Chapter 126 You Made Me Lie My hand slowly slipped out of hers. It wasn’t intentional. It was more like my body acted before my brain could catch up. But the moment our palms parted, I saw it. The flicker in her eyes. The sudden fall of her face. “What do you mean?” My voice came out tight, almost strangled. “Why would you say something like that? If this is a joke, Mom, it’s not funny.” Her lips trembled. The IV line attached to her wrist shook slightly as she raised a hand, trying to steady herself. “It’s not a joke, sweetheart. I would never play with something like that.” Her voice cracked around the word. “He really is your father. I swear on my life.” I blinked. Once. Twice. My brain refused to compute the words she’d just spoken. Then it slowly sank in. “Mom!” I finally burst out, the chair beside the bed scraping the hospital floor as I stood. “I can’t believe this.” “Sav, please,” she whispered, reaching out. “Please calm down.” But I stepped back before her hand could touch me. “No! Don’t tell me to calm down. All my life has practically been a lie!” The room felt smaller, the walls suddenly became suffocating. Machines beeped somewhere behind me, indifferent to the implosion happening between us. “My real father has been right under my nose all this time—all my life—and you didn’t say anything.” My throat burned as I spoke. “You let me grow up believing—” “I’m so sorry…” She pressed a shaking hand to her chest. “I didn’t know how to tell you, sweetie.” I laughed, the sound brittle. “Were you even going to tell me? Without Chloe missing, without all this chaos, without this disaster practically dragging every secret out of you? Were you ever planning to?” “Sav—” “Would you have told me,” I cut in sharply, “if you didn’t want my forgiveness? That the man I called uncle all my life, the one who followed Julius’s every command, is my real father?” My voice broke. “Would you, mom?” It felt strange calling him Julius and not Dad. The name sat awkwardly on my tongue—foreign, weird. Like it didn’t belong there, yet it felt right. Real. Like an out of place piece finally falling into place. “Sav, don’t get mad at your father, he’s—” “No!” The word tore out of me. “I refuse to listen to whatever excuse you’re about to make for a shitty person who should have never been a father. I’m done following your orders! I’m done doing what you and Julius command me to do!” Hot tears slid down my face before I could stop them. “When I got raped, Mom, you followed your husband’s words like they were sacred. You made me lie to Alyssa, to Monica, to myself, to everyone. You made me lie until I absorbed the lie and believed that it was my fault.” “Savannah—” I shook my head violently. “Do you remember what you said to me that day? When I was lying on that hospital bed, half-conscious, completely broken and in pain?” Her eyes, already wet, widened. “Please… don’t—” “You said you were proud of me for obeying my father! For following orders!” My voice cracked, echoing through the quiet room. “That was the only time you ever said you were proud of me, mom.” She gasped softly, covering her mouth with trembling fingers.“You were proud because I was scared and alone and too young to fight back,” I continued, my chest heaving. “You were proud that I stayed silent and oppressed. That I obeyed your evil decisions. You were proud of my helplessness, mom.” “Sav—” “I watched you stand by while my child was taken away,” I said, voice dropping into a whisper. “Your own grandchild, Mom.” Her hands shook uncontrollably now. “I regret everything, sweetheart. Every single thing. I'd go back and erase everything if I could. I'd give my life for it.” I scoffed, bitter and broken all at once. “Well, newsflash, some things can’t be erased. You and Julius always made every decision for me. About my life, my future, my body. Everything.” The heart monitor beeped steadily, a cruel reminder that time kept moving even when everything inside me felt frozen. “And what did my real father do?” I asked, quieter now. “He stood by. He watched. He followed those instructions. He ruffled my hair and bought me toys when I was younger. Then he used to ask me about my books and grades when I got a little older, meanwhile he was my real dad.” I let out a laugh remembering something else. “It's pretty ironic now, mum, just thinking about it. The last time I spoke with uncle Jace over the phone, I still remember his exact words to me.” I slapped my forehead, chuckling at how crazy this whole situation was. “He said to me, ‘he is your father. How can I go against a father when it's about his own daughter?’” She clasped her hands together, her knuckles white. “Please, don’t hate your father, Savannah. Jace loves you. He loves you so much. He's… he's a good man.” “I hate him.” The words came out steady, frighteningly calm even to me. “He’s dead to me. Just like Julius.” “No, please. No, no, no…” she whispered, shaking her head. “Savannah, listen to me—” “I don’t want to!” I shouted, the sound breaking something inside me. “I don’t want to listen to you anymore! I'm tired of it!” I clawed my fingers through my hair, gripping so tight it hurt. “I’m tired, Mom! I’m sick of you telling me what to feel, what to do, how to live! I’m sick of it!” She flinched like I’d struck her. “I’m a human being!” I cried, voice hoarse. “I know what I feel. I’m not a child anymore—stop treating me like one! I'm an adult, mom! A grown woman! Don't fucking push me and point me to where I'm meant to fall… This doesn't work that way. I don't work that way anymore.” Her tears spilled freely now, her shoulders shaking. “That’s not what I meant. I just—”