Chapter 0023

•DARLA•

<17 YEARS AGO>

I was only twelve when she told me the news that wrecked my heart and shuttered my world before I was even able to understand what happened to my mother.

“Why are you still doing here and not helping Mary get the dining room ready for our guests?” She glared at me on the couch with her voice a bit high, which shocked me because she never spoke to me like that before.

“You want me to help Mary? Why, Mom? Is she not okay?” I closed the book that I was reading and looked up at her. “I’m still reading a book.”

“I will not repeat myself, Darla.” Her face changed as she pointed her finger at me. “Get your ass up from the couch and go to the kitchen and help Mary set up the dining room table. Are we clear?”

“But I’ve never done anything in the kitchen.”

She scoffed. “You’re right. It’s my fault that you’re a spoilt brat who can’t even do anything in the kitchen as a woman! But that will end right now, so get up from there before I drag you to the kitchen myself!”

“Mom, did I do anything wrong? Did I offend you and Daddy in any way? I’ve done my homework and I make sure that I get good grades at school.”

She scoffed as she grabbed my wrist, dragged me up from the couch, and took me to the kitchen where Mary was cooking dinner.

She then instructed Mary to find anything for me to do before she left. I kept crying while Mary gave me a task to wash the dishes that she was going to use for the guests.

When they arrived, Belinda refused for me to go and sit with them on the table and later that night, my father came to my room and sat down on the edge of the bed next to me.

“Is Mommy angry at me?”

“No, baby. She’s not angry at you.”

“Then why didn’t she allow me to sit with you during dinner? Why did she take me to the kitchen to help Mary when I’ve never done any dishes in the house before?” I sobbed.

My father reached for my cheek and wiped my tears, and just when he was about to say something, my mother walked inside.

My father and I tilted our heads and looked at her.

“Don’t worry, Darla. I’ve gotten over my hatred for your dead mother, but I couldn’t bear the thought of my family and friends knowing that I am still taking care of my husband’s bastard child. It was enough pain to be cheated on, but I will not stand the faces of people I know judging me for taking in a child of my husband’s late mistress.” She said before she walked out of the room.

My father followed behind her, and I went to sleep crying because I couldn’t bring myself to believe a word that she said.

In the morning, when I woke up, it felt as if I had a terrible dream and didn't want to think much about it.

I was happily heading to the kitchen to get something to eat when I heard my mother arguing with my father in the hallway down the kitchen.

I didn't want to eavesdrop on their argument until I heard my name.

"Do you think that when I look at that girl, I don't see the spitting image of her mother whom you cheated on me with?" She snapped. "I see Ember in everything she does, and it pisses me off! So if you don't want me to cast my anger on her at every chance that I get, you better send her packing to boarding school tomorrow morning."

'Daddy had an affair!' I thought as I listened to their conversation and still failed to believe that my mother was not my mother.

So, I was a bastard child.

Learning that at the age of 12 was confusing, especially after growing up and knowing only my mother as my mother.

I had so many unanswered questions that I didn't know who to ask.

"She's in the middle of her exams, Linda. You don't actually expect me to tell that little girl that she has to leave everything behind and go to boarding school tomorrow, do you? Besides that, it's short notice."

"If you want this marriage to work, Ben, you're going to send her away."

"You're the one who wanted us to adopt her as our child. You're the one who said that you're going to make this work because she's my daughter, and now this -" My father sighed. "That girl has us. She has no one in the world, but us."

"If you're not going to send her away, then I'm going to leave this house with Anthony so that you two can have the whole house to yourselves and play happy family," she threatened him before her footsteps disappeared down the hallway to the back porch.

I didn't want my father to know that I eavesdropped their conversation, so I rushed off to my room and closed the door as quietly as I could.

After keeping myself in my room for almost an hour, I started feeling hungry and walked out to get food when I bumped into Anthony, walking past my room.

His face frowned when he saw me.

"I knew that you were not my sister. You're nothing but a product of a homewrecking bitch. The sooner my father sends you off to boarding school, the better." He hissed.

Anthony and I were never close, but it never occurred to me that he hated me to that extent.

Tears just rolled down my cheeks, and I couldn't utter a single word to him. On top of that, my stomach was rumbling from hunger.

"Ugh, you look so pathetic with those crocodile tears on your face." He mocked before walking off to his room, which was a few doors from mine.

I never felt so alone in my life.

I didn't even know how to react or think about the revelation of my birth mother, who died when I was just a baby.

Home started not to feel like home anymore, and I walked back to my room, closed the door, and ignored the rumbling sounds from my stomach as I curled myself into a ball on the floor and cried until I zoned off to sleep.