His Sunflower

35

'Our souls have been waiting lifetimes for our hearts to finally meet.'

"I decided to start a business in honour of my birth mamma. I realised that tracking down her abuser and handing him to the justice system was the right thing to do and so after several meetings with the government and MI6, I set up my own business. I began to send people undercover to places like drug dens and the police force to spot any form of human trafficking or abuse. It's been running for a few years now and it's grown quite fast. I try my best to give out help and support to all of the survivors by giving them shelter, food, start-up money and free therapy to help them get their life back on track", he said with honour lacing his voice.

"Y-Your mamma would be s-so proud of you", I whispered, hoping he would believe me.

By the light in his eyes and the smile on his lips, I could tell he did.

He truly is such a kind hearted man. He set up a whole business in which its sole purpose was to help people like me, who needed someone to recognise what was happening to them and that they needed help.

I was eternally grateful for him and I couldn't help but smile at the fact that he had helped so many other who were possibly in the same situation as me, perhaps even in worser circumstances.

"Is that h-how you tracked m-me down?", I asked, looking up at him.

He gave a nod and looked as if he was trying to form the words in his head before saying them out loud to me.

"I could tell from when I first met you that you were suffering from abuse. It just took me some time before I could find out who was doing it to you and to be able to stop them", he said, his voice quietening towards the end.

"Mi dispiace tanto che mi ci sia voluto così tanto tempo per trovarti, il mio girasole (I'm so sorry it took me so long to find you, my sunflower)", he whispered.

"I'm just s-so glad t-that you saved me", I whispered back, tears forming in my eyes.

"You didn't need saving; you are strong enough on your own. You just needed a little bit of help, that's all", he said, cupping my face in his warm hands.

"This morning", he began, "after I dropped you and Sof off, I went to see my papà and he told me something. He said that after I refused his help getting money to start my business, his friend offered to secretly donate the money to me so I could start up the company. I found out that his name is Stefano De Campo and...and he claims that he's your father."

I froze.

My normal resort would be to run but I had no where to go. I didn't want to go anywhere else. I knew that I was in safe hands and that nothing would happen to me.

My father.

My mind went blank. I didn't even know what to think.

By the look on my face, he began to panic.

He put his arms near mine, asking for permission and after I gave him a small nod, he lifted me up onto his lap and put his arms around me.

"Breathe amore. Calm down and we can talk through it, sì?", he whispered into my ear, rubbing circles on my back to help me calm down.

Once my breathing returned back to normal, I looked back up.

His eyes were string intensely into mine and I could feel his big warm hands on my back.

"H-How do you k-know that he's t-telling the truth?", I asked.

"My papà recognised the sunflower necklace that you wear and he contacted his friend Stefano. After showing him a photo of it today, he confirmed that it was the exact same necklace that his wife, Gabriella, used to wear before she was taken from him", he explained to me, hoping that I wouldn't go back into panic mode.

Gabriella.

That was my mother's name. He's telling the truth.

So that means that the man who I was living with for my entire life wasn't my father?

My mother lied to me and didn't even bother to think that I deserved to know the truth.

How did this happen?

Why didn't my father try and find me?

What other things don't I know?

I felt as if I didn't even know myself anymore. My whole life has been a lie and now when everything was finally getting better for me, life decided to put me down again.

I didn't even realise that I had began to cry until I felt his thumbs wiping away my tears.

"You don't have to decide anything now, tesoro. You can take all the time you need. I'm always here for you, you know that", he said reassuringly, turning me into his chest and wrapping his strong muscular arms around me.

My hands instinctively grabbed onto my necklace and began to fiddle with it.

I began to allow myself to think about then situation in more depth.

I didnt know anything about Stefano De Campo. Where does he live? Who does he live with? Has he remarried? Have I got any siblings?

Will he hurt me?

"I-Is he nice?", I decided to ask, scared to death that he would be like that abusive man I had lived with my entire life.

I knew that Luca would tell me the truth and that he wouldnt make me meet him if I didnt want to. Strangely enough, he was the one person who I fully trusted and I could feel it in my heart that he wouldn't let me get hurt again.

"He is", he replied confidently. "In fact, your parents and my parents were friends before either of us were even born", he said, looking down into my eyes and giving me a warm smile.

"I-It was like we w-were meant to find each other", I whispered.