The Heiress' Revenge

Ariana’s POV

It’s been two days since I moved into my mother’s small apartment.

Mum had been different, not the cold woman I remembered, not the woman who chose my father over me.

She was soft.

Gentle.

She sat with me while I cried and didn’t ask questions.

She didn’t push.

She just... was there.

I didn’t know how to feel about it.

Part of me was grateful.

Part of me was angry.

Where was this woman when I was growing up? Where was this mother when I needed her? Where was the love when I was drowning?

But I was too tired to be angry and too tired to fight.

Too tired to do anything but exist.

So I let her take care of me. I let her hold me and let her pretend that we were a normal family.

Because she is the only one I have now.

The door opened, snapping me out of my train of thought, and my mother walked in.

Her face was worried.

Her hands were twisting together.

She looked nervous.

Like she was about to do something she had been putting off for a long time.

"Ariana," she said. Her voice was soft. "I need to talk to you about something important."

I looked at her. "What is it?"

She sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand. "I’ve been keeping a secret from you for years, and I can’t keep it anymore, not after everything that’s happened. I think it’s time you finally know the whole truth."

My heart started pounding. "What truth? What are you talking about?"

She took a deep breath; her eyes were wet. "Ricardo isn’t your father, Ariana."

The words hung in the air as I stared at her. My brain couldn’t process what she was saying. It didn’t make sense. It couldn’t make sense.

"What?" My voice was barely a whisper. "What do you mean?"

"He’s not your father," she interrupted. Her voice was firm. "I know this is a shock. I know you have questions, but please let me explain. Let me tell you everything."

I pulled my hand away from hers and stood up.

"Start talking," I said.

My mother nodded.

She wiped her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Before I married Ricardo, I was in love with someone else. His name was Daniel. He was kind, gentle, and he made me feel like I was the only woman in the world." She smiled a sad smile. "We had plans. We were going to get married and build a life together. Have children. Grow old together, but Daniel wasn’t rich, and my parents didn’t care about anything but money, status, and power."

I turned to look at her. "So they forced you to marry Ricardo."

She nodded.

Tears were falling down her cheeks. "They said if I didn’t marry him, they would disown me. Cut me off. Leave me with nothing. I was young, scared, and they didn’t leave me any choice, so I had to say yes and break up with Daniel. It broke him and me, and I married a man I didn’t love."

I felt sick. "You married him because your parents said so? You gave up the man you loved for money?"

"It wasn’t that simple," she said. "I was pregnant, Ariana, with you. I found out a week before the wedding. I was terrified. If my parents had found out, they would have killed me. An unmarried woman with a child? In our family? It would have been a scandal. A shame. They would have thrown me out on the street."

I stared at her. "So Ricardo knew? He knew I wasn’t his?"

She nodded. "I told him the night before the wedding. I was going to call the whole thing off. I was going to run away with Daniel, but Ricardo stopped me. He said he didn’t care. He said he would claim you as his own. He said no one would ever know the truth."

"Why?" I asked. "Why would he do that? Why would he raise another man’s child?"

My mother looked down at her hands. "Because Ricardo couldn’t have children of his own. He was... unable. The doctors said he would never be a father, and he was desperate. He wanted a child so badly. He begged me to let him be your father. He promised to take care of us. To give us everything. To never let anyone hurt us."

I sank onto the bed.

My legs wouldn’t hold me anymore.

My mind was spinning.

Everything I thought I knew about my life was a lie.

My father wasn’t my father.

My mother had been keeping this secret for decades.

"Did Daniel know?" I asked. "Did the man who was supposed to be my father know about me?"

My mother shook her head. "I never told him I couldn’t. It would have destroyed him. He would have tried to fight for us. He would have tried to take me away, and Ricardo would have ruined him; my parents would have too. I couldn’t let that happen. So I let Daniel go. I let him think I didn’t love him. I let him believe I chose money over him, and I married Ricardo and raised you as his daughter."

I looked at her.

"You should have told me," I said with my voice cold. "You should have told me the truth. Years ago. When I was old enough to understand. When I was struggling with the monster I thought was my father."

My mother was crying so hard her whole body was shaking. "I know. I know I should have, but I was scared. Scared of what you would think and what Ricardo would do... cause he had me swear to him that you’d never know that he isn’t your biological father, or he’d take you away... I was scared of losing you. You were all I had, Ariana. You were the only good thing in my life. I couldn’t risk losing you."

I stood up and walked to the door.

I needed air.

I needed space.

I needed to think.

"Ariana, please," my mother said. "Please don’t walk away. Please don’t hate me."

I stopped with my hand on the door handle. I didn’t turn around.

"I don’t hate you," I said. "I’m angry, I’m hurt and confused, but I don’t hate you, mum. You made a choice, a choice that hurt me, but you did it because you were scared and you were young and you didn’t know any better."

I turned to look at her.