CHAPTER 7
Nina’s father, just as expected, went to the police. But who were the Garths — and who was she?
Jasper Garth was the son of a powerful official, a golden boy who was allowed everything and for whom the right people were always found. And her father, back then, had only just begun building his business. He didn’t have that kind of influence and that leverage.
The case was quietly closed for “lack of evidence.” The investigation had never gone to court. Officially, he had remained “clean.”
And Nina…
She wanted to forget. After everything that happened, she had a nervous breakdown, then a deep depression. For weeks she didn’t leave the house, didn’t want to see or talk to anyone. She didn’t understand how to go on living. And she didn’t understand why the guilty one hadn’t been punished.
Who was this Jasper Garth, that he could go on living so calmly after everything, smiling, enjoying life, while she was slowly dying inside every single day?
Once, he even came to apologize. Or rather, his father dragged him there. It was a performance. Nina was sure he didn’t regret a single thing.
That day she had a full-blown breakdown. Seeing him face to face… no. She wasn’t ready for that.
But it wasn’t over.
A few months later, she found out she was pregnant. Too late, when nothing could be changed anymore.
When the test showed two lines, she completely lost it. She pounded her fists on the table, tore at her hair, screamed into a pillow, and then just froze.
Inside her, a child was growing whom she hated with every fiber of her soul.
Frank was there. He took her hands and said calmly, without emotion:
“I’ll take responsibility.”
Nina stared at him without blinking.
“We’ll get married. Everyone will think the baby is mine.”
Then he added:
“After the birth, you’ll sign away your parental rights. The state will take the baby and place him in the foster care system,” Frank said evenly. “And we’ll tell our families it was a miscarriage.”
It sounded like a solution to everything.
Frank was right.
He stayed by her side the whole time. Visited her, brought her lecture notes. He was patient, restrained, calm.
Her father supported the idea as well. Rumors had already started spreading among acquaintances. And Nina didn’t care anymore. She just wanted to erase this nightmare from her life.
Forget it.
Turn the page.
But when she suffered through hours of labor, when the unsuspecting doctor said,
“Congratulations, you’ve given birth to a healthy baby girl.”
When the baby was placed on her chest…
Something inside her trembled.
The baby was small, warm, and alive.
Nina had hated her all through the pregnancy. Hated her when she moved inside her, reminding her of her existence. But when the little girl opened her eyes…
The next day, Nina said to Frank,
“Maybe… maybe we should keep her? No one will suspect anything. Everyone already thinks we got married because of the pregnancy and that the baby’s yours.”
Frank’s face twisted with anger.
“Are you serious right now, Nina? Have you lost your mind? You’ve barely recovered.
You want to look at her every day and relive that day over and over?
You’ll never be okay if she’s around. And I never agreed to raise this child.
You’ll have to choose — me or her. And your father will be furious when he finds out you even suggested this. ”
Nina’s throat tightened as she swallowed.
“You’re right… Of course you’re right, Frank,” she said quietly.
She had made her choice long ago.
That child was a painful reminder of the man whose name she couldn’t even pronounce in her thoughts.
How could it ever have crossed her mind to keep her?
Frank spoke to her softly back then, almost tenderly, as if he were coaxing a child.
“You know, sweetheart, I’m only thinking about you,” he said, taking Nina by the hand. “Besides, you were on antidepressants without knowing you were pregnant. The baby could be sick. Or mentally unstable, with that kind of genetic background. You’d torture yourself for the rest of your life.”
“But she doesn’t seem sick…” Nina whispered helplessly.
“That’s right now, Nina. For the sake of our own happiness, stop talking nonsense. I’ll take care of the paperwork today so the baby is officially relinquished for adoption. And I’ll ask them not to bring her to you anymore. You shouldn’t get attached.”
After that, everyone pitied them. People offered condolences, spoke words of comfort, mourned their “loss.” There was no need to pretend anymore. No need to force a smile. She could stop hiding her apathy, her emptiness, her depression. Everything was blamed on grief after losing a child.
Years passed.
Nina learned not to think about the past. Or rather, she forced herself not to. She slammed that chapter shut and pretended it had never existed. She convinced herself she’d done the right thing. That there had been no other choice.
But when she first held newborn Daphne in her arms… when she felt those tiny fingers curl around her own… when she heard her daughter’s first cry… she didn’t think about Daphne. She was thinking about the other girl.
The one she’d left behind.
Her first daughter.
Where was she?
What color were her eyes? Her hair? Did she sleep peacefully at night? Or did she cry in the dark, not understanding why she’d been abandoned?
That feeling turned into a nightmare.
At first, it was a dull unease. Then sharp regret. And finally, unbearable guilt.
How could she? How could she give her own daughter away?
Abandon her like a stray kitten. There was no excuse.
Not a single one. Not even the circumstances of the child’s conception justified sending her into foster care.
Their family wasn’t poor. They could’ve found another solution. They could’ve found a way to keep her.
Nina searched for her. In secret from Frank and her parents, she kept going back to the hospital, trying to find even the smallest lead.
But she didn’t even know where the baby had been sent.
She didn’t know what her daughter looked like, and even if she’d seen her in foster care, she wouldn’t have recognized her.
When everything seemed hopeless, someone eventually suggested a private investigator. Leonard.
Nina remembered their first meeting clearly. He understood right away that she hadn’t come with something trivial.
“What do you need?” he asked. “Just so you know, I don’t deal with criminal stuff.”
She couldn’t answer right away. Her lips went dry, her breathing faltered. And then she said out loud what she would never have dared to say in front of her family.
“I’m… looking for a girl. A child.”
Leonard didn’t seem surprised. He simply nodded, wrote down the details, and said he’d contact her as soon as he found anything.
And he did.
The girl had been adopted. They named her Lynn.
A beautiful name.
Leonard gave Nina the address. She stared at the slip of paper, her hands shaking. Because the address was too close. She could’ve run into her on the street by accident. If only she’d known what Lynn looked like.
For a long time, Nina couldn’t make herself go there.
She wanted just one thing — to make sure the child was okay, that she had a family, that she was loved.
To convince herself she hadn’t made a mistake.
That the girl would be better off without her.
That no one would ever find out how and under what circumstances she’d been born.
But she never went.
She was too afraid.
She understood that if she saw her, she wouldn’t be able to leave. If she met her eyes, everything would collapse completely. She wouldn’t have the strength to let go. She’d come back again and again.
She didn’t have the right to interfere. Didn’t have the right to ruin the girl’s life for the sake of her own guilt.
Nina knew that Lynn was okay, and she forced herself to believe that should be enough.
But was it?
If Frank ever found out, he’d be enraged. They already had Daphne. A sweet, beautiful little girl who at the time was barely a year old. She’d just taken her first steps. She’d healed Nina after so many years of nightmares. Nina was supposed to think about her family, not chase after the past.
And she stepped back.
She sealed Lynn’s existence away and even started living happily.
Until recently…