The man Mom and I loved to the core tore our hearts apart and abandoned us when I was 13. Ten years later, I pulled over for a hitchhiker, only to see my dad with a little girl by his side. The scars never faded. Will this new encounter heal them or deepen the wound?
The day my dad left, the world lost its color. I remember standing in our driveway, watching his car disappear around the corner. The rubber of his tires on the asphalt made a sound I’ll never forget, like hope being slowly crushed…
Silhouette of a sad girl | Source: Midjourney
“Dad!” I screamed, running after him. “Dad, come back!”
But he didn’t. He just… left. No explanation, no goodbye. Just gone.
I turned to look at my mom, Crystal. She stood in the doorway, her face brimming with shock and disbelief. “Mom?” I whispered, my voice small and scared.
She blinked, seeming to remember I was there. “Oh, Ellie, come here, baby.”
Distressed mother hugging her daughter | Source: Midjourney
I ran into her arms, burying my face in her shirt. It smelled like home, like safety. But even as she held me, I could feel her shaking.
“Why did he go, Mom?” I had asked, my words muffled against her. “Why did Dad leave us?”
She stroked my hair, her touch gentle but unsteady. “I don’t know, sweetie. I just don’t know.”
An upset girl with her eyes downcast | Source: Midjourney
As we stood there, clinging to each other, I made a silent promise to be strong for her. I had to be.
“We’ll be okay, Mom,” I said, trying to sound braver than I felt. “We’ve got each other.”
She squeezed me tighter, and I felt a tear drop onto my head. “Yes, we do, Ellie. We always will.”
A desperate young girl crying | Source: Pixabay
Ten years passed in a blur of struggle and slow healing. Mom and I became a team, facing the world together. We had our rough patches. Times when the absence of my dad felt like a physical ache.
But we made it through. We had each other. It was enough. And then, in an instant, everything changed.
I was driving home from work on a busy highway one evening, the setting sun painting the sky in shades of orange and pink.
A woman driving a car | Source: Unsplash
The radio played softly, some pop song about lost love that I barely registered. My mind was on dinner plans and the pile of laundry waiting for me at home.
That’s when I saw them.
A man and a little girl, standing on the side of the highway, thumbs out. Something about the man’s posture, the way he stood protectively next to the girl, made my heart skip a beat. I slowed down, squinting through the windshield.
No. It couldn’t be.
A man standing with a little girl on the roadside | Source: Midjourney
I pulled over, my hands shaking as I put the car in park.
In the rearview mirror, I watched them approach. The little girl skipped along, holding the man’s hand and chattering away. AND THE MAN…?
My blood ran cold. It was HIM… my DAD.
A shocked young woman’s eyes | Source: Midjourney
He looked older, of course. His hair was grayer, his face more lined and exhausted. But there was no mistaking those eyes, the same eyes I saw every time I looked in the mirror.
I got out of the car on unsteady legs, my mouth dry. “Need a ride?” I called out, my voice sounding strange to my own ears.
A startled young woman | Source: Midjourney
He turned, a grateful smile starting to form on his face. Then he saw me, and the smile vanished, replaced by shock and something that looked a lot like shame.
“Ellie?” he gasped, his eyes wide.
The little girl looked between us, confusion clear on her face. “Do you know her, Bill?” she asked.
Bill. Not Dad. Just… Bill. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to stay calm.
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I know her.”
A smiling girl looking up | Source: Pexels
The car ride was tense, filled with an awkward silence that seemed to suck all the air out of the vehicle.
I gripped the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles turned white. I focused on the road ahead to avoid looking at the man in my passenger seat, the man who was supposed to be my father.
The man who had so easily abandoned his family. The man who had so heartlessly moved on, breaking our hearts while building a sand castle of his own.
The little girl hummed quietly in the backseat, oblivious to the emotional storm brewing in the front.
A young woman sitting in a car | Source: Midjourney
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Tell me that’s not my sister,” I said, breaking the silence.
