PART 4: The room where the truth finally spoke
They were taken to a private lounge inside the venue. The door closed. The noise of the red carpet disappeared.
Only the two of them remained.
Isabella sat on the couch like her legs could no longer hold her. Lila stood a few feet away, still holding her red plastic bucket like it was the only thing keeping her steady.
Isabella’s voice was barely a whisper.
“They told me you died. Right after you were born. They said there were complications… that I was too young… that it was better this way.”
Lila looked at her with big, serious eyes.
“Miss Rose — the nurse who took care of me — she said the doctor lied. She said someone paid them to tell you that. She said your family didn’t want anyone to know about me.”
Isabella closed her eyes. Pain flashed across her face.
Her family. Her powerful, image-obsessed parents who had controlled every part of her life back then.
She had been seventeen. Scared. Alone. And they had made the decision for her.
“I never said I didn’t want you,” Isabella whispered, tears falling freely now. “I never said that. I swear to you, Lila. I wanted you. Even when I was terrified… I wanted you.”
Lila’s lower lip trembled.
“Then why did everyone say you gave me away? Why did they say you never loved me?”
Isabella moved slowly off the couch and knelt in front of the little girl again. This time she didn’t care about her dress or her makeup or the cameras outside.
She reached out and gently took both of Lila’s hands.
“Because they lied to both of us,” she said. “And I was too broken and too scared to fight back then. But I’m not that girl anymore.”
May you like
She looked straight into Lila’s eyes.
“And I have been looking for you — without even knowing it — every single day since.”
