Chapter 21 - Lie-Stained Legacy

Amelia’s POV

"Amelia?"

My father sounded surprised, and undeniably drunk. He was staggering slightly on the polished sidewalk, his tie askew, eyes glazed from another round of drinking.

I looked at the man swaying in front of me—Franklin Hartwell. The man who was supposed to be my father. He reeked of alcohol and arrogance. A walking ghost of the man I used to hope he'd be.

This had become his routine now: drinking his pride away, night after night, while pretending the wreckage he left behind didn't exist.

Memories surfaced, uninvited and sharp. I remembered the nights he came home late, telling my mother he’d been handling business.

In truth, he’d been sneaking around with another woman—the one who would destroy our family. The woman who got pregnant. The one who gave birth to Victoria.

Together, they shattered everything.

They broke my mother’s heart. Drove her into silence. Into illness. Into an early grave.

I still blamed them for that—and for every ache that followed.

Frankli