Chapter 6. Maddie.

Emma Spencer.

Peter turns violently on me, grabs my shoulders against the wall and shouts, “Why can I smell my daughter in there?”

I open my eyes wide, breathing heavily, not knowing how to respond to that. “Your daughter? What the hell are you talking about, Peter? It’s just Maddie in there. Let me go!”

“So, she is my daughter, Emma. I can smell her! It is my blood that runs through her veins!”

“What do you mean, you can smell her? We’re not animals, Peter. What the hell is wrong with you? If you keep yelling like that, you’ll scare everyone in there, including Maddie.”

I watch as he tries to calm down as he tells me, “She is not Albert’s daughter, Emma. How did you conceive her? How did you get pregnant?”

“How do you know she’s not his daughter?”

“Answer the fucking question!”

I feel as if an invisible power is hitting me, forcing me to respond truthfully. 

I breathe raggedly, trying to endure the pain that comes with it, while sweat appears on my forehead.

I tell him, “By artificial insemination.”

His grip loosens and that invisible power I feel softens, letting me breathe normally. I gasp for the air I desperately need, touching my throat.

“Artificial insemination? Where?”

Panting, I tell him. “Why you want to know?”

“Emma, ​​please answer me! I need to know!”

I sigh, defeated, and tell him, “No Horizon Fertility Clinic.”

His eyes widen, and he places a hand on his forehead. His eyes shine and I see how the tears run down his face, disconcerting me. “Why are you crying? What’s wrong, Peter? Tell me!”

“She is my daughter, Emma. Six years ago, I went to that clinic to have my sperm studied, since I wanted to become a father and at thirty years old, it had not happened. Nobody knew how or why, but the sample was lost. There was an investigation, but we never found out what happened.”

I am left absolutely speechless. I cover my mouth with one hand as I try to process what he’s telling me.

He wipes away his tears and whispers to me, “I know she’s mine, Emma. If you want, we can do a DNA test, but I know she is my daughter.”

I frown and feel possessive. “You’re not taking her, Peter! I won’t let you take her away from me.”

He looks at me strangely, while he says, “What? I would never separate you from her, Emma. No, what I want is for us to take our daughter and take her to my house. You will stay with me, and that is final, Emma. I will not accept it to be any other way.”

I breathe heavily with a thousand questions running through my head until a sweet voice coming from the door interrupts our conversation.

“Mommy? Is that you, mommy?”

I force a smile on my face as I tell her, “Yes, baby, it’s mom.”

“Mommy! I missed you so much, mommy!”

“And I miss you too, baby.” I pick her up, placing my nose on her neck, sniffing her. God! I love her smell. I gently stroke her back, when suddenly she stops hugging me, turns around and I see how she smells the air, just like Peter did when we got home and she says to me, “Mommy, is my daddy here?”

I open my eyes wide and say, “Your daddy, Albert?”

“Mommy, Albert is not my daddy. He never has been.”

I’m going to retort when Peter interrupts us by saying, “Hello, pumpkin.”

She looks at him and her eyes shine with wonder. “Wow, you are my daddy! Where were you? I missed you so much, daddy. I asked the goddess a lot to bring you back, daddy.”

I am left speechless. What the hell does all this mean? How is it possible for both of them to recognize each other as father and daughter without proof? Goddess? What is all this?

I watch as Peter’s tears run down his face, and he offers her his arms to hug her. She jumps, without thinking, into his arms as she hugs him, kissing his face. Maddie never hugged or kissed Albert. Since she was very little, she ran away from him.

“Yes, it’s you, daddy! It’s you! The Goddess told me to be patient. She told me I could reunite with my family. And I prayed, I prayed a lot for you to come back, daddy.”

Peter, raising an eyebrow at me, asks Maddie, “The Moon Goddesses? Did one of them talk to you in your dreams, baby?”

“Yeah! Selene did! How do you know?”

“Because your grandmother Charlotte, she could also talk to the moon goddesses in her dreams, baby.” After that, she hugged him tighter than before.

When I see the image, all I do is cry with them. Peter doesn’t stop caressing her head and kissing her forehead, and Maddie gives him her beautiful smile.

He looks at me and offers me one of his arms. Without thinking, I hugged them both tightly. Peter whispers to me, “Thank you, dear, thank you. You just gave me a family.”

Without hiding my confusion, I tell him, “Peter, I understand nothing. What’s going on? What does this all mean?”

“Do not worry, sweetheart. You will understand everything. I promise you.”

“Get your dirty paws away from my family, you bastard!” The sound of Albert’s voice makes my blood freeze and fear runs through my body, holding my breath.

Peter, noticing the change in my body, hugs me tighter. He looks at him coldly and says, “They were never yours, Albert. They have always been mine. Now, stay away from this house, otherwise you want my men to kick you out.”

Albert laughs sarcastically as he says, “Men? Who do you think you are? I bet you’re trash just like Emma. Tell me, how long have you been fucking her?”

"Hey..." is what I manage to say when Peter roars in such a way that everyone hears it. A second later, a dozen men come out from the surrounding area and throw Albert to the ground.

“Take him away from here. You know what to do.”

“Right away, Mr. Bennett.”

Albert’s eyes widen and he says, “Mr. Bennett? Are you Mr. Bennett? Please forgive me, Mr. Bennett, I did not mean to insult you.”

“Shut up, Albert. Get him out of here.” I see how Albert screams for mercy, but no one listens to him. They threw him into a truck, and it speeds away.

After that, I hear my parents running out from inside the house, watching as the truck speeds away, while they say, “What the hell happened? Was that Albert?”

Peter’s grip on my shoulder tightens, his eyes turn black again, and I hear Maddie whisper to him, “Daddy, I know they’re not my grandparents.”