My dad flinched as if I’d struck him with an axe. He stared straight ahead, his hands clasped tightly in his lap.
“Her name’s Sarah. She’s… she’s not your sister, Ellie. Not by blood.”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. But that didn’t make it any easier for me.
“Then who is she?”
Portrait of a sad senior man | Source: Midjourney
Dad sighed, his shoulders slumping as though he was carrying the whole world’s burden.
“She’s the daughter of someone I’ve been with for a few years,” he admitted. “Her mom… she left us a few months back. I’ve been doing my best to take care of Sarah. Moved here last month.”
The irony of his situation wasn’t lost on me. I let out a bitter laugh.
“Wow. So you know what it feels like now? To be left behind? To be abandoned by someone you love? Ever heard of the infamous saying, ‘What goes around comes around?!’”
A sad man’s eyes | Source: Midjourney
Dad’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue. “I’ve made mistakes, Ellie. A lot of them. But I’m trying to make up for it, even if it’s too late for you and your mom.”
I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. “Do you have any idea what you did to us? How hard it was for us? For me? Can you imagine how kids at school teased and bullied me? How Mom struggled alone to raise me and play both Dad and Mom for me?”
In the rearview mirror, I saw Sarah’s confused face. She didn’t deserve to be caught in the middle of this. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.
A woman sitting in a car turning to her side | Source: Midjourney
“I’m sorry,” Dad whispered. “I know it doesn’t change anything, but I am so, so sorry.”
“Sorry? You don’t stab a person in the heart and say sorry!”
“Ellie, please forgive me… I’m sorry. Really.”
I didn’t respond. What could I say? Sorry won’t erase ten years of absence, of wondering why I wasn’t enough to make him stay. Sorry won’t magically bring back the happiness that was once stolen from Mom and me.
A teary-eyed woman in a car | Source: Midjourney
As we neared the address he’d given me, Sarah spoke up from the backseat. “Are you Bill’s friend?”
I met her eyes in the mirror, seeing the curiosity there. For a moment, I considered telling her the truth. But looking at her hopeful face, I couldn’t bring myself to shatter her little world.
“Something like that,” I said softly, forcing a smile. “A forgotten friend.”
I pulled up to the curb, my hands shaking. The silence that had haunted me during the ride now felt suffocating.
A car outside a house | Source: Midjourney
My dad unbuckled his seatbelt, his movements slow and hesitant. He turned to face me, his eyes red-rimmed and filled with regret.
“Thank you for the ride, Ellie. I… I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I want you to know how sorry I am. For everything.”
I stared straight ahead, unable to look at him. My throat felt tight, choked with all the words I wanted to say but couldn’t.
A distressed senior man | Source: Midjourney
“Take care of her,” I finally whispered, nodding towards Sarah in the backseat. “Don’t screw this up like you did with us. It’s very easy to break someone’s heart and walk away. Don’t do that to her.”
He nodded, a tear slipping down his cheek. “I will. I promise.”
As he got out of the car, Sarah leaned forward. “Thank you for the ride, Miss Ellie,” she said brightly. “It was nice to meet you!”
A young girl smiling | Source: Pexels
I turned to her, managing a small smile. “It was nice to meet you too, Sarah. Take care of yourself, okay?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “I will! Bye!”
I watched as they walked away, Sarah’s small hand in my dad’s larger one. They looked like a normal father and daughter, heading home after a long day.
But I knew the complicated truth that lay beneath that simple illusion.
Silhouette of a man and a little girl approaching their house | Source: Midjourney
As they disappeared from view, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. For years, I had carried the pain of my father’s abandonment, letting it shape my life and my relationships.
But seeing him now, I realized something important: I didn’t need his approval or his love to be whole.
I started the car, wiping away a stray tear. The sun had set completely now, the sky a deep, velvety blue. As I drove away, a warm, comforting feeling seeped into my heart. I had my own life to live, and I wasn’t going to let the past define me anymore.
A concerned young woman in a car | Source: Midjourney
My phone buzzed with a text from my mom, “Everything okay, honey? You’re usually home by now.”
