<b>(</b>Scarlett’s POV)


    More Ravana Z


    The silence stretches between us like a chasm. I can feel their eyes on me, heavy with expectation and something that might be love–if I still believed in their version of it.


    “Come home with us, habibti,” ir whispers, her voice breaking on the endearment she used to call me every morning at breakfast. “Please. We’ve missed you so much.”


    The word ‘home‘ hits me like a physical blow. That house stopped being my home the moment they chose blood over the daughter who actually lived there. The moment they handed my room to the woman who destroyed my marriage.


    “This is my home now.” I gesture around the bakery, at the life I built. “I don’t need your house anymore.”


    “Scarlett, please.” James steps closer, his weathered hands sped together. “We know we made mistakes, but we’re family. Families work through their problems.”


    Family. The word tastes bitter in my mouth.


    “We were family,” I correct him, keeping my voice steady even though my chest feels like it’s caving in. “Past tense.” <fn2c67> For original chapters go to find?novel</fn2c67>


    ir’s face crumples, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Don’t say that. You’re our daughter. You’ll always be our daughter.”


    “Will I?” I tilt my head, studying the woman who raised me, who taught me how to tie my hijab, who held me when I cried. “Because it didn’t feel that way when you cut off my credit cards to force me home. When you gave my bedroom to her without even asking.”


    The pain flickers across ir’s features, and for a split second, I almost feel guilty. Almost. But then I remember that night. The highway. The darkness. The baby kicking in my belly while I stood alone on the side of the road, abandoned by everyone I loved.


    “We were trying to help you see reason-” James starts.


    “Reason?” The wordes out sharper than I intended. “What’s reasonable about abandoning your pregnant daughter? About choosing a stranger over the child you raised for twenty–three years?”


    “She’s not a stranger,” James says firmly. “She’s our biological daughter.”


    < Chapter 32


    I smile then, the kind of smile that doesn’t reach your eyes. The kind that hurts to hold but feels necessary anyway.


    “Thank you for reminding me. I almost forgot,” I say quietly.


    They both blink, confused.


    “Thank you for raising me. For giving me a roof over my head, food to eat, an education. I’m grateful for all of it.” I pause, letting the words settle. “But that debt has been paid. I don’t owe you anything anymore.”


    “It was never about debt-” ir reaches for me, but I step back.


    “Wasn’t it? You funded Jasper’s education on the condition that he marry me. You gave me a home because you lost your real daughter. Everything came with strings attached.”


    “That’s not true,” ir whispers.


    “Isn’t it? The moment she walked back into your lives, I became expendable. An obligation you could finally discharge.”


    The words hang in the air like smoke, acrid and inescapable.


    I turn toward the kitchen, done with this conversation, done with the way they’re looking at me like I’m the one being unreasonable.


    “I’m sorry you feel that way.”


    Virginia’s voice stops me cold. I turn back to find her standing there with tears in her eyes, ying the victim like she always does.


    “After everything they’ve done for you,” she continues, her voice getting stronger, “after all the love they gave you, this is how you treat them?”


    The audacity of this woman never ceases to amaze me.


    “Excuse me?”


    “They loved you like their own daughter for over twenty years. They sacrificed for you, provided for you, treated you like a princess.” Her voice rises, gaining momentum. “And now you’re throwing it back in their faces because what–because they finally found their real daughter?”


    The bakery goes dead silent. Even the customers at the far tables have stopped talking, sensing the tension crackling between us.


    “Their real daughter,” I repeat slowly.


    * Chutes 39


    “Yes. Me. I’m their real daughter, Scarlett I’m the one they were supposed to raise, the one they were supposed to love. But instead, you got all of that while I grew up with people who barely tolerated me.”


    There it is. The truth she’s been hiding behind her innocent mask for four years.


    “So this was always about jealousy.”


    “Jealousy?” Virginiaughs, but there’s nothing pleasant about the sound. “You think I’m jealous of you? You had everything handed to you on a silver tter. A family who adored you, a husband who-”


    “A husband who abandoned me pregnant on a highway for you, I cut her off. “Yeah, I really hit the jackpot there.”


    “He cared about me-”


    “He pitied you. There’s a difference.”


