His Child, My Blood Revenge

Chapter 3

Before Tess was discharged, Lance came to pick us up.

He said he'd already gotten her bedroom ready, and he'd even replaced the night-light.

"Once you're home, everything will be better. Daddy will stay with you every day."

Tess hesitated. "At night too?"

"At night too."

Only then did she finally hold out her hand to him.

Watching her, my chest ached.

I didn't bring up divorce. Not then.

That house held the bed she'd slept in since Tess was little. It was also where the father she'd been waiting for lived.

Some part of me still hoped that once she was back somewhere familiar, she'd finally feel safe again.

But when we opened her bedroom door, the first person to call out, "Daddy," was Ollie.

Blair was sitting on the edge of Tess's bed, buttoning up his pajamas.

Tess's stuffed bear was tucked under his arm. Her pillow had been replaced with a blue one. Even the little name card taped to her closet door had been taken down.

Tess stopped in the doorway. She didn't take another step.

Lance immediately started explaining. Ollie had been waking up terrified in the middle of the night, and Blair couldn't handle it alone, so he'd told them they could stay with us for a while.

Tess's room was close to the master bedroom. It would make it easier for him to take care of Ollie.

I looked toward the end of the hallway.

The guest room door was open. Tess's clothes and medication had been dumped in piles on the floor.

"So when you said you got her room ready, you meant you moved her out of it?"

Lance frowned. "It's just another room. She has you. Ollie needs me right now."

"So does she."

Blair quickly stood. "I'll move him. Really, it's fine. Please don't fight because of me."

But Ollie threw his arms around Lance's waist. "Are you leaving me too?"

Lance immediately picked him up. 

Then he looked at me. "Can we not do this right now?"

8 years ago, my parents had looked at me exactly the same way.

Back then, Lance's family had gone bankrupt. Creditors had practically camped outside their door. Blair refused to marry into a family drowning in debt.

So my parents pushed forward the biological daughter they'd only recently found.

Me.

They said the marriage agreement between our families still had to be honored by someone.

I stayed beside Lance through the worst 18 months of his life. I watched him rebuild everything from nothing with a logistics company.

When he finally got back on his feet, he bought back the ring my adoptive mother had left me.

He put it in my hand and promised me something. "No one in this family will ever make you give up your place again."

For 8 years, I believed him.

And now my own sister had walked straight into my life as if she belonged there more than I did.

All those promises I'd clung to turned out to be nothing but sand. One gust of wind, and they were gone.

Tess looked between us. Slowly, her left hand slipped away from the edge of her father's shirt.

That night, I brought her into my bedroom and sat beside her bed until she fell asleep.

Halfway through the night, she woke up screaming. "Daddy!"

Lance rushed in from the next room. But the first thing out of his mouth was, "Keep your voice down."

He lowered his voice even more. "Ollie just fell asleep."

Tess immediately covered her mouth.

Tears still filled her eyes. She stared at him.

"I dreamed you left. I dreamed you and Mommy got divorced, and then I didn't have a daddy anymore."

Lance reached toward her. "Daddy didn't leave. I'm right here at home."

"But you're not here."

His hand stopped.

Then Blair called his name from the room next door. He answered her.

A second later, he turned to me. "Can you calm her down first?"

Tess panicked and grabbed his arm. "Daddy, I don't need my room back. You can stay here until I fall asleep, okay?"

I gently removed her hand from his sleeve. "You don't have to give up anything."

She looked at me in confusion.

I swallowed hard, but my voice still shook. "You don't have to give anyone your room. You don't have to stop crying. You don't have to trade pieces of yourself just to make Daddy stay."

The tears wouldn't stop falling. "Mommy's taking you away from here."

Tess stared at me. It was as if she finally understood something. 

"Mommy..." Her voice was tiny.

I picked her up, grabbed her medication, and went downstairs to call a car.

Lance followed us. "It's the middle of the night. Dragging her outside right now is only going to exhaust her."

I turned around and looked at him. "She's already bargaining with her own things just to keep you from walking away. And now you're worried she's being put through too much?"

Tess wrapped both arms around my neck. She never looked back at her father. Not once.

The next morning, I hired an attorney. I asked them to preserve every message, video, email, and record connected to the fire.

Then I started contacting parents who had been at the event.

One of them sent me the original footage they'd recorded from the evacuation corridor.

For the first time, I saw exactly what Blair had done while Tess was screaming for help.

That afternoon, Lance sent me an invitation.

The foundation was arranging a private gathering for the families involved in the fire. They wanted Tess to attend. They wanted her and Ollie to shake hands in front of everyone so we could "put all of this behind us."

They even attached the statement Tess was supposed to read.

One line stood out.

Thank you, Ollie, for not leaving me behind.

I stared at those words. Then I tucked the blanket around Tess.

Tess was holding one of my fingers in her good hand. She looked up at me with wide, serious eyes.

"Mommy, I don't want Daddy to stay with me anymore."

She paused. "Not now. Not ever."

I nodded and pulled the blanket a little higher over her shoulders.

On the day of the gathering, I arrived with my attorney.

Tess wasn't with me. The second Lance saw that, his expression darkened.

"Where's the child? Why didn't you bring them?"

Blair hurried forward and pulled him back. "Let it go. My sister doesn't want to admit that my child is better. She's always been comparing herself to me."

I set the speech on the table and looked at the two of them.

"Cut the noble talk. I came here today to tear off your masks of hypocrisy."