don’t know if I’ll survive, Bella,” he murmured, his voice softer now, almost apologetic. “You deserve to know the truth. It’s time.”
I shivered, his words slicing through me like ice. My father not my father? The man who had raised me, who had kissed my scraped knees, and who had fought for me all my life wasn’t my blood.
“I found you,” he began, his gaze distant, as if looking into the past. “At a construction site. You were just a baby, left alone. I waited… thought maybe someone had lost you. But no one came.”
I swallowed the lump rising in my throat. My voice, barely above a whisper, trembled. “Why didn’t you report me as a missing child?”
“I did,” he said, his eyes meeting mine with a sorrowful gaze. “The police told me to keep you until they found your parents.” He sighed. “But a month passed… and nothing. No one came for you.”
A single tear rolled down his cheek. “By then, you were mine. I couldn’t let you go.”
The dam holding back my emotions broke. Tears streamed down my face as I looked at the man who had been my entire world. “I don’t hate you,” I choked out. “I could never hate you.” I wrapped my arms around him, clinging to the only father I had ever known.
He held me close, his hand gently stroking my hair. “Bella… there’s something else.”
I pulled back, my eyes searching his face. His expression was grave.
“When I found you, you had a necklace,” he said. “I kept it with the clothes you were wearing. It’s in my wardrobe at home. If you ever want to find them… your real parents… it might help.”
I shook my head, the thought of searching for strangers who had abandoned me tightening like a noose around my chest. “They left me. If they wanted me, they wouldn’t have abandoned me.” My voice hardened. “You are my only father.”
He smiled weakly, the lines around his eyes softening. “You’ve always been my daughter, Bella. Always.”
As he closed his eyes to rest. But as I sat there, holding his hand, a nagging thought crept in. Why now? Why tell me this after all these years?
My phone buzzed in my pocket, pulling me from my thoughts. Elowen.
“Babe!” she exclaimed the moment I picked up. “Did you see the comments? Lizzy’s being dragged! Everyone’s calling her a slut and saying she cheated on David.” Her laughter rang through the line.
“I haven’t checked,” I said, my voice flat.
She paused. “What’s wrong? You should be happy. This is what you wanted to make her pay.”
“My dad… he told me something.” I hesitated, the words catching in my throat.
“What did he say?” Elowen’s tone shifted, concerned, bleeding into her usually confident voice.
I took a deep breath. “He’s not my biological father.”
Silence.
“Elowen? Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” she said, her voice subdued. “Did he tell you who your real parents are?”
“No,” I whispered. “He doesn’t know.”
“Then there’s no need to look for them,” she said quickly, too quickly. “You don’t need them, Bels. You have a life here.”
I frowned. There was something off in her tone something I’d never noticed before. “Yeah… I guess,” I murmured, ending the call.
But her words lingered, and a cold suspicion settled in my chest. Why did she sound so relieved? So eager to steer me away from the truth?
For the first time, I felt it a gnawing need to know.
Who are my real parents?