Bella, overwhelmed with guilt and sorrow, quickly wrapped her arms around her mother. "I'm sorry, Mamma," she whispered. "Please don't cry. I shouldn't have brought this up. I won't ask anything more about him. Please, just calm down."
Bella regretted ever digging into the past, realizing now how deep her mother's wounds ran. She hadn't known that the man who was supposed to be her father could be so heartless, so cruel. The revelation ignited a fire within her, a seething rage that she could barely contain.
"He is even crueler than Lionel," Bella spat tinged with venom. "He doesn't deserve to be my father."
Selena, though still wiping her tears, tried to quell the growing storm in her daughter. "I don't blame him entirely. It's my fault too. I should have known better. A wealthy man like him would never want to marry someone like me. I was just a plaything, nothing more."
