CHAPTER FOUR : Blood Lies
1254 Words
KAYLA
Three weeks.
That’s how long it had been since I walked out of my family’s estate with nothing but a single overnight bag, Elena clutched tightly in my arms, and a heartbreak so heavy it threatened to crush me with every breath.
Not a call. Not a message. Not a goodbye. Just… silence.
And I preferred it that way.
Every morning, my phone still lit up with texts from Mom and Dad. Their words hovered in the notifications like ghosts I refused to acknowledge. What would I even say?
You shattered me.
You chose Camilla.
You left me to rot in silence while I carried your shame.
No. They didn’t deserve my pain. Not anymore.
Our new home wasn’t much—an old apartment sandwiched between two rundown buildings with chipped paint and leaky pipes. But it was ours. The walls were thin, the windows creaked when the wind hit just right, and the heater only worked when you kicked it, but… it was home.
Lia has been my rock through it all. My best friend, her constant—never asking for details I wasn’t ready to share. No judgment, just support. Watched Elena when needed, and most of all, reminded me that I wasn’t alone. My best friend had always shown up for me in ways my family never had.
That morning, the smell of pancakes and vanilla filled our tiny kitchen. I hummed softly, flipping one onto the growing stack as I felt small footsteps thudding toward me.
“Mom?” came a light voice.
I turned and saw her—Elena. Elena rubbed her eyes and climbed onto a stool like a mini acrobat and leaned her cheek on the counter, hugging her stuffed wolf.
I smiled. “Morning, baby. Hungry?”
She nodded, rubbing her eyes. “Mom?”
“Hm?”
She hesitated. “At school… my friends talk about their papas. Like, all the time. Jackson’s dad builds robots. Emmy’s papa makes heart-shaped sandwiches.”
My hand paused over the syrup.
“And…” Her voice got smaller. “Where’s my papa, Momma?”
I swear—if someone had stuck a knife straight through my chest, it would’ve hurt less than those five little words.
I crouched beside her stool, my heart thudding. “Sweetheart…”
Her big brown eyes locked onto mine, full of questions for a four-year-old and I didn’t have the strength to answer.
“Is he real?” she asked. “Do I have one?”
God, this was the moment I’d been dreading.
“Of course you do,” I whispered. “He’s just… away." On a really important mission. He’s helping people.”
Elena’s eyes widened. “Like a hero?”
I forced a smile. “Exactly. He’s saving lives. Far, far away.”
She beamed like I’d handed her the moon. “Wow.”
The lie stung my tongue. But how do you explain to a child that her father doesn’t acknowledge her existence?
The school bus honked. I jumped a little.
“Alright, c’mon starshine,” I said, grabbing her backpack and slipping on her jacket.
Outside, the air bit at our skin. I kissed her cheek and knelt to zip up her coat. “Be brave today, okay?”
She nodded and hugged me tight. “I love you, Momma.”
“I love you more.”
I watched the bus rumble away, waving until the yellow faded behind the bend.
Inside, the apartment felt too quiet. Too still. I picked up her empty plate and rinsed it, trying to distract my spiraling thoughts.
Where’s my papa, Momma?
I should’ve been ready for that. I should’ve had an answer that wasn’t laced with lies.
My phone buzzed.
I didn’t even want to check. Probably Queen reminding me to eat or another work schedule change. But something in my gut told me to look.
The name on the screen made my stomach twist.
Ana.
My thumb hesitated before I tapped open the message.
“Your father is dead.”
My knees buckled.
The phone hit the tile with a c***k. My hands flew to my mouth, but I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.
Dead?
My father?
I staggered to the couch, clutching a pillow like it could hold me together. Despite everything—the betrayal, the lies, the way he fed me to the devils —I had still… loved him. Somewhere in my shattered heart, I had hoped he might change.
I didn’t think. Didn’t pack. I just ran.
⸻
“Kayla!”
Ana caught me in her arms the second I stumbled into our estate. She looked thinner, older somehow, grief carving her face into something I barely recognized.
“I didn’t know how else to tell you,” she whispered.
I pressed my face into her shoulder. The sob clawed its way out of my chest, jagged and raw.
For one moment, I let myself grieve.
But of course, it didn’t last.
Click click click.
The sound of Camilla’s heels announced her like a warning bell.
“You have some goddamn nerve,” she snarled, eyes wild.
“Camilla—”
Her hand flew.
The slap cracked across my cheek, sharp and humiliating.
“You knew what Kaiden offered us. Protection! Power! But you ran. You ran like a coward. And now… he’s dead! Because of you!”
“What?” I gasped, my skin burning. “That doesn’t even make sense—”
“You brought shame to this family!” she hissed, grabbing my arm. “And now, you show up here to what—pretend you care?”
I yanked my arm away. “I came because he was my father.”
“You’re nothing!” she screamed, shoving me toward the door. “You were never one of us.”
My breath caught.
That’s when she arrived.
Our mother. Descending the staircase in black, face hollowed by something beyond grief.
“You illegitimate child,” she spat.
My world stopped.
“What… did you just say?”
“You heard me,” my mother hissed, coming down the steps. “You came to steal what was never yours? Too bad—there’s nothing left for you.”
She looked at me like I was filth under her shoe. “You were abandoned at our doorstep. You’re not ours. I warned him not to accept you here, but he was soft. And now we pay the price.”
The words struck me like a lightning bolt.
Abandoned?
My world tilted.
The truth exploded like thunder inside my head.
No.
No, no, no.
Everything slowed. My vision blurred.
Suddenly, every wound had a reason. Every time they looked at Camilla like a crown jewel and me like tarnished silver—it made sense.
“So all this time… you hated me because I wasn’t yours?”
She didn’t answer. She just nodded to the guards.
“Get her out of my house.”
I didn’t fight as they dragged me away.
What was the point?
I wasn’t allowed to see the body. Wasn’t allowed to grieve. Wasn’t even allowed to exist.
By the time I made it back to the apartment, I collapsed onto the bed, body shaking with sobs I hadn’t known were still inside me.
I hadn’t just lost a father.
I’d lost everything. My name. My family. My identity.
And now I was nothing.
Just… Kayla.
Whoever that was.
Somewhere between crying and silence, I fell asleep.
I didn’t dream.
- Writer