I smiled, feeling a rush of love for the woman who had been both mother and father to me. “On my way, Mom,” I typed back. “I love you.”
As I hit send, I realized that sometimes, the family you choose is more important than the one you’re born into. And I had chosen well. I don’t need a father to shield or shower me with affection. I have the most powerful force in my universe: MY MOTHER.
A woman driving a car at night | Source: Unsplash
Here’s another story: I plotted a delicious revenge my fiancé deserved for cheating on me with his ex in a spa resort.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
My Daughter’s Landlord Set Her up So He Could Evict Her and Raise the Rent – We Taught Him a Smart Lesson
When Jason’s phone rings in the middle of the night, he finds his daughter crying. During the conversation, he discovers that her landlord is forcing her out of her place. Jason decides to give the landlord a lesson…
I received the call late at night; it was so unexpected that I answered it without even thinking about who could be on the other end. Groggily, I clicked the green icon and held my phone up to my ear.
A man sleeping | Source: Midjourney
“Dad,” Lily, my daughter, sobbed into my ear.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, immediately sitting up and getting my feet into my slippers. “Tell me, Lily, what’s happening?”
An upset young woman | Source: Midjourney
“My landlord found out that I got a raise at work. I was sitting on the porch with Nolan, and we were laughing about it and toasting. And of course, he heard it from the front house. Ever since, he keeps talking about renovations and higher rent.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, trying to understand despite the grogginess from sleep.
A close-up of an older man | Source: Midjourney
Sure, it was a disgusting way to make money off people, but it wasn’t something to cry about.
“But sweetheart, why are you crying?” I asked, trying to keep my own voice steady.
Everything in me wanted to run to my child. But I wouldn’t do anything until she gave me a reason to.
An upset young woman | Source: Midjourney
“After I had no reaction to the rent increase, he secretly threw some old, prohibited chemical containers into my backyard and then accused me of violating the lease by storing hazardous materials on the property,” she said.
“What?” I exploded. “That’s illegal!”
Numerous plastic containers | Source: Unsplash
“And he has given me two days to move out,” she continued.
I was fuming. My daughter had transformed that backyard from a barren plot into a blooming oasis. She poured her heart into every plant, every flower, and every single vegetable.
A beautiful outdoor space | Source: Unsplash
She had always been like this. Lily wasn’t the type of child to sit inside and play with her toys. She preferred to stay outside and get her hands dirty, trying to discover how things grew.
“This is so much fun, Dad,” she told me one day when I was mowing the lawn and little Lily was planting flowers.
A little girl in a garden | Source: Unsplash
“There’s a few worms there,” she said, pointing. “But I still planted the seedlings anyway.”
Her mother hated it. She wanted Lily to have freshly pressed clothing, clean nails, and hair that stayed in place.
“You need to stop enabling this behavior, Jason,” my wife, Jenna, would say. “Encourage her to be a little lady.”
A happy little girl standing on a bed | Source: Midjourney
“Not a chance, Jenna,” I would always say. “Let this sweet girl just be herself.”
Now, after everything Lily had done to make her garden her own space, all I wanted to do was try and save her hard work.
A little girl climbing a tree | Source: Pexels
“Don’t worry, honey,” I said, a plan already forming in my mind.
“How, Dad?” she asked.
“Because we’ll sort this out. And we’ll do it together.”
A smiling older man | Source: Midjourney
The next evening, I showed up at Lily’s place with my truck and a few friends. We were armed with flashlights and a healthy dose of righteous anger.
“Right, guys,” I said. “We’re going to do this for my daughter. We’re going to teach Jack a lesson. That as a landlord, you cannot go around and take advantage of young women.”
A group of older men | Source: Midjourney
We meticulously dismantled the entire backyard haven that Lily put together.
“Dad?” Lily asked when she realized that we were there. “What’s going on?”
“Hi, darling,” I said. “We’re going to teach your landlord a lesson. He cannot do this. So, we’re going to take everything apart. I’ll take your plants home, too.”
