I Fled the Wedding and Came Back With a Contract Husband Chapter 11

I Fled the Wedding and Came Back With a Contract Husband Chapter 11

“And you didn’t call for two years,” he continued. “Now you’re making up for it all at once.”

I smiled. “Regret it?”

“Not at all.” He finished his lemonade. “If I want to do something, I do it. No regrets.”

A week later, my mother was well enough for a short stay at home. I went to the Hartwell estate to collect her things and finalize the rehab center paperwork.

When I stepped inside, the living room was packed.

This time, Sophia was crying on the floor. Grandfather sat rigidly at the head of the table. My father stood beside him, sweating. Nathan leaned against the wall, eyes down.

A DNA report lay on the coffee table.

When Grandfather saw me, he pointed his cane at Sophia.

“Good timing. This new report-you’re not a mix-up. You were born outside this family. Your father invented the hospital story. He lied to all of us for years.”

I blinked. They’d gotten that far.

Sophia wailed, “Grandfather, I didn’t know-I thought I was just switched-Dad, say something—’

My father’s lips quivered, and he dropped to his knees.

“Father… back then, I had no choice. Sophia’s mother died. There was no one to take her, so I-“|

“So you lied!” Grandfather slammed his cane. “You told us it was a mix-up, brought her in, and made us

raise her like our own! Your wife poured her heart into that girl-you saw it! And her own real daughter was pushed out for five years!”

My father knelt, silent.

Sophia scrambled to Nathan, grabbing his sleeve. “Nathan-I didn’t know-you have to believe me-”

Nathan looked down, pulling his arm free. “You did know.”

Sophia’s hand hung in midair.

“You knew you were Dad’s illegitimate daughter.” His voice was quiet. “Your mother told you before she died. You were fifteen. You knew.”

The room went deadly still.

Sophia’s face drained of all color. She couldn’t speak.

“You knew,” Nathan repeated. “You came after me deliberately. You planned that night. When you got pregnant, you forced my hand.”

“You said the baby wouldn’t survive, that you’d have nothing without a name. So I married you. But on the night of our wedding, you told me yourself. You knew.”

Sophia collapsed into a heap on the floor.

I watched it all. The tension that had coiled inside me for years slowly unwound-then tightened again.

Unwound because the truth was finally out. Tightened because the truth came wrapped in so much pain.

Grandfather waved me over. “Emily, come here.’

I walked to him.

His eyes were bloodshot. “All these years,” he said. “We wronged you.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I left of my own accord. But you owe my mother an explanation. She loved Sophia like her

own-she believed the lie. You have to tell her the truth. Directly.”

Grandfather nodded. “She deserves that.”

Sophia started to speak, but Grandfather silenced her with a shout. She crouched there, trembling, wrapped

in her shawl like a scared bird.

Nathan walked over and stopped in front of me. “Emily, I know what happened that night. I got the

recording.”

I looked at him. “Who sent it?”

“Doesn’t matter.” He met my eyes. His face was tired, but his gaze was clear. “What happened back then-I owe you an apology. I trusted the wrong person, and I failed you.”

“I know now how I got drunk, and what she did. But the five years of marriage I gave her-the responsibilities I took on-I can’t pretend they didn’t happen.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Divorce.” His voice was soft, but resolute. “I’m ending it. I’ll raise the child myself. She made her choices. I’m done covering for her.”

Sophia’s head snapped up. “Nathan!”