Ride It

Chapter 23

Bentley's POV

This is the messiest shit I've heard in a long time, and believe me, I've heard a lot of shit.

I stand, leaning against the wall with my arms crossed as Bea sits in the living room facing her parents.

They tell us everything.

The night Beatrice went missing, Paul was the last person to see her. She came to his door at around 8 in the night and when she opened it, there was a bloody baby with its umbilical cord still attached lying in her arms.

He froze up and couldn't do anything as Beatrice gave the baby to him and said. "Take care of her. She's yours."

Then she ran off. She seemed in a hurry to get away, and she was crying. He wanted to chase after her, but he had no idea what to do with the baby, so he rushed to the hospital instead and tried calling her parents. When they didn't pick up their phone, he called Vera and both of them stayed in the hospital to nurse the baby.

The baby was a shock to both of them because they never knew Beatrice was pregnant. At the hospital, Vera was distraught. She knew Beatrice would never hide something like that, so the pregnancy must have been a shock to her as well. She believed it drove Bea to run away because she wanted nothing to do with Paul anymore. So she abandoned the baby.

Out of guilt, she and Paul sat down and said they'd raise the baby together, and led everyone to believe the child was hers. She said it was the only thing she could do to atone for the sins she'd committed against her sister. She wanted to make it right, and that was the only way she knew how. No one else knew about this besides the nurses who worked that night.

That was how Paul and her relationship started. At first, it was a simple co-parenting decision, but eventually, they grew closer and fell in love years later. Bea's little sister results from that.

I look at Bea worriedly as she trembles, her hands clenched together like she's holding herself back from launching across the room.

"You let a woman who just gave birth run away!?" she accuses her father, narrowing her conflicted eyes to his face.

"I had to make sure you were alright! It was night, and the place was freezing! You were barely covered in her work apron! You'd have died." He defends himself.

"But you said she ran away! Why would she run away!? Why would she leave me!? Even her best friend thought she'd never leave her daughter behind! Why didn't you!?"

"What was I supposed to think!? She hated me! She left me and wouldn't talk to me for days! I tri- I tried to apologize! I didn't know who I was... I didn't know..." he stumbles over his words.

You didn't know you were fucking your girlfriend's twin? You still ended up with her, didn't you? The ultimate betrayal.

Bea looks to Vera. "And you. I knew you were a bastard, but this is so low. You went and took your sister's baby so you could get the man. How does that make you feel?"

Vera stands and glares at her. "I would never! I took you in because Beatrice wasn't there! She ran away because of us! I lost my sister! I may have made mistakes, but I never intended to take Paul away from her... not after seeing you."

Bea laughs. "That's rich, but I don't believe any self-righteous words that come out of your mouth. You're both terrible people."

"We are," Vera agrees. "But that doesn't make us love you any less, Bea. We raised you. We are your parents."

Bea shakes her head. "No, you're not. You're not my mom. That's why you gave me to Jason, right? Better to have a child that's not mine suffer, right? That's what you thought? Have you ever even loved me?"