Chapter 149: He is even crueler than Lionel.
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."
Bella’s anger only grew, her sense of injustice boiling over. "He made a grave mistake," she snarled, her jaw clenched tightly. "I’ll find him, Mamma. I’ll make him pay for what he did to you."
Selena’s eyes widened in horror, her heart lurching at the thought. "No, Bella!" she cried out, her voice rising in desperation. "You will not find him. You will never go near him. Do you understand?"
The thought of losing Bella, of history repeating itself, terrified Selena. She couldn’t bear the idea of that man discovering Bella’s existence. Back then, she had already lost one daughter, snatched away by cruel fate. Luckily, Bella was born fifteen minutes later. Otherwise, she would have lost her too.
Bella’s existence shouldn’t be exposed to that man. Or else, he would come to take her away.
"You are not going to find him," she said with an ultimatum.
Bella’s determination remained unshaken as she faced her mother. "No, Mamma... no more hiding," she insisted. "He wronged you, and he has to pay for it."