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“She did, and I’m sorry,” he says. “When he found out she’d given birth, she wouldn’t tell him where his child was, which is when he—”
“Stop!” I shout, not wanting to hear it.
“You have to know. She loved you.”
“No.” Tears well up in my eyes. What mother would give up her child like that? What mother would run right back into the arms of the man who hurt her? Used her? Betrayed her?
“I … I should’ve kept an eye on her. Should’ve done more, anything, to make her stay.”
“Please,” I mutter. His words undo me. Strip me of all that makes me human and leave a scrambled set of bones scattered on the ground. That’s how broken I feel.
“I was left … with you,” he says. “And when I looked at you, I could see your mother’s eyes reflect back at me. It killed me. So I … I …” He chokes on his own words. “I brought you to the hospital and left you there.”
He sniffs. I can hear him cry, but it’s not registering.
“I never knew Graham would find you again one day. Never imagined you two would ever cross paths.”
“Lies,” I hiss, overcome with fury.
“It’s the truth. I didn’t even know you were hers until I saw that birthmark.”
“That’s why you ran off …”
“Yes. I went straight to Graham to confront him about it. He admitted to you being hers… and his.”
A shock ripples through me.
I hadn’t even considered it up until now.
Graham … my father?
“No.” I shake my head again. “It can’t be true.”
“It’s the only truth I’ve ever kept from you.”
“Why?” I shout.
“Because I didn’t want you to get hurt,” he says.
“But that sadistic fuck can’t be my father! He just can’t!” I feel unsteady, so I grab the table to keep myself from falling over.
“I didn’t want to believe it either, but it’s the truth. He just didn’t care. That’s why he wanted to sell you again.”
My lips part, but nothing comes out. I’m left gasping for breath, trying to understand how this could happen to me. How I could be the product of that … monstrous man. And that even knowing all that, he still chose to sell me.
I want to kill him with my own bare hands.
“Is he still at the compound?” I say through gritted teeth.
“I know what you’re thinking, and don’t go there,” Chase says. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Did you kill him?” I ask.
“I tried … but I failed.” His voice sounds guttural. “But don’t you even think about it, Syrena.”
I am, but I can’t stop thinking about everything else he told me either.
About how my life, even before my imprisonment in a cage, has been one giant lie.
I was always told my mother would come to pick me up some time. I even left the teddy bear at the orphanage, so she’d know I was still waiting for her. I kept going back there, time and time again, asking if someone had come for me.
But she never would.
My mother never cared enough because she didn’t care to stay alive.
And Chase … never cared enough to force her to stay.
My fists clench as I raise my head high.
“I will go there and kill him myself if that makes it easier for you,” he says. “If it will allow you to … forgive me.”
How can I say no to that? Still, I can’t bring myself to give him an answer. Because I don’t want to forgive him.
“I know you’re mad at me for leaving you at a hospital, but what else was I supposed to do? You know who I am, what I’m capable of. I wanted the best for you, and I knew I could never give that to you,” he says.
I take a deep breath to try to focus, but my mind is buzzing with information, overwhelmed with trying to process everything.
“Please, Syrena … you have to believe me,” he adds, his voice soft and drenched in fear.
I shake my head. Nothing he says matters. Nothing can fix what he’s done.
He lied to me, kept this from me, when he knew all this time who I was.
He knew my mother while I never had the chance … and now it’s all gone because of him.
“I’m sorry …” he says, the sound of defeat echoing in his voice. “I understand if you hate me now.”
“I do,” I say. It hurts. Like a bullet grazing my heart. But I can’t feel anything except pain right now … and that pain is worse than anything he could ever do to me.
“Let me out,” I say resolutely.
He doesn’t respond.
It’s the only thing he’s tried to prevent me from doing. His one weakness. Me.
Because that’s what this was all about. Keeping me under lock and key. Forcing me to be with him. But I can’t do it any longer. I can’t stay with the man who caused my life to be a miserable hell.
