The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 57

Chapter 51:Bella Tears

Bella pov

“I was your daughter!” The words came out as a shout, years of pain finally exploding. “Evidence shouldn’t have mattered! You should have believed me, should have protected me, should have chosen me for once in my life! But you didn’t. You never did. And now you show up here talking about family and rights and opportunities, and you expect me to just forget?, or incase you think I am crazy as you once tagged me as, you guys lied on my head all for what.”

“We’ve apologized,” Richard said stiffly.

“No, you haven’t,” I said. “You’ve explained. You’ve justified. You’ve tried to minimize. But you haven’t once said you’re sorry. You haven’t once acknowledged that you destroyed me, that you sent me out into the world pregnant and penniless and completely alone.”

“What do you want from us?” Margaret asked, her voice breaking. “What can we do to make this right?”

“Nothing,” I said simply. “There is nothing you can do. The damage is done, and I have no interest in repairing it. I built a life without you. Tom has a life without you. And we’re going to keep it that way.”

“You’re punishing us,” Richard said accusingly. “Using our grandson to punish us for mistakes we’ve already admitted to.”

“I’m protecting him,” I corrected. “From people who see children as assets instead of human beings. From people whose love comes with conditions and expectations. From people who will damage him the way you damaged me.”

“We’re not leaving without some agreement,” Richard said, his voice hardening. “We’ll go to court if we have to. Grandparents have rights”

“Try it,” I said, my voice cold. “Take me to court. Fight me for access to my son. And I will personally ensure that every newspaper in this city knows exactly what kind of grandparents you are. I’ll tell them how you threw out your pregnant daughter. How you chose one daughter over the other. How you’re now crawling back because your precious Jade is facing criminal charges and you need a new golden child to parade around.”

Margaret gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“Watch me,” I said. “I have resources you can’t imagine now. I have lawyers. And I have years of documentation about what you did to me. So go ahead, Richard. File your grandparents’ rights petition. See how that works out for you.”

The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by Margaret’s muffled crying and Richard’s heavy breathing.

“We just want to know him,” Margaret said finally, her voice small. “Is that so wrong? He’s our grandson, Isabella. Our blood.”

“Blood means nothing,” I said. “Love means something. Actions mean something. And your actions showed me exactly what I can expect from you. So no, you don’t get to know him. You don’t get to show up years later and demand access to the child you would have told me to abort if you’d known about him

<Chapter 51Rette Tears

sooner.”

“That’s not true,” Richard protested, but his voice lacked conviction.

+25 Points

“Isn’t it?” I challenged. “Be honest, Richard. If I’d come to you that night and told you I was keeping the baby, what would you have said? Would you have supported me? Or would you have agreed with Caleb that I should get rid of it?”

The silence that followed was answer enough.”That’s what I thought,” I said quietly. “Now get out of my office.”

“Isabella”

“It’s Ms. Hart,” I said, pressing the intercom button. “And I’m done talking. Jennifer, send security up. I have two trespassers who need to be escorted out.”

“Right away, Ms. Hart,” Jennifer’s voice came through, tight with suppressed satisfaction.

“You’re making a mistake,” Richard said, straightening his jacket with the dignity of a man who’d just lost a negotiation but refused to admit it. “Tom deserves to know his heritage, his family history. You can’t erase where he comes from.”

“I’m not erasing anything,” I said. “I’m protecting him from toxic people who would damage him. There’s a difference.”

“We’ll be back,” Margaret said, dabbing at her eyes with the tissue. “This isn’t over.”

“Yes, it is,” I said. “And if you come back, if you try to contact me or Tom, if you so much as send a card, I will file for a restraining order. The same one I should have filed years ago.”

Two security guards appeared in the doorway, large men with no-nonsense expressions.”Ms. Hart?” the taller one asked.

“Remove this trash,” I said, not looking away from my parents’ faces. “And make sure they understand they’re not welcome back.”

I saw the moment Richard understood he’d lost. His face went red, his hands clenched at his sides, and for a second I thought he might argue. But then he looked at the security guards, at my cold expression, at the obvious power dynamic in the room, and something in him deflated.”Come on, Majgaret,” he said stiffly. “We’re not wanted here.”

“Please, Isabella,” Margaret tried one more time, reaching toward me. “He’s just a baby. Don’t you want him to have grandparents who love him?”

“He has Maya,” I said. “He has people who’ve been there from the beginning, who helped me raise him, who love him unconditionally. He doesn’t need fair-weather grandparents who only showed up when it became advantageous.”

The security guards escorted them out, Margaret crying loudly and Richard maintaining his cold dignity. I watched them go, my hands shaking on the desk, my heart pounding so hard I thought I might be sick.

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