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CHARLIE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO NOT TRUST BELLA AFTER HER MENTAL BREAKDOWN

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CHARLIE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO NOT TRUST BELLA AFTER HER MENTAL BREAKDOWN. He thought if he had half a mind he might have actually sent the girl into therapy or a mental institution, but after discussing the matter with Reneé, she abhorred the idea. In her eyes this was a failing on Charlie's part, that her daughter's love affair did matter enough for Bella to break down over the loss.

Now Bella seemed to have another fuel, a light to her bleak life. She could blame someone easily. Andromeda has everything she's ever wanted.

The chief of police knows that Andromeda has had a better life than he could have given her. It fills his heart with guilt. This papá of hers sounds like a gem of a man, and her mamá a beautiful woman with a heart of gold. Reneé couldn't have raised her, not with her honest and brutal nature with her words.

"Bella, what are you doing in here?" Charlie had to ask. Bella was currently checking out the clothes her twin brought with her from Italy. "Did Andromeda say you could see this?"

The girl's heart slipped up. She'd been caught red-handed doing something she knows is wrong. The impulse was too strong to snap back and be defensive.

"You know she's not normal, Charlie. It doesn't matter what I'm doing. I'm not doing anything wrong," Bella sneered. "You love her more than me, don't you?"

Charlie's heart stung at that. He had to stay calm, make sure he didn't retaliate, even if what his daughter said was completely out of line and out of character. Why did she want to hurt him so badly? Did Reneé alienate her to this extreme, make her feel like she had to be the one and only daughter for him. Andromeda is his child as well, and he loves them equally. When Reneé found out she was pregnant with twins, Charlie promised he would devote himself to both children, love them the same and with his whole heart.

And to think he thought Andromeda was dead from the beginning. When Reneé told him she gave her up, then when he went to get her...

His heart was broken right from the start.

"I love you both equally. I get that this is an adjustment, and we should have told you that you had a sister before -"

"Reneé said that the fetus died! She had a miscarriage with you before me! I brought that up with you when I was six and you brushed me off! Andromeda is dead to me. She's been dead for quite some time. You never got to meet her!" Bella raged.

That was the line. In every relationship, there must be a line that cannot be crossed. Charlie liked to think of it when at work. The thick black like that divides what is acceptable versus not. Bella had crossed over into territory Charlie hadn't had to deal with for years. Not since Reneé had abandoned their daughter.

There are times that Charlie really needs to put his foot down.

"If you say another thing negative about your sister, to your sister, to me about Andromeda, you'll be out of this house." Charlie took in a deep breath. "You're banned from her room. Stop getting into her stuff. We give you privacy, allow her the same grace. If you can't handle that I want a relationship with my child, you can find another place to live. I know that Reneé would be fine with you living with her. I frankly don't care why you hate her, what about her seems wrong and dead to you, but I love her. I love her."

❝...❞, Jacob BlackWhere stories live. Discover now