Colin.
I stand a little straighter, forcing my spine to hold what my heart can’t.
“That’s what you have to say to me? After all these years? After the way you left us and never looked back?”
“I wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t forced your way into my daughter’s life—dragging up things that should have stayed buried.”
His words hit me where it hurts most. A place I thought was long since numb.
My stomach drops, and I can feel the tears building. “You really don’t remember me?” I whisper.
He tilts his head slightly, his tone unflinching. “Why would I? I don’t even remember your mother anymore.”
Something cracks deep inside me.
“I changed my name for you—just like I said I would,” I say, the tears finally spilling over. “The second I was legally able to. I’m Maya now, not Amaya, because of you. I even dropped my father’s last name.”
I draw in a breath, my throat burning. My chest aches. “I never forgot you. Not even after what happened to my mom. I loved you like a father. I remembered every word—every promise you made to take care of us. You said you weren’t like the man who gave me his name. I was there, Philip. I saw the way you held my mother. I heard you tell her you loved her.”
He shakes his head slowly, disgust tightening every line of his face.
“You’re not a little girl anymore. And you are certainly not innocent.”
His voice is cold, with a precision that makes every word hit harder.
“Men say things they don’t mean all the time. And there’s always a certain kind of woman desperate enough to believe them.”
Every word that leaves his mouth is meant to humiliate. To erase the truth and replace it with the version he’d rather tell.
I wipe my face hard, fury burning through the tears.
“Don’t you dare talk about my mother like that. I know you loved her. You were just too much of a coward to leave your perfect little family. Too afraid to stain your reputation.”
He studies me for a long moment, as if searching my face for something he’s already convinced isn’t there.
Then, with that same maddening calm, he says: “Your mother was nothing but a whore. I paid her in roses, in dresses, that bracelet she paraded around—in hotels and dinners. In pretty words she chose to believe. She was easy to please. She always knew I was married. I never promised her anything. I would never have left Ellen. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted.”
The words gut me. The man I once adored—the one I thought had saved me—is gone, replaced by this stranger who doesn’t even flinch while destroying every good memory I have of him.
“Don’t do this,” I whisper, my voice trembling. “Please. Not here. I know you’re angry, but you don’t have to talk about her like that.”
“Oh? And where should I do it?” he asks, still perfectly composed. “At Colin’s company? What’s wrong? You wanted attention before, didn’t you? Why hide now? Privacy suddenly matters to you?”
He leans in slightly, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper. “The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
My blood is thundering in my ears.
“Stop—”
“No,” he cuts me off, his tone sharp. “You’ve dragged my family name through the mud. You humiliated my daughter, my son-in-law, my grandchildren. And now you’re ashamed?”
“Philip, please—”
He doesn’t even blink.
The lobby has gone silent, except for the low rumble of his voice and the whisper of people watching, pretending not to.
“Colin will never choose you because you never mattered,” he says. “Just like I never chose your mother.”