    Virginia’s face flushes red. “You’re just bitter because you finally had to face reality. You were never good enough for him. You were never good enough for any of us.”


    The words are meant to cut, to make me bleed the way I used to. But they bounce off me like raindrops on ss.


    “You’re right,” I say calmly. “I wasn’t good enough for any of you. Thank God I finally figured


    that out.”


    Virginia’s mouth opens, then closes. She wasn’t expecting that response.


    “Now get out of my bakery.”


    “Scarlett-” ir starts.


    “All of you. Get out.”


    “You can’t just-”


    “I can and I am. This is my business, my property. I’m asking you to leave.”


    James’s face hardens. “We’re not leaving until we finish this conversation.”


    “Then I’ll call the police and have you removed for trespassing.”


    The threat hangs in the air. I can see the moment James realizes I’m not bluffing, that I’m not the same girl who used <i>to </i>back down whenever he raised his voice.


    <Chapter 32


    “Fine,” he says coldly. “But don’te crawling back to us when your little fantasy life falls


    apart.”


    “I won’t.”


    He turns toward the door, his shoulders rigid with anger and wounded pride. ir follows him, crying openly now, looking back at me like she’s hoping I’ll change my mind.


    Virginia is thest to move. She stops right in front of me, close enough that I can smell her perfume–the same one she was wearing that night she sat on my couch in my pajamas.


    “This isn’t over,” she says quietly, so only I can hear.


    “Yes, it is.”


    “We’ll see.”


    She turns to go, but before she can take a step, the kitchen door swings open and Lilyes running out, flour in her dark hair and a huge smile on her face.


    “Mama! I helped Emma make the cookies and they’re so pretty and-” She stops when she sees our visitors, her eyes lighting up with recognition. “Oh! It’s the nice people from the supermarket!”


    My blood turns to ice.


    “Lily, go back to the kitchen—<b>” </b>


    “Hi!” Lily waves at James and ir,pletely oblivious to the tension. “You found me again! Mama, these are the people I told you about. The ones who helped me when I got lost at the


    store.”


    James and ir are staring at her like they’ve seen a ghost. ir’s hand flies to her mouth, her eyes wide with shock and something that looks like dawning recognition.


    “The grandparents,” Lily continues cheerfully. “They were so nice to me, Mama. They bought me ice cream and everything.”


    The silence is deafening.


    James’s face has gonepletely white. His eyes dart between Lily and me, taking in her features, the shape of her eyes, the stubborn set of her jaw.


    Features that look exactly like-


    “How old is she?” ir whispers.


    I don’t answer. Can’t answer. My throat feels like it’s closing up.


    More Rewards >


    Virginia is staring at Lily too, but her expression isn’t one of wonder or joy. It’s calcting. Cold.


    Like she’s putting together pieces of a puzzle she doesn’t like the picture of.


    “Mama?” Lily tugs on my apron, sensing something’s wrong. “Are you okay?”


    “I’m fine, baby.” I force my voice to work, lifting her into my arms. “Why don’t you go help


    Emma with the next batch?”


    “But I want to talk to the nice people-”


    “Later. Go help Emma now.”


    Lily pouts but obeys, disappearing back into the kitchen with onest curious look at our


    visitors.


    When she’s gone, the silence stretches so tight it might snap.


    James is still staring at the spot where she was standing, his mouth slightly open. ir has tears streaming down her face, but these aren’t tears of grief anymore.


    They’re tears of recognition.


    “She looks just like you did at that age,” ir breathes.


    My heart hammers against my ribs. This is not how I wanted them to find out. This is not how any of this was supposed to happen.


    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”


    “Don’t.” James’s voice is rough with emotion. “Don’t lie to us, Scarlett. She’s his, isn’t she? She’s Jasper’s daughter.”


    I lift my chin, meeting his gaze head–on. “She’s mine.”


    “But she’s also-”


    “Mine,” I repeat firmly. “Just mine.”


    Virginia’s sharp intake of breath cuts through the air. When I look at her, her face has gone pale, her wide eyes flickering with something between madness and resentment.


    The venom in their depths so vicious, my heart drops.