The Price Of Unspoken Love

Afrodite LesFolies

Romance | Completed

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Six years ago, I destroyed the only man I ever loved to save him. Today, he walked back into my life to take the only thing I have left. I was dying of leukemia, with only months to live. My only wish was to spend that time with my daughter, Kenzie. But I was being sued for custody by my deceased husband's sister, who demanded a fortune I didn't have. Then, the opposing lawyer walked in. It was Bryan Flores. He stood by, his face a mask of indifference, as his client slapped me across the face. He threatened to take my daughter, calling me an unfit mother. "Sign it," he said, his voice like ice. "Or I will see you in court, and I will take everything from you. Starting with your daughter." He didn't know Kenzie was his child. He didn't know I was dying. He only knew he hated me, and he now had a new family with the very woman whose family had destroyed mine. I had sacrificed everything to protect him, pushing him away with cruel lies so he could have a future. But my sacrifice had turned him into a monster, and he was now the weapon being used to destroy me completely. To save our daughter, I gave up my life-saving treatment money and sent her far away. As he celebrated the birth of his new child on the floor above, I died alone in a hospital bed. But I left him a letter. A letter that would burn his perfect world to the ground.

Family Revenge Drama Romance Kickass Heroine

Chapter 19

The day before yesterday 21:42

Chapter 1

Six years ago, I destroyed the man I ever loved to save him. Today, he walked back into my life to take the only thing I have left.

I was dying of leukemia, with only months to live. My only wish was to spend that time with my daughter, Kenzie. But I was being sued for custody by my deceased husband's sister, who demanded a fortune I didn't have.

Then, the opposing lawyer walked in. It was Bryan Flores.

He stood by, his face a mask of indifference, as his client slapped me across the face. He threatened to take my daughter, calling me an unfit mother.

"Sign it," he said, his voice like ice. "Or I will see you in court, and I will take everything from you. Starting with your daughter."

He didn't know Kenzie was his child. He didn't know I was dying. He only knew he hated me, and he now had a new family with the very woman whose family had destroyed mine.

I had sacrificed everything to protect him, pushing him away with cruel lies so he could have a future. But my sacrifice had turned him into a monster, and he was now the weapon being used to destroy me completely.

To save our daughter, I gave up my life-saving treatment money and sent her far away. As he celebrated the birth of his new child on the floor above, I died alone in a hospital bed.

But I left him a letter. A letter that would burn his perfect world to the ground.

Chapter 1

Ellie Daniels POV:

Six years ago, I destroyed the only man I ever loved to save him. Today, he walked back into my life to take the only thing I have left.

The mediation room was cold, the air thick with the scent of cheap coffee and unspoken resentment. Across the polished mahogany table, Guadalupe Swanson, the sister of my deceased husband-of-convenience, dabbed at her dry eyes with a tissue. A performance of grief, as hollow as the marriage that connected us.

My own grief was a quiet, constant ache, a companion I' d grown accustomed to, much like the fatigue that settled deep in my bones. Leukemia, the doctors had said. A ticking clock I couldn't afford to watch. All I wanted was to spend my remaining time with my daughter, Kenzie, not in a sterile room fighting a baseless custody claim.

I'd agreed to this mediation to avoid the cost and publicity of a trial, hoping a quiet settlement would make Guadalupe and her greed disappear.

Then the door opened, and my world tilted on its axis.

Bryan Flores.

He was no longer the boy whose laughter echoed in my college memories, the one who' d traced constellations on my back in his cramped dorm room. This man was a stranger, sculpted from ice and ambition. His suit was impeccably tailored, his jaw set like stone, and his eyes-the same deep, soulful eyes I once got lost in-were now cold, assessing voids. He was the opposing counsel. Of course, he was. The universe had a cruel sense of humor.

Guadalupe' s voice, shrill and grating, shattered the silence. "There she is. The black widow. Look at her, Bryan. Not a tear in her eye for my poor brother."

I flinched, my gaze fixed on the wood grain of the table.

"She probably cheated on him the whole time," Guadalupe spat, her voice rising. "My brother was a good man, a saint, to take in a woman like her. A fallen heiress with a bastard child!"

The mediator, a tired-looking woman in her fifties, cleared her throat. "Mrs. Swanson, let's maintain a professional decorum."

Guadalupe ignored her, her eyes zeroed in on me. "I want compensation. For my brother' s emotional distress. He died of a broken heart, I tell you!"

"He died of cancer, Guadalupe," I said, my voice barely a whisper.

"Because of you!" she shrieked, lunging across the table. Her hand cracked against my cheek, the force of it snapping my head to the side. The sting was sharp, but it was nothing compared to the ice that flooded my veins as I looked at Bryan.

