Innocence Auction (Book 1)

Chapter 11

Amabella

"I am so glad you came back" My father says as I sit down. I place my hands on my knee and curl them into balls, my nails biting into my skin. The pain it causes is welcoming though. I needed to focus on it to help me remain level-headed during this uncomfortable meeting I was about to endure. "Would you like me to leave you to it?" Abel asks a moment later and my father says "yes" as I shout a desperate "no". I look at Abel and I can see he is torn as to who is best to listen to in this situation. Eventually he sits down beside me and I am thankful for once for his presence. I could not help but to find it a little funny that I was finding comfort in having one of the very men I despise sat beside me. I sigh and turn my attention from Abel to my father knowing there was no point in stalling.

"Amabella. I am so sorry. I have tried to contact you on numerous occasions to explain what happened" My father begins and instantly my anger bubbles to the surface. I press my nails into my skin a little further to try and keep myself in check. "I know what happened. You cheated on my mother with your mistress, then you broke her heart and our family and left us. Riding off into the sunset to become this rich and famous guy with the perfect woman on his arm" I snap and look at my father. He sighs and I cannot help but notice the sadness in his eyes. It did nothing to help me feel sorry for him, but I noted it, nevertheless. "Oh Amabella, there was more to it than that" He says sadly like I was still the little girl he left behind all those years ago. The problem was I was not a little girl anymore and he could not manipulate me into his way of thinking. He had not been there to pick up the pieces when my mother fell apart, I had. Which meant I had had to grow up pretty quickly. I became the adult and she became the child for a good year or so after he left us. How I had managed to keep my grades up at school and get into college I will never know. I would almost swear the teachers took pity on me and bumped up my grades. "Damn right there was more too it! I had to give up a lot of my late childhood and social life to take care of mother. She was a mess when you left and you did not even give a shit. Did not even consider taking me with you when you walked out. Not that I would have gone. But it would have been nice to have felt like I was at least important to you. But no." I scream as my nails bite into my skin. I knew my temper was rising and I was rising out of my chair. I should have known not to come. This was a bad idea. I feel Abel's arm on mine a moment later, easing me back into my chair. I look to him and he has a worried look on his face. I sigh and sit down before turning back to face my father.

"I'm so sorry Amabella. I did try and take you with me, but your mother would not let you come. She then blocked me from contacting you. I had no access to you until you turned 16. But by then your mother had filled your head with that much of her side of the story, that you did not want to know" He says sadly. I ponder his words for a moment, thinking back to the time that hurts the most. The time he left. There had been no kiss goodbye. No nothing. I had just gotten up one morning for school and he was gone. Mum had told me he was never coming back and I had been heartbroken. She had been a zombie. After that I heard nothing from him... Actually no I received a birthday card from him on my 16th birthday, but I had burnt it on the fire. Too angry at him for leaving us two years before to even care to read it. He had tried again to contact me on my 17th birthday but then when graduation came around I had heard nothing. I had not bothered reaching out. I hated him. I would not reach out to him. He destroyed our lives. I sighed and shook my head from the thoughts clouding them. Of all the time spent wishing he would come home so mum would be happy again and we could be a family. But as time had gone by, I realised my wishes were childhood naivety. He was never coming back. Eventually mum had gotten better, at least less zombified and she finally took back over the role as parent just in time for my 16th birthday. So at least I had the chance to going back to being a proper student for the last years of high school. That was probably the real reason my grades improved. Because my home life had.