Marrying My Father’s Enemy

Chapter 23: I'm Your Enemy

Henry's footsteps hurried down the marble hall as he pushed past the guests, barely noticing their stares.

The glances, their glares, they all faded into background noise as he finally spotted Eira near the exit.

"Eira!" He called her name for the first time.

She stopped but didn't turn to face him.

Instead, she crossed her arms and waited with her head held high.

Henry quickened his pace until he was close enough to speak without the crowd's ears around them.

She turned to him with her blue eyes, looking like icy snow. "What could you possibly want now, Henry?"

He clenched his jaw, struggling to hold onto his own body. "You—" he said harshly, like he was whispering, "you should have stayed hidden. With your mother."

Eira sharpened her glare. "You don't even know, do you? That she died… from cancer."

She paused, watching him, searching for any sign of remorse or sympathy on his face. "Did you ever check on her, even once?"

Henry's mouth opened, but no words came.

His face shifted, struggling between defensiveness and something that almost looked like shame. "I… she… it wasn't—"

Eira shook her head, and a bitter laugh escaped from her mouth.

"No, you didn't. You just left her to rot in that cell. And you left me." Her voice trembled, but she held herself. "Do you know what she went through?"

Henry looked away, as if he couldn't bear the look in her eyes. "I did what I had to, Eira," he said quietly, though the words sounded hollow, like a new rain.

"There was… there was no other choice."

Eira took a step forward. "No other choice? Did you even think about her? How she was suffering, alone, locked up with no one… no one, Henry! She couldn't eat; she was allergic to the food they gave her, she couldn't drink, her body was breaking down."

Eira's voice grew louder, the words started spilling out as if she was writing a diary.

"She was abused by her cellmates. She was dying slowly, and still, she hoped that one day you might come. She believed you'd remember her."

Henry's face twitched, and for the first time, his eyes shone with tears.

He swallowed, while sagging his shoulders. "I… I couldn't have… It wasn't supposed to be like this," he stammered back with a trembling voice. "Eira, I didn't… I didn't know."

Eira took a deep, shaky breath. "She died alone, Henry. She died hoping you'd come."

Water filled her eyes like a puddle in the heavy rain, but she wiped them away, forcing herself to stay strong in front of her father.

"And you left her there to die. You left us both."

Henry's face crumbled, and he fell to his knees in front of her.

He reached for her hand, looking desperate enough. "Please, Eira… I know I was a bad man, a terrible person, but I've changed. I swear it. I'm… I'm sorry."

She looked down at him. "Sorry? Now, you're sorry?"

She pulled her hand away, taking a step back. "You're only sorry because now the whole world knows."

He shook his head and started pleading. "Eira, please. I… I never wanted you to go through this. You don't understand what it was like back then, the choices I had to make."

"Choices?" Eira's voice was like a knife. "You made the choice to let her suffer. And now you want me to forgive you?"

She scoffed, feeling the pain in her voice sharp enough to cut through him in two. "You just want me to make it all go away, don't you?"

"Please," he begged as tears fell down his face. "I'll do anything. Just… just stop this. You don't understand what this will do to me, to my reputation. Eira, this will destroy everything."

Eira shook her head slowly, staring at him. "Your reputation. That's all you care about, isn't it? Not about her, or me. Just you."

"No, that's not true," he said, almost choking. "I… I do care. I'm asking you—"

"To save yourself," she interrupted. "That's all this is to you. Another way to protect yourself. You want me to stay silent, to disappear like you made her disappear."

Henry looked down, his hands started shaking. "It's not like that, Eira. I… I only want to help. I just—"

"To help yourself," she cut his statement again.

Eira stared at him, feeling like she was drowning in a deep ocean, and still not being able to touch the bottom.

"You didn't think about her then, and you're not thinking about her now."

He took a deep breath, looking up at her. "I just need you to stop. I need you to end this… Please. I'll even get you out of that marriage with Callian if that's what it takes. Just… let this go, Eira."

"You think I'm here to make a deal? That I'd give up my mother's name, her memory, just to protect your lies?"

"Eira, please… I'm begging you. I've… I've changed. You don't understand what this will do to me. It will ruin everything."

"Good. I want it to ruin you. I want you to feel everything you made her feel." She paused, softening her tone as more tears gathered in her eyes.

"She loved you, Henry. Even after everything, she still loved you. And all she got was a prison cell and a death sentence."

Henry dropped his head into his hands, sobs wracked his body like a tsunami. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… I don't know… I didn't mean for this…"

Eira was watching him, the man who had abandoned her, the man who had let her mother suffer.

And despite his tears, she felt nothing but a hollow ache.

"This isn't about you anymore, Henry," she said quietly. "This is about her. And I won't stop until I have what she was owed. I'm coming for her fortune, everything you kept from her. And I'll do it in her name."

Henry removed his hands from his face and looked up at her. "Eira… please… don't do this."

But she just shook her head. "You'll never understand what you took from us. And you'll never make it right."

"My daughter…"

Eira froze, "daughter?" She asked. "I'm your daughter now?"

"Yes, you are…"

"Henry, I'm not your daughter…I'm your enemy."