“Your father has been staying with me for two months. Don’t you want to see him?”
She was silent.
Then she said,
“Soon.”
Three days later, all three children showed up.
Diane, James, and Robert.
William was sitting in the kitchen.
I made coffee.
Nobody touched it.
Finally, Diane looked at me.
“Sophie, there’s something we need to tell you.”
My stomach dropped.
I looked at William.
He lowered his eyes.
“What’s going on?”
Diane took a deep breath.
“Our father didn’t lose urm anything.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“The house is fine. The business is fine. The investments are fine.”
The room went completely silent.
I turned toward William.
“You lied to me?”
“Sophie…”
“You lied to me for two months?”
Diane interrupted.
“It was our idea. We wanted to know whether you would stay if you believed the money was gone.”
My hands started shaking.
Not because I was relieved he was still rich.
Because I was hurt.
For two months, I had worked extra hours.
I had sat awake calculating bills.
I had worried about food, electricity, and rent.
I had tried to protect William from feeling ashamed.
And all that time…
They were testing me.
I walked into the bedroom.
This time, I really did pack my own suitcase.
When I returned, William went pale.
“Sophie, please.”
I looked at him.
“I passed your money test.”
Then I picked up my suitcase.
“But you failed mine.”
Diane started crying.
The same woman who had treated me like a gold digger now whispered,
“I was wrong.”
But I still left.
I stayed at my friend’s house for three days and turned off my phone.
On the fourth day, I finally returned home.
William was still there.
He was sitting on the couch wearing the cheap blue shirt we had bought together.
No expensive watch.
No driver.
No children.
Just him.
“Why are you still here?” I asked.
He looked at me.
“Because this is the first home I’ve had in decades where someone loved me for who I am instead of what I have.”
I sat beside him.
Then I gave him one condition.
“No more tests. No more secret plans. urm No more trying to prove whether I’m worthy of you.”
He agreed.
I gave his children a condition too.
“You don’t have to love me. But if I’m going to be part of your father’s life, you will never treat me like a thief again.”
Diane apologized first.
Then James.
Then Robert.
Afterward, William wanted us to move into his enormous house.
I refused.
“If you want to be with me, we’re spending half the week here.”
