Chapter 3 - The Inheritance of Lies
Patricia finally moved,
limping slightly as she approached the children.
Her face was a mask of conflicting emotions—
shame,
shock,
and a desperate,
ancient grandmotherly instinct.
"Are they...
are they all his?"
she asked,
her voice barely audible over the crackling fireplace.
I looked at her,
remembering how she had stayed silent when Marcus left.
She hadn't reached out.
She hadn't checked if I was eating.
She had chosen her son over what was right.
"They are mine,
Patricia,"
I said firmly.
"They happen to share his blood,
but they are entirely mine."
Ethan,
who was the most observant,
looked at the fireplace.
"This house is big,"
he noted,
his voice echoing in the high-ceilinged room.
"But it feels lonely."
The accuracy of a child’s intuition was brutal.
Marcus looked around his mother’s pristine,
expensive home,
and for the first time,
he seemed to see the emptiness of it.
"I didn't know,"
Marcus whispered,
turning back to me.
"Kesha,
I swear,
I didn't know it was four.
I thought..."
"You thought what?"
I challenged.
"That if it was just one,
it didn't matter?
That one human life wasn't worth your time?"
Isabella,
realizing the narrative was shifting away from her,
stepped between us.
"This is a scam,"
she hissed,
her eyes wild.
"Marcus,
she’s doing this for the money!
She saw the announcement of our engagement in the paper and she cooked this up!"
I laughed,
a genuine,
booming sound this time.
"Money?"
I reached into my handbag and pulled out a sleek,
black card.
"Isabella,
I could buy this entire mountain and turn it into a parking lot for my employees."
I looked at Marcus,
who knew exactly what that card represented.
"I didn't come here for your money,
Marcus.
I have more than you’ll ever inherit."
"Then why?"
he asked,
searching my face.
"Why come now?"
"Because you invited me,"
I said simply.
"You wanted to embarrass me.
You wanted to show your family that I was the failure you claimed I was."
I leaned in closer,
so only he could hear the edge in my voice.
"I came to show you exactly what you threw away.
I wanted you to see the faces of the children who will never call you 'Father'."
The realization seemed to hit him like a physical blow.
He looked at the engagement ring box he had dropped.
It sat on the floor,
forgotten,
just like he had tried to forget me.
His life was supposed to be a straight line of success and easy choices.
May you like
Instead,
I had brought a storm that was tearing his reality apart.
