No Longer yours

Going back to my inheritance

Sofia ended the call, her thumb lingering on the screen for a long moment. Her chest felt tight, a messy tangle of fear, hope, and fierce determination swirling inside her. She pressed the phone to her heart for a second, eyes closed, breathing deeply to steady herself.

We’re not alone this time, she thought. None of us are.

Wiping the corners of her eyes, she slipped the phone back into her pocket and quietly opened the door to Lily’s room. The little girl looked up at her with those big, trusting eyes, and Sofia’s heart melted all over again. She forced a warm smile, even as her throat ached with emotion, and walked over to sit beside her.

Back at the hospital, Mara stared at her phone for what felt like forever. Her finger hovered over her parents’ number, a number she hadn’t dialed in years. Not since she had coldly cut them off in her past life, choosing Daniel over the family who had only tried to protect her.

Her hand trembled as she finally pressed call. The phone rang for a long time, each ring tightening the knot in her stomach. When it finally connected, her mother’s familiar voice came through.

“Hello?”

Mara’s breath hitched. Tears sprang to her eyes instantly.

“Mom…” she whispered, her voice cracking badly.

There was a stunned silence on the other end. Then a sharp intake of breath.

“Mara…? Is that you?” Her mother’s voice wavered, surprised, disbelieving, but already thick with rising emotion. “Baby, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

The concern in her mother’s tone broke something deep inside Mara. She pressed a hand over her mouth, trying to hold back a sob as hot tears spilled down her cheeks.

“Mom… I’m so sorry,” she choked out, the words pouring from her like a dam had finally burst. “I wasn’t in my right senses when I cut you and Dad off. I chose an ungrateful, disloyal man over my own family. I was so blind, Mom. So stupid. I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry.”

She could hear her mother softly crying now.

“Oh, my sweet girl…” her mom whispered, voice full of love and pain. “We’ve missed you so much.”

Before Mara could say more, a deeper, steadier voice came on the line, her father.

“Mara?”

“D-Dad?” Fresh tears rolled down her face. She hadn’t realized how much she had needed to hear that voice again.

Her father sighed, but it wasn’t angry. It was heavy with years of quiet hurt and unconditional love. “We have nothing against you, Mara. Not anymore. You can come back home whenever you want. Your mother, your brothers, and I… we’ve been waiting for you. The door has always been open.”

Mara let out a shaky, relieved sob, covering her face with her free hand. After so many years of loneliness and regret, the warmth in their voices felt like coming home.

“Thank you, Dad,” she whispered brokenly. “Thank you…”

Her mother took the phone back, her voice gentle but firm. “We love you, baby. Always have. Come back to us when you’re ready. We’ll be waiting.”

The line went quiet after they hung up.

Mara lowered the phone to her lap, staring at it through blurry eyes. For the first time in what felt like forever, the crushing weight on her chest felt a little lighter. After so many years, she was finally reconciling with her parents.

She sat with that feeling for a long moment, letting it settle into her bones. Her real parents. Her real name. The life she had walked away from because she thought love was worth more than truth.

She had been so wrong.

She stroked her belly slowly, gently, feeling the tiny life growing inside her. A small, determined smile touched her lips through the tears.

This time she was going back to everything she had abandoned. Her parents. Her real identity. The inheritance she had barely touched, just a fraction of what she actually owned as the true heiress to the Sterling Corporation. Daniel had spent twenty years beside a woman whose real worth he never bothered to discover.

She wondered briefly what his face would have looked like if he had known the full truth.

The thought hurt. But it no longer destroyed her.

She kept rubbing slow circles over her stomach, protective and fierce.

“I’ve got you,” she whispered to her unborn child. “This time, Mommy’s not alone. And I won’t let anyone hurt us again.”