“Good actions don’t magically erase polluted genes, Autumn.”

“There’s nothing polluted in you, Lukas,” she replies without missing a beat.

I can see the war in her eyes. She’s not going to give up, not until she knows my truth. “You know my mother refused to marry your uncle once they were told about the promise?”

She nods in confirmation.

“It wasn’t only because she found it idiotic but also because she was in love with a local bar singer. He was what girls should stay away from. A drunk. A man who loved hurting women and children. My grandfather was against this affair, of course, but he misjudged his own daughter’s courage.”

My eyes sting as I curse fate once again. “My mom left her comfortable home and ran away with that drunk when she knew she was pregnant.”

“Lukas,” Autumn gasps.

“My mother had this stupid belief that true love could change people. She just couldn’t see he was a lost cause. There was no beating we both could’ve endured, no tears she could have shed, that would change that man.”

My hands shake as I remember those days when that fucker would be at home.

“As I grew up, I realized it was wrong, and I started protesting against his trashy demands. He didn’t like it, and one day, his violence crossed all limits. He beat me with anything and everything he could find in the house. By the time he was pulled away from me by my mother and a few neighbors, I was hardly breathing.”

Autumn’s sobs fill the room.

“But there was a silver lining to this. My mom, for the first time, saw the truth as it was. She had made a huge mistake and put both of our lives at risk.”

I take a deep breath, telling her the part of my story which I’d heard from my grandparents. “While I was recovering at the hospital, my mother was driving to meet her parents, planning to tell them about my existence and acknowledging her mistake. It was the day of the accident, so my grandparents didn’t find out about me until they visited the town where my mother lived. It was also the day they learned of their daughter’s suffering. They started searching for me and found me in a boys’ home. Guilt ate them alive. They’d thought their daughter was happy, and that turned out completely wrong.” I sink down onto the couch. “So, now you know why I can give you nothing but shame and hurt. I have the same blood running through my veins, Autumn.”

“Did you reply to my emails because you thought I needed to talk to someone outside my family, like…your mother?”

Her question catches me off guard. Did I?