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Tears cascade down my cheeks. I stand and walk to Bobby. “Is what he said true?” I ask.
He looks away. “I didn’t mean to kill her. I never wanted to kill her. I only wanted to kill him. The guy I hired got it wrong. They changed their plans. He was supposed to be the one driving. Not her,” he states, shaking his head, his voice breaking with emotion.
Pain slices through my chest. My entire life has been a lie. I rear my hand back and slap him hard across the face. “You killed her?! You lied to me my entire life?” I scream. My emotions run wild within me.
“Finally! The truth comes out! You see?! You are my daughter!” Charlie yells.
I wipe my eyes and turn to face him. “Why did you change the plans?” I question.
He turns and looks at me. “What?”
“I said, why did you change the plans? Bobby said that it was you that was meant to be driving. So, what happened to change your plans?” I ask.
Charlie shrugs. “I don’t remember. It was a long time ago.”
“You knew,” I state as realisation hits me. “You knew that he found out. You knew he hired someone,” I press, walking towards him, my fists balled at my side. He steps back and shakes his head. “You ran. You never came back for me, even though you knew I was your daughter. You ran because you knew he wanted you dead. You knew it was supposed to be you that died that day, and not my mother,” I snap.
Charlie smiles, holding his hands up. “Alright, alright. You got me. But that is what survival is all about. Of course, I knew what he was up to. I had worked for the guy for years. Jesus, I’m not stupid.” He shrugs.
I lunge forward, hitting him, scratching him, the rage, the anger, everything within me pouring out. It doesn’t take long until his men are dragging me off him. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, before spitting blood on the floor. He takes a step towards me, raises his fist, and smashes it down on my face; not once, not twice, but three times. His men drop me to the floor in a heap, and I whimper in pain.
“Fuck! Leave her alone!” I hear Bobby yell. I shuffle myself back until I feel the wall behind me.
Charlie runs his hands through his hair and paces in front of me. “You, you are trying to blame me. When it was him. He set the hit man on me. I did what I had to do to survive, that’s all,” he rants. “It’s what anyone would do in that situation.”
“You didn’t love her. You didn’t care for her. You only cared for yourself,” I rasp.
He spins around to face me. Storming toward me, he bends down and grabs the scruff of my clothes, dragging me up and pinning me against the wall.
I stare at him through my busted eye. “You are a coward. At least he tried. At least he tried to kill you for her. All you did was run,” I mutter.
Charlie’s hands go around my neck, squeezing it tightly, cutting the airflow off. I gasp, desperately trying to draw in a breath. I claw at his arms, trying to get him to let go.
“You are my child, do you hear me? How dare you defy me? How dare you speak to me with such disrespect!” he sneers.
He lets go and I fall to the floor, desperately trying to draw air into my lungs. Charlie turns and walks to Bobby. “This is something I should have done a long time ago. You have spent too long poisoning her mind, making her confused with lies,” he states. I catch the glimmer of metal in his hand. “Say goodnight to my daughter,” Charlie growls before slamming the blade into Bobby’s stomach.
“No!” I croak as I crawl across the floor to him. Charlie chucks the blade to the ground and walks to the patio door.
“I will leave you to say your goodbyes,” he mutters before walking out into the garden.
I kneel up and press my hands to Bobby’s wound. “I’m sorry. I never meant to lie to you. I swear, I would have never hurt your mother. You and her were my world,” he chokes out.
“Don’t worry about that now. We can talk properly when we get out of here,” I tell him.
He smiles, reaching up, his hand cupping my face. “You may have never been mine by blood, but you are my daughter, and you always will be my daughter,” he says as tears fill his eyes. I lean into his hand, closing my eyes as I try to fight back the tears. “My beautiful little gift, my Belle. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for lying to you. I just wanted to protect you.” He coughs, his face scrunching up in pain.
“Shh, save your energy. You can explain later,” I tell him.
He slowly shakes his head no. “I’m not going to make it out of here. You need to know that I lived with the guilt of what happened to your mom every day. I felt the pain every time I looked at you. It was never meant to be her. She was the love of my life.” He wheezes, his breathing slowly becoming laboured.
“Shh, Dad. Shh, please. It will be okay. We can figure this out and go back to how we were. I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any of what I said. I’m so sorry,” I sob.
He closes his eyes, a small smile playing across his lips. “You have nothing to be sorry for.” He coughs and wheezes some more. “Being your dad was an honour, and you are the greatest achievement of my life,” he breathes on a whisper. His hand falls from my face, his lips parting as his head falls to the side.
“Dad!” I cry. “Dad. Come on. Stay with me.” I sob, patting his face. “Please,” I beg as I attempt to do CPR. “Please, please.” I try, but there’s too much blood, and I’m too weak. I collapse on his chest as pain rips through my heart. I place a soft kiss on his cheek. “Goodnight Dad. Tell Mom I said hi.”
I sit back, curling my knees to my chest, staring at the man I called Dad. Even with the lies, I would never have wished him dead. I would have forgiven him, and we would have moved on from it. I shouldn’t have hit him. I shouldn’t have reacted how I did. Calling him by his name instead of Dad hurt him.
