The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 239

Chapter 214: First Meeting

Bella POV

“How was your flight from Crestwood?” Sebastien asked.

“I live in Silverton now,” I corrected him gently.

“And the drive from your house?”

“It was straightforward,” I said.

He looked around the room. “The restaurant is very well-chosen.”

“Thank you,” I replied. I did not tell him that I had spent days picking it out.

He was very careful with me, waiting patiently as the silence stretched between us. I reached into my bag, pulled out the photograph of Elaine, and placed it gently on the table. I slid it across the white tablecloth

toward him.

He looked down at the table for a long time before he spoke. When he finally raised his head, his eyes were bright.”You have her eyes, Bella. I saw it the moment I walked into the room.”

I touched the corner of my eye. “I never knew where they came from. Until a few weeks ago, I thought I looked like the Harts.”

“No,” Sebastien said softly, as he touched the photograph.”She was twenty-four when this was taken. We were in Geneva. There was a small gallery opening near the lake, and she wore that yellow dress because she said the weather was too beautiful for dark clothes.”

“Was she happy?” I asked.

“Always,” Sebastien said, a small smile appearing on his face. “She was the happiest person I ever met. She did not care about money, or status, or the things that people in my world fight over. She was genuinely curious about everything. She would talk to a street artist with the same respect she gave to a museum director.”

I watched him closely. His voice was calm, but I could see the tightness in his shoulders. “Why did you leave her?” I asked

I already knew the story from his letters, but I needed to hear the words directly from his mouth.

“My father died suddenly,” he said simply. “I was pulled back to Lyon to take over the family business. It was a massive empire, and everything was falling apart. I told her I would return for her. I meant it with all my heart.”

“But you didn’t,” I said.

“I tried,” he said, looking up from the photo to meet my eyes. “I wrote to her every single week. My letters went completely unanswered. I sent people to look for her, but they told me she had moved away and did not want to be found. I assumed she had changed her mind about me. I thought she had moved on with her life.”

< Chapter 214 First-Meeting

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“She didn’t move on,” I said, my voice hardening slightly. “She was pregnant with me. And then she died months after I was born.”

Sebastien closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, they were full of pain. “If I had known-if I had even guessed for one second that she was carrying my child-nothing on this earth would have kept me away from her.”

“The people who took me in made sure never found out,” I told him. “Richard and Margaret Hart. Margaret was Elaine’s sister, but she hated me. They took the savings my mother had set aside for me, but they still treated me like an unwanted burden. I am sure they knew about you but hid everything.

Sebastien’s face turned cold. “They kept you from me for money?”

“Yes,” I said quietly. “They registered me under their own name just to keep control of the funds. They lived off the money my mother left behind, while they made me feel completely worthless.”

Sebastien reached across the table, his hand open. “You were never worthless, Bella. I have spent years believing the only woman I ever truly loved had simply forgotten me. To find out she passed away, and that I have a daughter-it is a miracle I never expected.”

I looked at his hand but kept mine in my lap. “It is a lot to take in.”

“I know,” he said, pulling his hand back gently so he wouldn’t crowd me. “I do not expect anything from you. I know I am a stranger to you. But I want to be a part of your life, if you will let me.”

“I have a son,” I said. “And a daughter.”

His face lit up instantly. “Tom and Grace. Yes, my investigators told me their names, but nothing else. I would love to meet them. I want to be a grandfather to them, Bella.”

“We will see,” I said, keeping my tone guarded but fair. We have a lot of lost time to talk about first.”

“We have all the time in the world,” Sebastien said.

He did not push me or ask for more than I was ready to give. He just waited, then I looked at him.

I realized I wanted to hear the things the Harts had hidden from me.

“Tell me something about her,” I said softly. “Something real.”

Sebastien nodded, and a soft look came into his eyes.

He told me about the first time they traveled together, and it made me laugh for the first time all evening.

“She insisted we buy a tiny coffee plant from a street market,” Sebastien said, his eyes bright with the memory. “She told me it would grow into a beautiful tree. I told her it was a weed. We had to carry this silly little plant through three different hotels in Italy. It took up its own seat in the car.”

“What happened to it?” I asked, smiling.

“It died two weeks later,” he laughed. “But she refused to admit I was right. She told me the plant simply preferred the Italian weather and died of a broken heart. She was so stubborn about it.”

I laughed softly, trying to picture the woman in the yellow dress arguing over a plant. “She sounds very

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