Chapter 10
The guy Sharon still couldn’t let go of–Chuck–was standing outside my real parents‘ house.
After walking away from all that mess, I’d only come here to say goodbye.
Chuck once told me they didn’t want me. Said they thought a daughter they never raised could never stack up to the one they did.
Claimed they resented me even more after Sharon vanished.
For years, I kept convincing myself–a mistake’s a mistake. I didn’t need to be jealous. My real parents loved me, too.
But it felt like a fantasy. And when I finally woke up, it was like I’d never moved forward at all.
What I didn’t expect? The second my birth mom saw me, she ran over, crying, and wouldn’t let go.
She scolded me for staying away so long, while she was more scared that I’d only come back because the outside world had
crushed me.
That’s when it hit me–they’d always loved me. More than anything.
Chuck had lied. Fed me stories and stole years I could’ve had with them.
Now? My mom was screaming at him. “How dare you show your face here?”
She grabbed a broom, ready to swing, but I stopped her. My eyes said more than words ever could.
Chuck showed up–and even though I wanted nothing to do with him, he stayed planted outside like a statue.
The neighbors started whispering, throwing shade like I was the villain. Fingers pointed at our house.
Mom lost it again, broom in hand, ready to chase him off. I held her back, still unsure what Chuck was even doing here.
“Yasmine, it was all my fault.”
The second he saw me, he confessed everything. Said he finally saw Sharon for what she was. Said he regretted it all.
I looked him dead in the eye, lifted my shirt, and showed him the scar.
“You really think one ‘sorry‘ wipes this away? You think it undoes the years of hell? You knew how much I wanted kids–and you still stole that from me. For her. I’ll never forgive you.”
On my first day back, Mom took me to the hospital for a full checkup. Luckily, Chuck hadn’t gone that far. The meds didn’t wreck my body. I could still have kids one day.
But that didn’t mean Sharon was getting off easy. Not even close.
I had everything I needed. Sharon was finally going down.
Chuck backed me. He admitted the old pardon meant nothing–our marriage had never been registered, not then, not now.
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Chapter 10
Sharon kept sabotaging it every step of the way.
At the trial, Chuck took the stand for me. Sharon lost it, screaming insults.
My former parents, Sebastian and Caroline, couldn’t even look up. They pled guilty, finally owning what they’d done.
After six brutal years, Sharon got what was coming.
She broke down, crying and begging them to save her.
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“You owe me! I lived in poverty because you raised the wrong kid! How can you leave me like this? Dad, Mom–I know I messed up, but you always called me your one and only princess! Yasmine deserved it!”
Right then, my real parents stood up.
They told everyone what Sharon had meant to them–how they loved her like their own, gave her everything they could, even if
they weren’t rich like the Adelsons.
And she still betrayed them.
That was the moment everything shifted. Public opinion? Fully on my side.
After everything wrapped up, I got ready to head home with my parents. They wanted to change my last name–wipe the slate
clean.
Elisse. I loved it. Soft but strong. Just like my mom.
Even when Sebastian and Caroline tried to stop it, throwing money at us, my mom didn’t budge.
“She’s the daughter I carried for months. You said she wouldn’t survive being poor and kept her from me. I let it go because I loved her–I wanted her to have more, even if it meant losing her. But you didn’t protect her. And now, I won’t let anyone take
her from me again.”
That shut them down.
Once I officially changed my name from Yasmin Adelson to Yasmine Elisse, I booked a ticket home.
Chuck showed up one last time, blocking my path.
“After six years, you’re really just walking away?”
I stopped. My voice was low. “You were the mastermind, Chuck Benetton.”
Forgive you? Not a chance.
I said nothing else. And in that silence, he finally let go.
I rushed to my mom, linking arms with a grin.
Life’s full of wins and losses. But because I know how hard it was to get here—I hold on even tighter.
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