I opened my eyes, tears blurring my vision, but I felt an unprecedented sense of relief.
It turned out my mother was even greater and stronger than I had imagined.
“However, I believe he will come to see you again. There may be some reasons I don’t know about, but I feel there are still unresolved issues between Jack and your mother,” Ethan suddenly stated.
Ethan’s words surprised me, but I didn’t expect Jack to come looking for me just a few days later. Reluctantly, I found myself heading back to the prison to see him.
I really didn’t want to see him at the prison, but something inside me urged me to uncover the truth about certain matters.
As I stepped once more into that cold prison, my heart felt unusually heavy, each step seeming to tread upon the thorns of the past.
The air was thick with oppression and despair, starkly contrasting the bright sunlight outside.
Jack, who once occupied a significant place in my life but had destroyed it with his own hands, was now waiting for my arrival.
Passing through layers of iron gates, I was led to a visitation room.
He sat there, looking more gaunt than before. His eyes lacked the former arrogance, replaced instead by an indescribable complexity. Perhaps due to our last unpleasant encounter, he regarded me with a less complicated expression this time.
“I’m curious. Why do you want to see me again after the last unpleasant conversation we had?”
His tone carried an almost imperceptible weariness and a hint of resignation as if he hadn’t expected us to face each other again.
I took a deep breath, trying to make my voice sound steady and strong. “Jack, I’m here to clarify some matters. About you, my mother, and those truths I’ve never truly understood.”
He paused, surprised, and then a bitter smite crept onto his face. “The truth? Do you think knowing the truth will change anything? Or do you think that once you know, you can be indifferent to it all?”
I didn’t understand why Jack looked at me as if he had gone mad. After a long moment of reflection, I took another deep breath, feeling a surge of pain.
“If you keep saying you want to know the truth, then let me break it to you.”
I hadn’t expected him to be willing to reveal the truth, but what he said next plunged me into despair.
“The truth is that you’re not even my daughter, which is why I resent you. I feel completely at a loss when it comes to you.”
Time seemed to freeze in that moment, and the air was filled with a suffocating silence.
My heart felt like it had been struck by a heavy blow, painful enough to make it hard to breathe.
I stared wide-eyed at the man before
me, the
one I had once viewed as
family, now tearing apart the very bond of blood between us with the cruelest words.
“What did you just say?” My voice trembled, each word squeezed out through gritted teeth, filled with endless despair and confusion.
Jack’s face was expressionless, yet a complex emotion flickered in his eyes, resembling regret and liberation.