I Leapt 15 Years Into The Future To Protect My Daughter Chapter 04
Bastian’s head snapped to the side from the impact,
stunned and frozen as he stared back at me.
I ground my teeth, voice sharp with rage.
“Your daughter is being bullied this badly, and you never
noticed a thing. Or do you simply not care at all?”
Smack!
Another sharp slap landed across his other cheek. This
time, a single tear slipped down his face.
I kept going, my tone scathing.
“Too busy chasing your so–called true love and old flame
to look after your own daughter? Everyone across New
York is talking about it; and it disgusts me.”
Smack!
A third slap landed hard. I jabbed a finger right in front of
his face, my voice cold and deliberate. “Bastian, is this how
you choose to mourn me?”
Seraphina suddenly broke down sobbing, throwing both
arms around my arm and weeping uncontrollably.
“I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I won’t ever get into trouble again.
Please don’t fight, Mom, don’t be mad at each other…
please…”
Bastian held my hand, his voice low and hoarse. For fifteen
years, nobody had ever seen Don Crowe beg or grovel to
anyone, yet he’d brought himself to this humbled state
before me today.
“I’m sorry… don’t leave me again.”
Watching Bastian’s broken state and Seraphina’s tear–streaked face reignited my frayed, irritable temper.
What on earth had this father and daughter endured during the fifteen years I’d been gone?
Their sniffling lasted the entire ride back to the estate,
and they finally fell silent after I shouted in exasperation, my patience exhausted.
I led Seraphina upstairs, then shut and locked the front door, trapping Bastian outside alone.
“Seraphina, talk to me. What have you been through these past fifteen years?” I asked her seriously.
If it turned out Bastian had gotten caught up with a new lover and neglected his own daughter, I would not hesitate to leave him for good and start a new life elsewhere with Seraphina.
Seraphina curled up tight against my chest, her voice muffled and gloomy.
“I barely got to see Papa after I turned eight years old. At first I thought it was something I’d done wrong… then I realized it was because I look more and more like you.
Seeing me just made Papa sad every time he laid eyes on me…”
I squeezed her tighter, pressing a gentle, pitying kiss to
her forehead.
Seraphina kept speaking quietly.
“He was hardly ever around, but he sent me regular money and piles of gifts, so I thought I was still pretty happy… that all changed the year Papa vanished for good. That’s when Zoe Anderson showed up with her daughter Claire.”
“Zoe told me she was the new mom Papa sent to look after me, and she moved right in here with Claire. I couldn’t get ahold of Papa no matter what I tried. Money and gifts still arrived like clockwork, but it was as if he’d vanished off the face of the earth.”
“Did you ever find out where he went?” I questioned her.
Seraphina shook her head, small and dejected.
“No one would tell me. He was gone for five whole
years.
Zoe kept saying if I ever disobeyed her, Papa would stop loving me and leave me for good…”
“And
you
believed her,” I said softly.
Seraphina didn’t answer the question directly. She offered
me a shy little smile, then brightened a little with excitement.
“Papa finally came home last month for my fifteenth birthday. He didn’t abandon me after all. I was too scared he’d disappear again, so I never told him anyone was picking on me at school… But now you’re here too. I’m so
happy… I finally have both a mom and a dad again.”
I discreetly wiped a stray tear from my own eye, kissed her forehead once more, and whispered, “Go to sleep now, Seraphina. Mommy will never leave you again.”
Once I’d settled Seraphina into bed and watched her drift off, I stepped out of her bedroom.
I found Bastian standing rigidly by the front door, his head bowed low like a sentinel on guard. I had no idea how much of our earlier conversation he’d overheard.