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“He’d like to see you,” Roman said.
I ran a hand over my face.
“Why the fuck does he want to see me?”
“Because you’re his son, man.”
I shook my head.
“And that means something to him now?”
“He’s always done his best.”
I didn’t want to argue with Roman, but no the fuck he did not. He’d made it pretty clear that he valued money and success over the lives of his own kids. He never loved us, he only cared about leaving a legacy behind when he died.
A legacy that would not live on with me.
13
Bella
My heart stopped as I stared at my inbox. I had finally sent my potential father an email the day before, not really expecting a response. Yet there I was looking at an email from Charles O’Connell.
I was grateful to be sitting down in bed when I opened up my laptop. I clicked the message and took a deep breath before reading his reply.
After talking it over with Gabe, I had decided to tell him that I was looking into the case concerning the disappearance of his daughter, Anabel, and that depending on what I found, I might be interested in writing an article about it and other cold cases. And I did intend to do that, it wasn’t a total lie. Now that I had gone down that rabbit hole, I felt compelled to help the O’Connell’s whether I was their daughter or not.
The message from Charles read:
Hi Bella,
Thank you for reaching out to me. I would love to talk about Anabel’s case, it has been so long since anyone has asked about her. Even if you don’t put together an article, that’s fine, but I am willing to do whatever I can to help you.
You had asked about our family. Besides Anabel, we have two other kids; an older son named Liam and a younger daughter named Harper. My wife, Brenda, was pregnant with Harper at the time of the abduction. We found out a few weeks later. It was a difficult time, and Harper has grown up hearing stories about her sister. Ironically enough, we called our daughter Bella, so it was very nice to get your message and see your name in my inbox. Maybe it’s a sign.
You had asked about the housekeeper that we suspected. We don’t have much information about her. Her name was Maria Smith, which we found out was a fake identity. Nothing that we knew about her was real and there’s been no trace of her since. She had worked for us for three months prior to the incident.
You had also asked if Anabel had any health issues. She did not. Her brother Liam, however, was born with a heart defect.
Thank you again for looking into this. I’d love to chat more if you have the time, and you can call me at the number posted below if you have any more questions.
Charles O’Connell
I readand re-read the message over and over again. My mom’s name was Mary, it was so close to Maria, and she was a housekeeper for a time. My dad forged documents. We were both named Bella, for god’s sake. Yes, I was Isabella and his daughter was Anabel, but that was an easy fix for my mom and dad. It all lined up in my head, and I was convinced that Charles had to be my father. I pressed the buzzer to ask Gabe to come to me. I tried to stay in bed as much as possible, and he told me to buzz him if I needed anything. I tried not to bother him often, but I really wanted to speak to him about what I’d found out.
Gabe was in my room at a moment’s notice.
“Bella? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine. I just wanted to share with you this email I received from Charles O’Connell,” I said, unable to stop myself from grinning like a fool.
He pulled over the armchair from the corner and put it beside the bed. I handed him the laptop.
His facial expressions as he read it told me everything I needed to know. He cocked an eyebrow and said, “Interesting,” once he finished.
“It seems very likely he’s my dad, right? His son was even born with a heart defect, Gabe. Just like our son.”
“I agree it seems very likely,” he said, passing the laptop over to me. “Still, I want you to be careful.”
