AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I'd have to start asking family if they were open and willing to match test for me, otherwise I would end up on a long list of hopefuls and possibly never get a donor.
"How did you meet her?"
He let out a sound somewhere between a huff and a scoff. "Are you sure you want to have this conversation right now?"
"Why not? My life is already shit. What's one more thing?"
He sighed deeply into the phone. I imagined he was rubbing his forehead. "She was my assistant."
"Was she legal?"
"She'd just turned eighteen when she had you."
So, no, she wasn't. I’d had a weird feeling she was young after I’d met her, but I hadn’t expected her to be that young.
"Did you love her?"
"Love…it's a tricky thing."
I laughed under my breath. Didn't I know that.
"Do you still talk to her?"
Silence stretched for such a long moment to the point I thought he hung up. Just as I was about to call his name, he spoke. "Yes, I do."
"How often?"
"Quite often, actually."
I rubbed the ache in my chest. Judgment and distrust blackened my vision as all the lies I'd been told over the years flashed through my head.
"How did she end up in your office that day when I came to see you? Before that when I asked about her, you told me you didn't talk to her."
"It's a long story, but I'll sum it up for you. After you were born, I foolishly thought we all could work out joint custody since it'd be in the best interest for you, but I should've known better." Dad’s voice trailed away like he was deep in memory. "Sophia was young and poor with nowhere to live, and Joy used that against her to keep her out of your life. Sophia begged me not to take you from her…and I couldn't. It takes a selfish person to deny someone their child. So, I worked with her as much as I could and lied to Joy about it. My arrangement with Sophia went on for years until Joy hired a private investigator to keep tabs on me. Joy built a fictitious case against her, insisting she was mentally unstable."
My brows rose. This shit just got better and better. To our rich, little island, we were the picture-perfect family. Behind closed doors, we were all living double lives.
Two
"What?" I said. My voice elevated to a shocking level. "What was she trying to prove?"
"I tried to reason with Joy and asked her to put herself in Sophia's shoes and pretend it was Xavier. You know what she said? 'I feel no pity for the whore you cheated on me with.' That’s when I knew it would never be easy. In order for Joy to stop the harassment, I gave her the one thing I knew would placate her. Money. Reluctantly, I gifted Joy for her selflessness, but also to act like a mother to you. I thought everything would be okay, but it was far from that."
Gifted. "You mean you paid her off." I scoffed to myself at the sheer ignorance of it. "You paid off your own wife."
"Sophia fell into a terrible state of postpartum depression after you were born. It lasted a long time." Dad ignored my comment. "I felt guilty, like it was all my doing. When I stopped seeing her, she became irrational, highly unstable, and on top of her sister's death, she threatened to run off with you and disappear. I knew she loved you dearly, but I couldn’t chance that. I told her if she wanted to seek mental health treatment that I'd pay for it, which I did. I gave her a fully furnished condo once she was out of the inpatient facility, and money to live on so she didn't have to worry. She tried to refuse both and fought me over it because she saw it as payment for you. I assured her it wasn't like that." Dad was quiet for a moment. "During this time, I became a total disaster. My business took a huge hit, I was drinking heavily, and I had a child with someone who wasn't my wife but I was madly in love with. I wanted a divorce. Joy knew that and used whatever she could to her advantage. She insisted I file for full custody so we could give you a healthy and stable home with your brother. She was so sincere…and I believed her. I just never expected Joy to exploit my affair or to use my child for her gain."
I frowned, feeling so low inside. What a bittersweet tragedy my birth caused. It wasn't a happy occasion like the new life of a child should be. It was one full of misery and adultery. I was unwelcomed, and that only further solidified the isolation I fought deep inside throughout my childhood.
"Sophia and I started talking again once she was better." His voice was quiet.
"How long ago was that?"
"Oh, I'd say over ten years ago. At least."
My brows shot up. "What!" I yelled into the phone. "Over ten years ago? Is that why Joy is the way she is? I'm assuming she found out."
"She didn't find out until a couple of years ago actually. That's when things started to get really tense between us. She hired another private investigator."
