Unfortunately, no matter how much they tried, they were unable to save her and it was left alone for too long and progressed too quickly. In the end, Theia had to sell everything just to pay off the hospital fees. She went from having a loving home and mother to being homeless after losing her mom.
For Theia, nothing was as bad as losing her mom.
After the funeral, she was given two weeks to pack up the house and organize herself, and she came across her maternal grandparents' information. She decided that, as bad as things may have been between them, it was still the right thing to do to let them know what happened to Thalia. She dialed the number and she remembered starting by telling who she was; but, as soon as her mother's name was mentioned, the man, presumably her grandfather, immediately said that they didn't have a child by that name and hung up.
When the two weeks were up, she moved into her friend's house with her parents' permission until graduation. She originally intended to rent a place, but the Millers insisted she stay with them and save the remaining money she had for college. Touched by their obvious care, she accepted.
Three months before graduation, she received her letter of acceptance to Yale, with a full scholarship and early admission for a special orientation. Her friend, Bianca, and her parents, were much happier for her than she was for herself. They even threw her a party to celebrate. During the next school day, right before she decided to go to the principal's office to request early graduation, she heard herself being called to the office.
When she got there, she saw a young man, around eighteen or nineteen years old, sitting in the office. He had sun-kissed strawberry-blond hair, and as he looked at her, his eyes lit up like the glow of sunlight lights the ocean in the early morning, making his sea-blue eyes look dazzling. He had a perfectly sculpted face with his lips curved into a smile. She was momentarily stunned. Not just because he was ridiculously good-looking, but because he looked somewhat like her or she looked like him. Except for the fact that her eyes were a brighter green than his, that her hair was a shade more golden, and that she also bore a resemblance to her mom, he could be her twin.
The principal introduced her as she stepped into the room. "This is Ms. Theia Grimaldi. Theia, this is Mr. Alexander Lexington. "
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Lexington," she replied, looking at him curiously.
"The pleasure is all mine," he responded, looking at her. He thought, "It's actually her." He never thought it would be so difficult to find her. He'd been looking for the past four years since he overheard his parents speaking about his "indiscretion" so many years ago. However, he was able to find her because his father wanted her found because she had recently lost her mother. Somehow, he didn't feel like that was a good thing for her at all. If anything, he'd have rather found her himself and helped her where he could without his parents' knowing. He knew how scheming they were and he didn't want his little sister to be caught up in it.
Unfortunately, he had already taken an interest in her. All he could do now was mitigate the damage somewhat where he could.
"Theia, Mr. Lexington, here has come on behalf of your father to take you in. Seeing as you are still a minor, there isn't much we can do. Your father has already filed the relevant documents establishing himself as your father. Your birth paper was corrected and your name has been adjusted from Grimaldi to Lexington, "the Principal continued.
"Wait, what?" Theia felt like her head was spinning. She is sixteen years old now since she skipped a few years in this school, so she understood that she was a minor and technically required a guardian, but all of this happened too quickly for her to process. Her name was changed. She suddenly had a father and a brother. They were taking custody of her. Why didn't anyone ask her what she wanted? Who told them that she wanted to change her name? Her name was her mother's. It connected her to her mother, and just like that, that connection was taken from her?
Alexander noticed that her eyes started tearing up, and before he even realized what he was doing, he was across the office hugging her into his arms. "Shhhh, don't cry, Theia. I know this happened quickly and without warning, but it will work out somehow," he said while rocking her in his arms.