“You killed his father. He’s never going to forgive you. Do us all a favor and just vanish forever. ”
Those words from Eric’s mother, Michelle, hit me like a physical blow.
I had come to the hospital to see if Eric was okay after the overpass collapse, but I wasn’t welcome. I was the daughter of the man whose substandard materials had caused the disaster. My father was dead now, but the guilt and blame were all mine to carry. I had loved Eric once.
We had been young, engaged, full of plans. But that night, when my father’s mistakes collapsed the Winston Overpass, everything shattered. Eric’s own father was killed in the accident. And in the chaos and grief, Michelle told Eric that I had run off with my father, that I had played him, that I had never loved him.
It wasn’t true. I had been devastated, lost, and alone. But I didn’t have the strength to fight for him then. I had already discovered I was pregnant.
And Eric, believing the lies, turned away from me. So I left. I disappeared, moved away, and raised our daughter, Nina, on my own for six long years. Now I was back, not for Eric, but for Nina.
She was sick, and the only hospital that could treat her was in the city I had sworn never to return to. I had no choice. “Mommy, you said we should never come back to this town,” Nina said, her small voice worried. “I know, but your treatment can’t wait any longer, Nina.
This is the best hospital. I’m going to get you better, okay? ”
She smiled, and for a moment, that was enough. But the city wasn’t done with me yet.
The medication Nina urgently needed was controlled by the Zane Group. The CEO held the key to my daughter’s life. And when I begged for a meeting, I found out who the CEO was. Eric.
He walked into the room, his eyes cold, his jaw tight. He looked at me like I was a stranger, or worse, an enemy. “Didn’t you say you’d pay any price? ” he said, his voice dripping with contempt.
“Stay with me for the night and the medicine is yours. Take your clothes off. ”
I stood there, frozen. The man I had once loved, the father of my child, was humiliating me.
But I thought of Nina, pale and weak in that hospital bed. “I will do anything,” I whispered. “Just give me the medicine. ”
He laughed, a cruel, hollow sound.
“You’re just not worth the price anymore. ”
He threw the medicine on the floor. “Pick it up. ”
I picked it up.
I would do anything for my daughter. Even this. Even with my heart in pieces. —
Later, Eric showed up at my door, drunk and desperate.
He had seen the ring, the one I still wore, the one that matched his. He had seen Nina, who looked so much like him. He had started to question the lies his mother had told him all those years ago. “Tell me you still have some love for me,” he pleaded.
“Because I have only ever loved you. ”
I looked at him, exhausted. I had spent so many years alone, scraping by, fighting for Nina’s life while he lived in his world of wealth and power, believing I had betrayed him. “Yes,” I said softly.
“I do. ”
And just like that, we were back together. He broke off his engagement with Olivia, his arranged fiancée. We talked about marriage, about making up for lost time.
I finally told him the truth I had been carrying for so long. “Eric, Nina is your daughter. ”
But he shook his head, a sad smile on his face. “Whether Nina is my daughter or not, I promise I will always be there for both of you.
”
His mother had already run a DNA test. The results, she claimed, proved Nina wasn’t his. I knew the results were lies, but I couldn’t prove it. And worse, the doubt was eating away at Eric.
—
Olivia, the spurned fiancée, saw this as her chance. She confronted me in public, called Nina a little bastard, and humiliated me in front of Eric. “Do you really think Eric believes this crap? ” she sneered.
“Michelle already told him that you ran off with another man. So tell me, who do you think he’s going to believe? ”
I looked at Eric. “Me.
Right, Eric? ”
He hesitated. That hesitation was the death blow. “Beth, I told you, whether Nina is mine or not, I’ll always take care of her.
Wait, isn’t that what I’m trying to do right now? ”
It wasn’t a “you’re right. ” It wasn’t a defense of me. It was a compromise.
And I was done with compromises. “So you believe her? ” I demanded. “I-”
“Yeah.
It’s really disappointing. It’s hard to believe this. ”
In that moment, I saw the truth. For six years, I had carried the weight of his family’s blame, raised his daughter, and loved him still.
And he couldn’t see past the poison his mother had planted. He didn’t trust me. Nina saw it too. She ran at Olivia, screaming, trying to protect me.
But she was just a child, sick and fragile. She collapsed in the chaos and had to be rushed to the hospital. Standing outside Nina’s room, I looked at Eric with cold, final clarity. “You told me you loved me.
Do you think that’s what love is? You don’t even believe me. We don’t trust each other anymore. Get out.
”
—
Eric wouldn’t let go easily. He had Olivia publicly confront me and apologize, showing me he was trying to fix things. He tried to win me back with grand gestures, even arranging a solo exhibition for my art at the National Gallery to give me a chance at success. But I was done.
I planned to leave, to take Nina and disappear again. At the exhibition, Eric got drunk, called me, and begged me to come pick him up. I did. But I told him the truth I had been holding inside for years.
