From Best Friend To Fiancé (Savannah and Roman) novel Chapter 210

**TITLE: Dreams Folding Into Broken Time**
**by Serene L. Ard**

**Chapter 126: You Made Me Lie**

My hand gradually slipped from hers, almost as if it had a will of its own. It wasn’t a deliberate action; it felt more like my body had betrayed my mind, moving away before I could process the moment. But as our palms separated, I caught a glimpse of something in her eyes—a flicker of vulnerability that sent a jolt through me. Her expression fell, a shadow of despair washing over her face, and I felt the weight of the world settle on my chest.

“What do you mean?” I managed to ask, my voice tight and strained, as if I were trying to force air through a narrow passage. “Why would you say something like that? If this is some kind of sick joke, Mom, it’s not funny.”

Her lips quivered, and I noticed the IV line attached to her wrist tremble slightly as she raised a hand, attempting to steady herself. “It’s not a joke, sweetheart. I would never toy with something so serious.” The tremor in her voice was evident, especially around the word ‘serious.’ “He really is your father. I swear on my life.”

I blinked, once, twice, as if trying to clear the fog that enveloped my mind. The words she had just uttered felt like a foreign language, incomprehensible and surreal.

Then, like a stone sinking in water, the truth began to settle in.

“Mom!” I finally exclaimed, the chair beside the hospital bed scraping noisily against the floor as I shot to my feet. “I can’t believe this.”

“Sav, please,” she whispered, her hand reaching out toward me in a desperate plea. “Please calm down.”

But instinct took over, and I stepped back, avoiding her touch. “No! Don’t tell me to calm down. My entire life has been a lie!”

The room felt constricting, the walls closing in on me as if they were witnesses to this emotional explosion. Machines beeped rhythmically in the background, their sounds indifferent to the turmoil brewing between us.

“My real father has been right under my nose all this time—all my life—and you didn’t say a word.” My throat burned with the weight of my emotions. “You let me grow up believing—”

“I’m so sorry…” Her voice trembled, and she pressed a shaking hand to her chest, as if trying to hold herself together. “I didn’t know how to tell you, sweetie.”

I let out a brittle laugh, the sound echoing with bitterness. “Were you even planning to tell me? Without Chloe missing, without all this chaos, without this disaster dragging every secret out of you? Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Sav—”

“Would you have told me,” I interrupted sharply, “if you didn’t want my forgiveness? That the man I called uncle all my life, the one who followed Julius’s every command, is my real father?” My voice cracked, the words spilling out like a dam breaking. “Would you, Mom?”

It felt strange to refer to him as Julius instead of Dad. The name sat awkwardly on my tongue—foreign, bizarre. Yet, in a twisted way, it felt right. Real. Like a puzzle piece that had finally clicked into place, albeit in a way I never expected.

“Sav, don’t get mad at your father, he’s—”

“No!” The word erupted from me, raw and unfiltered. “I refuse to listen to whatever excuse you’re about to make for a man who should have never been a father. I’m done following your orders! I’m done doing what you and Julius command me to do!”

Hot tears streamed down my cheeks, leaving a trail of anguish in their wake. “When I was raped, Mom, you followed your husband’s words like they were gospel. You made me lie to Alyssa, to Monica, to myself, to everyone. You made me lie until I absorbed that lie and believed it was my fault.”

“Savannah—”

I let out a laugh, the absurdity of it all hitting me.

“It’s pretty ironic now, Mom, just thinking about it. The last time I spoke with Uncle Jace over the phone, I can still recall his exact words to me.” I slapped my forehead, chuckling at the madness of the situation. “He said to me, ‘He is your father. How can I go against a father when it’s about his own daughter?’”

She clasped her hands together, knuckles turning white with tension. “Please, don’t hate your father, Savannah. Jace loves you. He loves you so much. He’s… he’s a good man.”

“I hate him.” The words came out steady, shockingly calm, even to my own ears. “He’s dead to me. Just like Julius.”

“No, please. No, no, no…” she whispered, shaking her head as if trying to dispel the reality of my words. “Savannah, listen to me—”

“I don’t want to!” I shouted, the sound breaking something fragile inside me. “I don’t want to listen to you anymore! I’m tired of it!”

I raked my fingers through my hair, gripping it tightly as if it could somehow anchor me. “I’m tired, Mom! I’m sick of you telling me what to feel, what to do, how to live! I’m sick of it!”

She flinched, as though my words had struck her like a physical blow.

“I’m a human being!” I cried, my voice hoarse and raw. “I know what I feel. I’m not a child anymore—stop treating me like one! I’m an adult, Mom! A grown woman! Don’t push me and point me to where I’m meant to fall… This doesn’t work that way. I don’t work that way anymore.”

Tears streamed down her face now, shoulders shaking as she struggled to maintain her composure. “That’s not what I meant. I just—”