“That’s not true. It can’t be,” I said quickly.
Evelyn didn’t blink.
“I knew your grandfather well. I knew her well. I was there the entire time…”
I swallowed hard.
“She told me… not that.”
“What, honey? She told you that she was young and scared?” Evelyn cut in. “That she regretted it? That she cried for you every day? That she had a hole in her heart after you were gone?”
I nodded.
Evelyn’s face hardened.
“Emma, she partied. She partied hard. She spent every penny she had. And when she got pregnant, she saw you as an inconvenience. Suddenly, her life was… too different.”
I felt something inside me crack.
“She never once looked for you,” Evelyn continued. “Not once. Not until now.”
The mansion. The desperation. The timing.
“Why now?” I whispered. “Why would she look for me now?”
Evelyn sighed.
“Because your grandfather died last month,” she looked me in the eye. “And he left everything to you. You’re eighteen now, honey. It’s all officially yours.”
A rush of nausea hit me.
No. No… no, that wasn’t…
“She came back because you’re her ticket, Emma!”
Evelyn’s voice softened.
“Because, honey, if she convinces you to stay here, then she’s going to tell you everything. And you’ll be her ticket to the good life. She wants you to be her ticket…”
The world blurred. The mansion. The tears. The trembling hands.
It wasn’t about love. It was never about love.
It was about money.
And I was nothing more than a golden ticket.
I stood by the grand staircase, my bag slung over my shoulder. Sarah leaned against the banister, arms crossed, eyes sharp.
“You’re really leaving,” she said flatly.
“Yeah.”
“You’re making a mistake, Emma,” she scoffed.
“No,” I said. “The mistake was believing you wanted me and not my inheritance.”
“I gave birth to you,” she said.
“And then you let me go.”
“So, you’re going to take the money and go?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m going to pay for my own tuition next year when I go to college. And I’m going to spoil my parents, as they’ve been spoiling me my entire life.”
For the first time, she had no comeback.
I turned for the door.
“You owe me, Emma,” she snapped.
I paused, gripping the handle.
“I owe you nothing,” I said.
When I got back home, my parents were waiting for me.
I didn’t say anything. I just ran into my mom’s arms.
She held me tight, stroking my hair.
“You’re home,” she whispered.
And she was right. I was home.
Because in the end, I didn’t need a mansion, or a fortune, or a mother who only wanted me when it was convenient.
“Welcome back, baby girl,” my father said.
I already had everything I ever needed.
A real family.
