Mark immediately tried to take control.
“Both boys need to sit down and stop listening.”
That was when something became painfully clear to me.
For years, Mark had confused giving orders with telling the truth.
My father turned the letter over.
“This paper came from the stationery Mark used in his old office.”
Silence.
My mother looked at Beth.
“I’m sorry.”
Beth said nothing.
“He told us you wanted nothing to do with this family. I believed him.”
Then Mom looked at me.
“We will support both boys. And both of you. Whatever Mark wants no longer matters.”
Mark started talking over her.
He claimed he had been protecting me.
He said Beth loved Stefan.
He insisted the arrangement had worked.
Beth stared directly at him.
“You took a child from his mother and called it help.”
That sentence ended everything.
My father immediately removed Mark from a business opportunity he had been expecting to join.
