Chapter 0007
- DARLA.
“Are you sure that you can do this?”
“Yes, Ethan, and before I change my mind, I need you to run me over the whole thing again. I need all the details, including the business that you’ll be doing with the Iraq men.”
“Of course, we can set up another lunch date, and I’ll tell you everything that you need to know. And about leaving Atlanta,” he paused for a moment. “I was going to suggest that we relocate to California. That’s where I’ll be working most of the time.”
I honestly didn’t care about where we relocated to, as long as I was going to be very far away from Elijah.
I was looking forward to finally living my life without being told what to do and when to do it.
“That sounds great to me. As long as we will be out of Atlanta,” I said as I packed the pregnancy report inside my traveling bag.
“I’m sorry about earlier, I should’ve –”
“It’s okay, Ethan,” I sighed as I sat down on the edge of the bed. “I’m over that now. Once you and I leave this place, we won’t talk about him or this day.”
I sighed, trying to forget the image of Elijah in my mind when he called me a bitch again in front of Ethan and accused me of galavanting with men before our divorce was finalized.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I have to go now,” I sighed as I took the traveling bag from the bed and placed it on the floor.
“Promise me that you’ll be good. I’ll call you later if I fail to organize another lunch date to discuss the relocation arrangement and the whole contract and business details.”
“Alright, bye.” I hung up the call and sighed before I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes for a moment.
But as I was about to have a little moment to myself, my cell phone rang again. But this time, it was my father.
After finding out that Belinda was not my birth mother, my father and I kind of grew apart.
I was no longer the little princess of his heart anymore, but I became a constant reminder of what his marriage
with Belinda survived.
I couldn’t remember a day after that when Belinda didn’t try different ways to let me know that she wasn’t my
birth mother.
She made me feel the pain that my mother put her through when she found out that she was pregnant with me.
“Darla, are you there?” He asked after I answered the call and kept quiet.
“Yes, Father. What is it this time?” I groaned.
It was crystal clear that Belinda had already told him what a disappointment I was.
She surely couldn’t wait to gloat about how his bastard daughter let down the family and fell pregnant for another man while divorcing Elijah Houston.
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Chapter 0007
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I imagined how my father believed every word that she told him, just as she got him to agree to marry me off to Elijah, knowing very well that he didn’t love me.
“Why am I hearing about your divorce with Elijah? Didn’t your mother and I tell you how important the business deal with them is? Did you have to go out of your way to disappoint the family after everything that we did for you?
11
I scoffed. “After everything that you did for me? Why are you talking as if I’m not your daughter? For years, I did everything that you and your wife wanted me to do. I did everything and listened to you as if I didn’t have a life of my own, and I allowed you to control me like a puppet. I did that because I thought that one day you would look at me and be as proud of me as you are of Anthony. I’ll always be a bastard child to you.”
“Belinda and I did everything that we did for your own good. We arranged your marriage to the wealthiest man in the world because we are your parents. We wouldn’t have done that if we didn’t have the best interest of heart for you.”
I sat up on the bed and scolded. “Well, I hope you and Belinda will be happy now that I am out of your hair for good. You won’t have to waste your breath trying to make me fit into your perfect little world.”
“You have to make things right with Elijah, or I will revoke the allowance that I am kindly paying into your account every week.”
“You can keep your money. I don’t need it.” I said before I hung up the call and fell back on the bed.
My mind reminisced back to the time when I first met Elijah and instantly fell in love with him.
That memory had been engraved in the deepest parts of my memory even when I watched him for two years, failing to love me or even pretend like he did.
Like I usually did during my free time, I went to visit an orphanage center to give a few gifts to the kids and play
with them.
I did this because I knew how it felt like not to have a mother and be reminded every single day of my life that she was dead.
“My name is Darla, what’s yours?”
“Lily.”
“Lily. You have such a beautiful name, Lily, but not as beautiful as you.” I caressed the little girl’s cheek and smiled at her as she took the teddy bear that I brought her.
Just when I was straightening up to go and have a little conversation with another kid as well, there he was… My Prince Charming.
He was smiling as he shook a little boy’s hand. He looked so handsome and I was so sure that I had never seen anyone like him before.
His gentleness with the little boy brought so much warmth in my heart, and I felt drawn to him.
He loved children as much as I did, and because of that, he stole my heart.
I was going to approach him and get to know him better when I stopped right in my footsteps when I saw him embracing a woman.
They shared a look that had me convinced that they were together, and I aborted my mission to pass by and say hello.
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Chapter 0007
I told myself that in a few days, I would forget that I had ever seen him and loved him.
+25 BONUS
But silly me, silly me. My parents played their cards well as the master puppeteers and brought misery into my life.
