Chapter 286: Family, Part 16, The Present

Klempner

Jennifer’s face….

The loathing there when he says that….

The idea that she might be anything to do with me….

….You’re Conners’ daughter….

…. Not mine…

Blondie’s still speaking… “And your final revenge on her was to steal the child, to force her to grow up into slavery herself…. To fit your idea of….”

I claimed you….

…. Mine….

…. My due….

…. My redress….

Blondie is still talking…. “And when you found she’d grown up to look like her mother, you became obsessed with it again, determined to have the daughter forced into a life that the mother had already told you repelled her….”

And I remember the disgust in her eyes….

My beautiful Mitch….

…. Looking at me like shit on a shoe….

“Is she alive? Charlotte’s mother?” Blondie asks.

I can’t stomach looking at him. “I’ve no idea. The police gave her a new identity, hid her from me. I couldn’t find her, and I’ve not seen her for over twenty years. But if she’s not still alive, it’s nothing to do with me.”