e cold was a familiar friend now, a stark contrast to

tiny, perfect crystal. It was the same snow, the same biting col

s re

e lavish coming-out party I threw for Chloe, the daughter I had raised for eighteen years. I had poured all m

did she

chandeliers, and pointed to Isabella, a famo

d in my memory. "You had nothing to do with it. I never asked you to raise me. If it weren't for you, would

e Isabella, a smirk playing on his lips. They were a perfect, vile family, united in their greed. They conspired to ruin my reputation, to take my co

very day it all began. The day Ma

nd that cut through the quiet of my apart

oked younger, less weathered by his schemes, but the same opportunistic desperation sw

ticed performance of a man at his wit's end

to play on the sympathy

move. I blocked the

N

but it was as soli

ed confused. In our past life, I had immediately let

n't be seen with a baby right now, her career is taking off. We can't... I

d come back for her. They never intended to. They only wanted to shed

ng in the cold. A small part of my old self felt a flicker o

Mark," I said, my voice empty o

e was completely u

He couldn't even say it. He couldn't bring himself to acknowledge

tone flat. "Yours and Isabella's. You made her

now, dusting Mark's shoulders and the thin blanket covering the child. He looked down at her, a flicker of genuine panic

rty in his scheme, was the one suffering the immediate consequences,

is voice rising in desperation. "She'll fr

He dared to ques

was completely out of his depth. He had no money, no home of his own, and a celebrity g

ed over me. This was the beg

ver the man who had caused me so much pain a

said, my voice a blade of ice. "Yo

through the peephole. I didn't need to. I could hear Chloe's cries, faint at first, then

et exactly what she claimed she always wanted: eighteen years of bond