“I know I should have called the police. I know that.” Shame weighed heavily on every word. “But I was selfish. I looked at her and saw a child who needed someone, and I convinced myself fate had finally decided to give me back something it had taken.”
The room was deathly silent.
“I never hurt her. I protected her. I cared for her.” My voice softened. “I loved her so much that I started believing she was my daughter.”
The instant the words left my mouth, I felt him move.
Each step stole the air from my lungs until all I could sense was him—his presence, his fury, the dangerous restraint barely holding it together.
“Stop.” His voice was low enough to chill my blood.
My heart stumbled.
“Stop calling my daughter Zara.” Each word was edged with contempt. “Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. You’ve spent so long in darkness you’ve mistaken another man’s child for your own. Blindness is one thing. Delusion is another. Unfortunately, you seem afflicted by both.”
The words landed like a whip crack.
You’ve spent so long in darkness you’ve mistaken another man’s child for your own.
Blindness is one thing. Delusion is another.
The sentence echoed through my head, merciless and sharp.
My fingers curled at my sides.
All my life, people had spoken around my blindness. Some pitied it. Others ignored it. The cruel ones used it as a weapon when they wanted to wound me.
Yet somehow, hearing it from him hurt more.
Maybe because a part of me already carried those fears.
Maybe because every day was a reminder of everything I couldn’t do.
Everything I couldn’t see.
Heat crawled up my throat.
I hated that his words made me feel small, broken and ashamed.
As though the darkness behind my eyes was not merely a condition, but a flaw. A stain. Something that made me lesser.
Something that deserved contempt.
My throat tightened painfully.
Years of hard-earned confidence cracked beneath the weight of a few cruel words.
And for the first time in a very long while, I wished I could see.
Not to look at him.
But to know whether the disgust I heard in his voice matched the expression on his face.
A chill crawled down my spine.
Because in that moment, I understood something terrifying.
The only thing standing between me and the full force of Rafael Perez’s wrath was the little girl in the room.