He just stood there. Motionless. His face was a mask of indifference as he watched his client assault me. The Bryan I knew would have thrown himself in front of a bus for me. This man wouldn't even cross a room.

I didn't move. I didn't cry out. I just absorbed the blow, my pride the only shield I had left.

"That's enough, Guadalupe," Bryan said finally, his voice devoid of any emotion. It was calm, measured, the voice of a lawyer commanding a courtroom, not a man witnessing a woman he once loved being struck.

I remembered him screaming my name in a thunderstorm, his face streaked with rain and tears, begging me not to leave him. The contrast was a physical blow, knocking the air from my lungs.

He stepped forward, placing a file on the table in front of me with a soft thud. His fingers, long and elegant, brushed the paper. "Sign this."

The scent of his cologne, a clean, sharp scent I didn't recognize, filled the space between us. I thought of the time he' d scribbled 'I will love Ellie Daniels forever' on a bar napkin and slid it across a table, calling it a binding contract. My heart twisted.

I lowered my gaze, unable to meet his. The memory of our last night together burned behind my eyes. His face, broken and confused as I spat the cruelest words I could conjure. "You were a charity case, Bryan. A fun little project. Did you really think someone like me would end up with someone like you?"

They were lies, every single one of them, crafted to sever him from the catastrophe that was my life, to protect him from the loan sharks and criminals my father' s ruin had unleashed. But in this cold, sterile room, those lies felt like the only truth that existed between us.

"You deceived my brother," Guadalupe sneered, back in her seat but still vibrating with rage. "You owe us. If you can't pay, we'll take the child. She can work off your debt."

My head snapped up, a protective roar building in my chest. "You will not touch my daughter."

I reached for the pen, but my hand trembled violently. The chemotherapy had left a tremor I couldn't control.

"Mark and I had an agreement," I said, my voice shaking. "It was a business arrangement. He needed a caregiver, and I needed a name for my daughter so she wouldn't be bullied."

"Lies!" Guadalupe screeched. "My brother wouldn't-"

"Quiet," Bryan commanded, and she fell silent. He turned his glacial gaze on me. "Ellie Daniels. The great Ellie Daniels. I never thought I'd see the day you'd be haggling over pennies in a mediation."

My breath hitched. He knew exactly where to cut.

"Let's not waste any more time," he continued, his tone clipped and professional. "My client is willing to settle for five hundred thousand dollars. A small price to pay to keep your daughter, wouldn't you agree? For someone who used to spend that much on a single party."

I stared at the settlement agreement, the black ink blurring through a film of unshed tears. I thought again of his face that last night, the way his shoulders slumped in defeat, the image of his broken silhouette seared into my memory. Now, he was all sharp angles and success, a man remade by my betrayal.

"I don't have that kind of money, Bryan," I whispered, the admission costing me what little pride I had left. "And my health... I can't..."

"I'm not interested in your excuses, Ellie," he cut me off, his voice like chipping ice. "This is a legal matter, not a sob story. Your feelings are irrelevant here."

He leaned forward, tapping a manicured finger on the signature line. "Sign it. Or I will see you in court, and I will take everything from you. Starting with your daughter."

A single, hot tear escaped and traced a path down my cheek. I wiped it away angrily. No. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. I wouldn't give any of them what they wanted.

I had so little time left. Weeks. Maybe months, if I was lucky. Every second was precious, and I would not spend it fighting a losing battle against the man who held my past, and now my future, in his hands. But I couldn't lose Kenzie.

He saw the fight drain from my eyes. He saw me break.

"In court, Ellie," he warned, his voice a low, chilling whisper, "you'll find I have no mercy."

A bitter smile touched my lips. "I know. I'm already a dead woman walking, Bryan."

His phone buzzed on the table, lighting up with a picture that shattered the final, fragile pieces of my heart. It was a lock screen photo of him and a beautiful, delicate-looking woman, her head resting on his shoulder. Addison Mcbride. Her family had orchestrated my family's ruin. In the photo, she was holding a small boy, and her other hand rested on a gently rounded stomach.

He was married. He had a family. A new family.

The air in my lungs turned to ash. All the secret, stupid hope I' d clung to for six years-that maybe, someday, he' d understand-it all died in that moment.

I fumbled for my worn handbag on the floor, a desperate need to flee overwhelming me. My hands shook so badly that the bag slipped, its contents spilling across the floor. Lipsticks, loose change, and a dozen amber-colored prescription bottles. My life-saving, life-extending medication, scattered at his feet.

He stood to leave, but then he froze. His gaze dropped from my face to the floor, then back up. A flicker of something-confusion, suspicion-crossed his features for the first time.

He took a step toward me, his voice dangerously quiet. "That girl, Kenzie. How old is she?" Before I could answer, his eyes narrowed. "Who is her father, Ellie?"