?Chapter 1059:


    He had a hard time imagining anyone but Linsey having the nerve to throw out a remark like that about Cruz.


    “Linsey, Dad…” Jeffery said, ready to speak up for Cruz.


    But before he could get another word out, Cruz cut in. “You’re right,” he said, his voice calm and clear, catching everyone off guard.


    For a moment, no one moved. No one spoke. They were stunned that Cruz, of all people, had actually sided with Linsey.


    Herment had been a direct jab at his dependability.


    Not many fathers would quietly endure such direct criticism from their own child.


    Most assumed Cruz’s earlier agreement was just a passing remark, nothing more. Yet, he surprised everyone by continuing, “Linsey, maybe I haven’t earned the right to call myself your father. But in my heart, you have always been my daughter.”


    He paused, drawing in a slow breath. Years of regret softened the lines on his face. “Four years ago, when M and I first learned the truth about you and Carol, M fought with everything she had to bring you home. But me? I hardly tried at all. I just stood aside and let you slip away.”


    Linsey said nothing, her mind drifting to those days.


    In the beginning, it was only M’s familiar features that drew her in—an odd sense of recognition, but nothing deeper.


    It wasn’t untilter that she found out M and Cruz were her birth parents, and even then, the only flicker of emotion she felt was toward M.


    Cruz, on the other hand, had always been little more than a name she recognized. From the start, he had never been anything more than a distant figure, someone she happened to be biologically tied to. Even now, that fact changed nothing.


    She had never once felt the kind of bond other daughters spoke about—the closeness she used to quietly long for.


    So hearing Cruz speak to her so openly now caught herpletely off guard. She hadn’t seen iting.


    “And on top of everything else, the child we brought up ended up doing things to you that were beyond cruel.” As Cruz mentioned Carol, a storm of guilt and anger twisted across his face. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re our daughter or not. What matters is, we should have never let Carol treat you like that.”


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    His voice began to fray at the edges as he continued, “Linsey, the pain we’ve caused you runs deep. We know that. If you decide you can’t forgive us, if you choose to keep your distance from this family, we’ll respect it without question. Even so, we want to give you whatever we can. We just hope your path from here on out is steadier, without more heartache weighing it down.”


    Quietly, M reached for a tissue, dabbing away the tears that clung stubbornly to hershes.


    Heavy guilt pressed down on Jeffery. “I won’t pretend I was meless. Carol’s choices were unforgivable, but I yed my part. My arrogance blinded me, and I let myself get fooled by someone who only meant harm.”


    Linsey held his gaze in silence, fully aware that he was speaking about the way Alexa had once crafted her weakness like a weapon, using it to tug at his emotions and bend his judgment without him realizing it.


    Her response was gentle but unwavering. “Alexa did have cancer. In her final days, even she was shocked by the cruelty Carol unleashed.”


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