“You know why this happened, Eric? This happened because they thought we were together. You need to leave us alone. ”
He pleaded, he negotiated, he promised.
But I couldn’t do it anymore. “Eric, there is no chance that we need to get you home,” I said. “You’re leaving. First thing in the morning.
”
“No. Then, come on. I am begging you. Please.
Just come on. Just stop saying no. ”
“Okay,” I said, because I couldn’t argue anymore. But I didn’t mean it.
He took me home with him, tried to convince me to stay. But I had already made my decision. I slipped a little sleeping aid into his drink so I could slip away in the night. As he drifted off, I said, “You want to leave, don’t you?
I can help you. ”
It wasn’t him. It was me. I had found an ally in his own mother, of all people.
Michelle had seen the truth — or at least, she had seen that Olivia was a threat to her family’s legacy. She helped me escape, on the condition that I never come back. I ran. I took Nina and we disappeared from that toxic city.
—
But Eric found me. He was enraged, furious, desperate. He wanted answers, he wanted control, he wanted me. “Why did you leave again, huh?
You promised. What makes him better than me, huh? What did I do wrong? ”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Eric.
It’s just too late. ”
“What does that even mean? ”
“It is too late for us to ever go back to how things were. We should have ended this when you stopped trusting me.
”
He looked at me, his whole world crumbling. “How was I supposed to believe you? I already got the DNA tests. Nina is not my child.
I wanted to believe you. And I got the results. ”
I looked him dead in the eye. “Nina is your child, Eric.
Have you ever considered that maybe those results were fake? ”
That sent him into a spiral. He had genetic samples taken from himself and Nina, completely outside his mother’s influence. The results were undeniable.
Nina Wall was his daughter. 99. 99% paternity. —
Michelle had schemed for years to keep us apart, even forging DNA results.
When she found out the truth was out, she revealed her true intentions. She wanted Nina. The little girl was her family’s true heiress, the last legacy of her line. When Beth and Nina tried to flee the country, Michelle had Nina kidnapped.
She wanted to keep the child hidden, to raise her as her own, and she took her. Eric went into a blind rage when he found out. He confronted his mother, demanding Nina be returned. But Michelle played for time, even staging a fake ransom with hired criminals to cover her tracks.
The rescue attempt was catastrophic. Shots were fired. Beth threw herself in front of the kidnapper to protect her daughter, taking a bullet for Nina. Michelle watched as Beth collapsed, her blood pooling on the ground.
“Mom! No! Mom! No!
” Nina screamed. In that moment, the old woman finally broke. “I can’t believe this is happening again,” she sobbed. “I really do blame myself for your father’s death and if something ever happened to your mother.
I’m so scared, Eric. ”
“It’s not your fault. None of this is because of you. ”
“But if your mom doesn’t recover, how could I ever face you again?
”
—
Beth survived, but the scar on her heart was deep. She told Eric she couldn’t do this anymore. She was broken by the weight of six years of guilt, accusation, and near-misses. She left the city with Nina, determined to rebuild their lives far away from the Moss family forever.
Eric fell apart. For a month, he was a ghost, drinking himself into oblivion, barely living. Finally, his mother came to him. Michelle was a changed woman.
She had lost her husband, lied to her son, and nearly lost her granddaughter. She knew she was responsible for so much pain. “Beth, I owe you an apology,” Michelle said when she found Beth. “All these years, I knew it wasn’t fully your fault.
But I just blamed you for everything about my husband. ”
“I think we can leave that in the past,” Beth said. “No. Over time, I’ve come to see how wrong I was.
Beth, Eric still loves you. Please come back to us. ”
Beth looked at her daughter. “What do you think, Nina?
Should we give Grandma and Daddy another chance? ”
Nina smiled, her voice clear. “If you are willing to, then I am, too. ”
—
So they came back.
Eric was waiting, desperate, hopeful. “Mom, go away,” he said, not believing his eyes. “Eric? It’s me.
”
“You’re here. You came back. ”
“Of course I came back, Eric. ”
“I don’t want to live away from Daddy,” Nina said.
“I want to enjoy my birthday with Mommy. ”
“And me, too,” Eric said, grinning, pulling her into a hug. “Ew, you stink,” Nina laughed, covering her nose. For the first time in years, the whole family was together.
The truth had finally broken through every lie, every manipulation, every scheme. Eric and Beth had their wedding. It was a small ceremony, surrounded by those who had survived the long, painful journey. Eric’s mother sat in the front row, tears streaming down her face as she watched her son marry the woman she had once scorned.
“Mr. Eric Moss, do you promise to love Beth Wall, in all times, good and bad? ”
“I do. ”
“Miss Beth Wall, do you promise to stay by Mr.
Eric Moss’s side in sickness and in health? ”
“Yes. I do. ”
They kissed as the small crowd cheered, Nina clapping her tiny hands with joy.
Looking at Eric’s eyes, clear and full of love, Beth finally felt something she had almost forgotten. Peace.
