The Surrogate He Discarded

”Grandma.”

Kristal leaned forward, curiosity brightening her eyes. Richard happened to be sitting between her and Sharon, and a few strands of her auburn hair brushed against his arm, tickling him.

He shifted slightly to give her a clearer view of her grandmother.

”I’ve always wondered about something.” Kristal rested her chin lightly on her hand. ”When you ran away all those years ago... how did you manage to build a life for yourself here in Aldea?”

For a moment, Sharon said nothing.

She leaned back in her chair and took a slow sip of tea. The faint smile that touched her lips was strangely distant, as though Kristal’s question had carried her somewhere far beyond the room around them.

”At first?” she said. ”I didn’t.”

Kristal blinked.

Sharon gave a soft laugh.

”I was young, alone, and had almost nothing to my name. I didn’t know anyone in Aldea, and I could barely understand the way people spoke.” Her fingers tightened slightly around her teacup. ”There were days when I wondered whether running away had been a mistake.”

Richard glanced at her.

It was difficult to imagine this silver-haired woman ever being frightened.

”But you managed,” Kristal said.

”I had two things.” Sharon raised two fingers. ”These hands... and stubbornness.”

Kristal laughed.

”Fortunately, both proved useful.”

Sharon’s expression softened.

”I was always good at making things. Clothes, decorations, little ornaments, anything people were willing to pay for. I started with almost nothing and sold my work from a small stall. Then people began asking me to make things for them.”

”And you turned it into a business.”

”Eventually.”

Sharon lowered her cup.

”But business isn’t only about knowing how to make money. I learned that people will work hard for someone who treats them with dignity. The women who worked with me weren’t just employees. They had families to feed, dreams of their own, and problems they were too proud to speak about.”

Her eyes grew distant again.

”So I made sure they were paid fairly. When someone was sick, I helped. When someone needed money for their child’s schooling, I gave what I could.”

Kristal stared at her grandmother.

”And they stayed loyal to you.”

”They did.” Sharon smiled. ”And because they were loyal, the business grew.”

Kristal’s eyes shone with admiration.

”I hope I inherited at least some of your business sense, Grandma.”

”You inherited something more important.”

”What?”

”Never depend on someone else to decide your worth.”

The words were spoken lightly, but something in Sharon’s voice made Kristal fall silent.

She had heard that lesson before.

She had seen it.

Kristal was only fourteen when she first met her grandmother. By then, Sharon had already become almost a legend in the Gabor family—a woman who had disappeared for years, built a life in a foreign land, and returned only when the family she had left behind was on the verge of tearing itself apart.

Kristal still remembered that time.

Her grandfather, Hugo Gabor, was on his deathbed.

And while he was dying, his family was already fighting over what he would leave behind.

Stephanie, Hugo’s daughter with his second wife, Margot, had demanded control of his two companies. As the eldest of Hugo’s children, she insisted the chairmanship belonged to her.

Pierre had refused to surrender his rights.

He was the son of Hugo’s legal wife—the son who had been born before Hugo’s betrayal had shattered their family.

The conflict had grown uglier by the day.

Pierre had four sons and Kristal to protect. Yet Stephanie had been ruthless, and Margot had stood firmly behind her daughter.

For the first time, Kristal remembered seeing fear in her father’s eyes.

They were preparing for the possibility that they would be driven out of the Gabor estate.

Then Sharon came home.

Kristal could still remember the first time she saw her grandmother standing beside Hugo’s hospital bed.

Her grandfather’s face had crumpled.

”Sharon...” His voice had been little more than a whisper. ”My love. You finally came back.”

Sharon had stood perfectly still.

”I looked for you for years,” Hugo continued, tears gathering in his eyes. ”I thought... I thought I would never see you again.”

Kristal remembered expecting her grandmother to cry.

She didn’t.

Her face was calm. Almost painfully calm.

”If I hadn’t come back,” Sharon had said quietly, ”would my son and my grandchildren have been thrown out of the Gabor estate?”

Hugo’s eyes widened.

”How could that be? Margot would never do that. They’re her nephews and niece.”

A violent cough interrupted him.

Kristal had immediately reached for the glass of water beside his bed, helping him take a sip before gently patting his back.

Sharon watched him. Then she laughed softly.

”So you still believe your gentle and loving Margot would never hurt my son?”

Hugo’s eyes filled with tears.

For several seconds, he couldn’t answer.

”I’m sorry, Sharon.”

His voice broke.

”I was a fool. I realized it too late. I know you’ll never forgive me.”

Sharon’s expression hadn’t changed.

Hugo closed his eyes briefly.

”But I’m content,” he whispered. ”I got to see you one last time.”

He died not long afterward.

But before his death, Hugo had made his final decisions.

Gabochi, the jewelry company that made the Gabor name famous was transferred to Pierre.

The clothing company went to Margot’s daughter, Stephanie.

The Gabor estate—the home that had once belonged to Sharon—was left to Sharon and her children.

Margot and Stephanie received the estate on the outskirts of Fiorenza.

When Margot discovered the contents of the will, she nearly collapsed.

Stephanie fought it in court.

She challenged Sharon’s inheritance. She challenged Pierre’s ownership of Gabochi.

But she lost.

Kristal still remembered the feeling she had watching her grandmother walk through the Gabor estate as though she never left.

She left as a betrayed young woman with no protection and no certainty about her future.

She had returned as someone no one in the Gabor family could intimidate.

And that wasn’t even the end of it.

Within a few years, Stephanie’s fortune began to crumble. One setback followed another until the clothing company she had inherited from Hugo went bankrupt.

Even the estate was eventually sold.

Kristal had watched it all with a strange mixture of satisfaction and relief.

And sometimes, she wondered what her life would have been like if she had made a different choice.

Back then, Stephanie had wanted to adopt her.

Kristal had almost followed her.

Almost.

Fortunately, she had chosen her father instead.

Now, sitting across from Sharon, Kristal realized that perhaps she had inherited something from her grandmother after all.

Not her business.

Not her stubbornness.

But the instinct to choose the right thing.