Billoniare’s Daughter Chapter 2

Sasha’s POV

The certificate fell from my hands like it was on fire. James Gates? When my heart start to convince me like this, it means it is true. I started to check the box frantically. I first came across the younger pictures again and I started looking at the face critically. This clearly was the younger version of James Gates. Like an answer to my question, I came across older pictures of Mr James Gates and at that moment, I was dazed beyond measure, stunned even. James Gates was my father? The James Gates? Mom had been in love with James Gates? Then why had we lived so poorly. Why did mum have to die from her sickness because she couldn’t afford treatment? Why am I about to be thrown out of the house? My hand began to shake

"Open this door right now or I'm calling the police!" Mr Richards voice rang like an angry cow on heat

I grabbed another letter from the box

Dear James,

Sasha graduated high school today with honors. She got a full scholarship to community college and she wants to study business, just like you. She's eighteen now and she's beautiful and kind and everything good about both of us.

I'm sick, James. Really sick. The doctors say I have maybe six months, probably less. I keep thinking about telling her the truth about you, but I don't know if it's fair to either of you. Also, I never even told you about the reason I left. Your father… he was not going to accept us. A lot was at stake. I suggest we meet, because I believe that I have very short time on this earth

You need to meet Sasha before I die. she'll be completely alone if I leave. She has no one else, James. No aunts or uncles or grandparents. Just me. And soon, not even that.

I'm going to put some things together for her, proof of who you are, in case she ever decides she wants to know. I'm not asking you to love, just make sure she lives a good life, please?

All my love, Seline

The stinging years from earlier started pop streaming down my face as I reached for the browning envelope. Inside was a copy of my birth certificate with "Father: James Gates" written in Mom's handwriting.

I was getting ready to open up the next letter when the front door exploded open and Mr. Richard stormed in with two other men. "Time's up, girl! You're out! You and your poverty stricken self!"

"Please, just a minute…," I begged, trying to gather myself. "I just need one more hour to pack."

"You've had five days. Out. Now."

One of the men started grabbing my boxes while the other headed for Mom's bedroom. I succeeded in securing the box and everything in it, then I clutched it to my chest like it was the most precious thing in the world.

Because maybe it was.

"Fine, you can take whatever you can carry," Mr. Richard said firmly. "You tenants, always acting like I have got no bills to pay too!” he spat

I grabbed Mom's things and my backpack with my few pieces of clothing. As the men worked around me, clearing out the only home I'd ever known, I stared at the envelope.

James Gates was my father.

James Gates, one of the richest men in America. Of course I always watched the news about him, and I had always secretly wished I could be as rich as him. He was the man who owned buildings taller than anything in Jacobsburg. Who probably spent more on flimsy things than Mom made in a month. I wondered if mom ever sent any of her letters to him

Five minutes later, I was standing in the rain, holding everything I had left in the world. I had ten dollars in cash and nowhere to go. Mom had not prepared me for the cruel part of life

The homeless shelter was full; I'd checked yesterday even before Mr Richard skin to throw me out. That left the streets or… going to Mr James Gates

I looked at the envelope again, shaking my head as thoughts started to build

Maybe I could go to Houston. Maybe I could find James Gates and show him the proof. Maybe he'd help me if I show him the letters Mom never sent to him. Mom had asked him to make sure I didn't end up on the streets.

Or maybe he'd call security and have me thrown out of his building, calling me another scam

***

For two weeks, I wandered around Jacobsburg like a ghost.

When it was not raining, I slept in the park. When it was, I snuck in a24-hour laundromat. I hated it when I started eating from dumpsters behind restaurants. Other homeless people were cruel to me, so I started to stay awake most nights and sleep in hidden places during the day to keep bad people and perverts away. It was tough.

By the fourteenth day, I looked like everything Mom had worked so hard to prevent me from becoming. My clothes were dirty and torn. My hair was greasy and tangled. I smelled like garbage. I had become one of those homeless people I used to watch in the news

I was everything James Gates probably hated about the world and wouldn’t want to relate to

But I was also his daughter. Mom said I was his daughter

On the fifteenth night, huddled in an abandoned building while rain soaked through my jacket, I got attacked by two men and their dogs searching for any valuables on me. I narrowly escaped and it was there that I made my decision. Two things could happen, I could either die slowly on these streets, or I could take the biggest gamble of my life.

I was going to Houston.

I was going to find Mr James Gates.