They Made Me the Knight, But I Became My Own Princess Chapter 09

They Made Me the Knight, But I Became My Own Princess Chapter 09

The silence on the other end was terrifying. All I could hear was Dad’s heaving breath and chattering teeth.

Maybe only then did he realize that the daughter who had always lowered her head after a single . reprimand, surrendering every good thing she had, would never shield them from another storm.

“No… Molly, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was wrong. I truly know I was wrong.

His voice finally broke into raw, anguished sobs.

Through the phone, I even heard the dull thud of his knees striking the hard floor.

“Save her. If you save her, I’ll make up for all the love I owe you. Please.”

An apology that came this late was worth less than dirt.

“Your love is filthy and cheap. I don’t need it anymore.”

I looked at my reflection in the glass. My eyes had never been clearer.

“I spent 22 years being your knight. Every time she wanted something, you demanded that I give it to her, even when it was my engagement.

“Now I have a family of my own, and I have to protect my child. Sadie’s life matters, but so does my baby’s. I won’t risk my child for someone who has spent her entire life taking from me.

“Never call again. From now on, we’ll live as strangers.”

I ended the call before he could say another word and handed the phone back to Wade.

He put an arm around my shoulders.

“Are you cold?”

I shook my head.

“No.”

I rested a hand on my still-flat stomach and looked up at him, completely at peace.

“Wade, let’s buy a crib tomorrow.”

Sadie survived after all.

The hospital used emergency chemotherapy to buy her time. A suitable volunteer was eventually

found through the National Marrow Donor Registry, barely pulling her back from the brink of death.

But nerve damage left her permanently unable to use either leg. She would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

The Farleys went bankrupt.

To pay Sadie’s enormous medical and rehabilitation bills, Dad sold the villa and the last of his

shares in the company.

The three of them moved into a run-down, 750-square-foot apartment in an old complex.

I heard all of this from a former classmate back home.

She sighed over the phone.

“Your sister has a vicious temper now. She smashes things every day and curses your parents for being useless. Your mom and dad look decades older. Molly, leaving was the right thing to do.”

I listened without feeling anything. Then I changed the subject, chatted for another moment, and

ended the call.

Back home, the cramped living room of the old apartment reeked of medicine.

Sadie sat in her wheelchair and swept a bowl of plain soup onto the floor. The bowl shattered, splattering soup everywhere.

“I’m not eating this! I want lobster bisque from that restaurant across town! You said I was a princess. How can a princess eat this pig slop every day?”

Mom crouched on the floor with a rag and silently cleaned up the shards.

Her hair had turned completely white, and her back was stooped.

She didn’t answer Sadie’s abuse. Tears simply fell one by one onto the filthy floor.

Dad returned carrying a bag of discounted vegetables.

When he saw the scene, he didn’t comfort Sadie as he once would have. He silently walked onto the balcony and lit a cheap cigarette.

Through the smoke, he stared at the warm lights glowing in the building across the way.

Suddenly, he remembered when I had first been admitted to the university. I had spent my first scholarship payment on a tie for him and a scarf for Mom.

What had they said then?

“Why did you buy this cheap junk? It’s embarrassing. Any one of your sister’s dresses costs more

than both of these.”

They had tossed the gifts into a storage closet and never taken them out again.

Dad’s fingers shook violently around the cigarette.

He suddenly crouched, covered his face, and released a sob that sounded torn from the deepest

part of him.

“This is punishment… It’s all punishment…”

Hearing him, Mom walked onto the balcony. At the sight of her weeping husband, she covered her

mouth and began to cry too.

They finally understood that the older daughter they had ignored, belittled, and forced to sacrifice was the only person in that family who had ever truly loved them.

But it was far too late.

With their own hands, they had pushed their good, obedient child into someone else’s arms. Now they would spend the rest of their lives trapped with the spoiled “princess” they had created, drowning in regret.