She had been under enormous pressure from her rich family.
At the time, she was nineteen. Her father had threatened to repudiate her if she stayed with him baby because he believed that an unplanned child would damage the family’s reputation.
But there was something even more shocking.
The hospital record showed that Isabella had returned two days after Daniel’s birth.
She had held him.
She had asked for him.
And then he had signed a document that refused custody.
But underneath that document was a handwritten note.
The judge read it out loud:
“If someone good comes for him, let him love him. I don’t know how to protect him from my family.”
Isabella broke up.
“I was scared,” she whispered. “I was nineteen. My father controlled everything. I thought I could come back someday when I was strong enough.”
The judge looked at her.
“And why did you wait seventeen years?”
