Chapter 308

Benjamin's POV Slowly, painstakingly, I wrestled back my composure, then raised a trembling hand to fiercely scrub at my face. A bastard daughter. The words echoed in the sterile hospital room, a sickening, impossible truth. Especially one whose age felt unsettlingly, frighteningly close to Aria's. The thought alone was a cruel twist of the knife. How could this possibly be? How could I, Benjamin Jones, possibly have a love child? I had never, not once in my entire life, betrayed Aria's mother, my beloved wife. Even after her untimely passing, my world had narrowed to Aria alone. I had dedicated every fiber of my being to raising her, to honoring my wife's memory. Yet, a mere month ago, an anonymous text message had landed like a venomous snake in my inbox, claiming the existence of another biological daughter besides Aria. Last week, this supposed daughter had brazenly demanded to see Aria. The sheer audacity, the stress, the crushing weight of the unknown had sent me spiraling, culmi