Sarah got defensive, reminding him that they were the reason he was even on this earth. Ben didn’t blink. He told her he hadn’t asked to be brought into the world just to be discarded like a broken toy when things got difficult.
He realized there was no point in arguing. These weren’t parents looking for forgiveness; they were creditors looking for a payout. He firmly shut the door, ignoring the frantic knocking and the muffled shouts from the hallway. He went to his office, put on his noise-canceling headphones, and went back to work.
In his younger years, he’d imagined this moment ending with a tearful apology and a reconciliation. But the reality was much simpler: he owed them nothing. His real life was with the people who had actually shown up for him.
His girlfriend, Sophie, was his rock. They’d met in college, and she’d been there for every late-night coding session and every business pitch. She believed in him when he was just a kid with a limp and a laptop. A few months after the encounter with his biological parents, Ben decided it was time to move forward.
He wrote a custom script that triggered a pop-up on Sophie’s laptop while she was working. It looked like a system error, but the text read: “Critical Error: Life cannot proceed without a permanent partner. Will you marry me?” When she looked up, Ben was standing there with a ring.
She said yes before he could even finish the question. They had a small, private wedding. Mr. Henderson sat in the front row, acting as Ben’s best man. It was a day filled with genuine love, free from the shadows of the past.
A year later, they welcomed a daughter named Grace. Ben held her in the hospital, looking at her tiny fingers, and made a silent vow. He would never, ever walk away. He would be the father he never had.
Ben’s company continued to grow, eventually becoming a leader in global cybersecurity. But the money didn’t change him. He used a significant portion of his wealth to start a foundation that provided specialized medical care and coding scholarships for kids in the foster system.
