Taylor stepped out of the hospital, the cool air brushing against his face as he pulled out his phone. His mind was still racing from his encounter with Damian, but there was another loose end he needed to address. After all these years, it was time.
He scrolled through his contacts and dialed a number he hadn’t called in over two decades. As the line rang, he steadied himself. Finally, a voice picked up.
“Hello?” came a hesitant voice. It was her. Aurora’s mother.
Taylor paused for a moment, his throat tightening. Then he spoke, his voice deep and firm. “It’s me.”
The other end went silent, and he could almost hear the confusion through the phone. “Who is this?” she asked cautiously.
“It’s Taylor,” he said simply, his tone carrying the weight of years. “We need to talk.”
There was a sharp intake of breath on her end. “Taylor?” she repeated, disbelief thick in her voice. “Taylor, as in Aurora’s father?”
“Yes,” he replied, his tone clipped. “It’s me.”
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice shaking. “After all these years, why now?”
Taylor’s jaw tightened. “What do I want?” he repeated, his voice hard. “I want to know what the hell was going through your head when you sold our daughter.”
Her voice rose instantly, defensive. “Don’t you dare judge me, Taylor!” she snapped. “You left us. You left me with nothing. What was I supposed to do?”
“You were supposed to protect her!” Taylor barked back. “She was our child, damn it! How could you sell her like she was some kind of property?”
Her voice cracked as she answered. “You don’t know what it was like,” she said, her tone trembling with emotion. “I had no one. No help. No money. Do you have any idea how hard it was to raise a child on my own after you left?”
Taylor’s grip on the phone tightened, his anger simmering beneath the surface. “You could have reached out,” he said coldly. “You could have called me, written me, something. But instead, you sold her. To my enemies, no less.”
“Call you?” she shot back, her voice filled with bitterness. “After what you did? After you abandoned us? You didn’t care then, so why do you care now?”
Taylor ran a hand through his hair, his frustration mounting. “I left to protect you both,” he said, his voice low but firm. “I didn’t want my life-my dangerous, bloody life-touching either of you.”
“Well, congratulations,” she said bitterly. “Your protection worked wonders. Aurora ended up in the hands of those very people you were trying to keep her from.”
Taylor closed his eyes, guilt clawing at him. “I didn’t know that would happen,” he admitted quietly. “I thought… I thought you’d keep her safe.”
“I tried,” she said, her voice breaking. “God knows I tried. But it wasn’t enough. The debts piled up, and… and I had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” Taylor said sharply. “And you made the wrong one.”
Silence hung between them for a moment, heavy and suffocating.
“What do you want from me, Taylor?” she asked finally, her voice weary. “Why are you calling me now?”
“I want to see you,” he said, his tone softening slightly. “We need to talk face to face.”
Her laugh was bitter, filled with pain. “What’s the point? It’s been over twenty years. What good will it do now?”
“I need answers,” Taylor said firmly. “And I need to understand why you did what you did. Not just for my sake, but for Aurora’s.”
At the mention of their daughter’s name, her voice softened slightly. “Aurora,” she whispered. “How is she?”
“She’s alive,” Taylor said bluntly. “She’s stronger than either of us deserve. But she’s been through hell because of us.”
There was a long pause before she spoke again. “I don’t know if I can face her,” she admitted. “Not after what I did.”
Taylor’s voice softened, though his frustration was still evident. “You don’t have to face her yet,” he said. “Right now, I’m asking you to face me. We owe her that much, don’t we?”
She hesitated, the weight of his words sinking in. “Where do you want to meet?” she asked finally, her voice barely above a whisper.
Taylor let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “I’ll send you the address,” he said. “Tomorrow night. No excuses.”
“Fine,” she said, her tone resigned. “But this doesn’t change anything, Taylor. The damage is done.”
“I know,” he said quietly. “But maybe we can start to make it right.”
The line went dead, and Taylor lowered the phone, his hand trembling slightly. The conversation had been harder than he expected, but it was a step he needed to take.
As he stood there in the cool night air, the weight of his past bore down on him. But for Aurora’s sake, he was willing to face it all.