Tools on a bench | Source: Midjourney
Lily yawned and stretched.
“I’ll leave you to it, Dad,” she said. “I’m going to rest for a little bit and then get back to packing up the place when the sun comes up. I’m going to stay with Nolan until I find a place. He’ll be here with more boxes soon.”
“Go on,” I said. “We’ll be quiet, I promise.”
A tired young woman | Source: Midjourney
As we worked, every lovingly tended plant, every painstakingly built bed, vanished. By the time we were done, the once-flourishing garden was reduced to a desolate patch of dirt, a stark contrast to the lush photos Jack, the landlord, had already posted for the new listing.
A house listing photo | Source: Midjourney
“Thanks, guys,” I said. “You can leave. I’ll just help Lily pack. I’ll pick up my truck later, Malcolm.”
I wasn’t done. There was still more work to be done.
Inside the house, we rearranged the furniture to highlight all the faults.
A woman surrounded by boxes | Source: Midjourney
The cracks in the walls were not hidden by Lily’s art pieces. The missing tiles were left out in the open without any kitchen appliances to cover them up.
“Nothing can be done about the ceiling mold in the bathroom,” Lily told me. “But I have been telling the landlord that we needed to sort it out.”
Cracks in a wall | Source: Midjourney
We replaced all the light bulbs with very bright blue-white ones, making the entire place look stark and uninviting.
As we worked, Lily and I talked about her time in the house.
A man carrying a box | Source: Midjourney
“I remember when I first moved in,” she said, a hint of nostalgia in her voice. “The backyard was just dirt and concrete. And I didn’t think that anything could grow here. But eventually it did. And every time I felt homesick, I would come out here and plant something new or tend to whatever was growing.”
“And you made it happen,” I replied, smiling. “You turned it into a paradise.”
A young woman planting | Source: Midjourney
She sighed.
“It just feels so unfair. I did everything right, and he still found a way to ruin it all.”
“We’re not going to let him win,” I assured her. “This is just a setback. You’ve got a new adventure waiting for you. Nolan’s place is a good stop for now, but I know that he’s serious about you. Maybe a new house together is going to be the next step.”
A smiling father and daughter | Source: Midjourney
I left my daughter’s place feeling confident that her landlord would get a really good wake-up call the next day.
“Dad, can you come over?” Lily asked me on the phone early that morning. “Please be here when I have to hand over the keys to Jack.”
“I’ll be there soon,” I said, buttering my slice of toast.
Buttered toast on a plate | Source: Midjourney
Lily had me packing her shoes into a box when Jack stormed in, livid.
“What the hell, Lily?” he demanded. “Where are the plants? The flowers? The pictures online clearly show what this place is supposed to look like!”
He sighed deeply, his face turning the color of a particularly overripe tomato.
A shocked old man | Source: Midjourney
Lily, the picture of innocence, blinked at him.
“What plants, Jack?” she asked. “The backyard has always looked like this, haven’t you noticed?”
She gestured toward the desolate patch, a sly smile playing on her lips.
Jack, caught red-handed with his deceitful plan, spluttered some incoherent threats about property damage. I stepped in, pointing at the exposed faults.
A desolate backyard | Source: Midjourney
“You want to talk about damage?” I said, my voice cold.
“Let’s discuss the cracks in the walls, the missing tiles, and the mold in the bathroom. You can see everything clearly now, can’t you?”
Jack’s eyes widened as he looked into the bathroom.
“This is clearly sabotage!” he yelled.
A close-up of an older man | Source: Midjourney
“No,” I replied, pulling out the photos I’d taken when Lily moved in.
“This is exactly how the place was when she moved in. If anything, it’s tidier now. Nothing is missing, Jack.”
Jack tried to regain his composure, but the three couples who came for the viewing that afternoon saw the house in its raw, unappealing state. They all left without putting in an application.
A smiling young woman | Source: Midjourney
Meanwhile, after a few months, Lily found a new place with a landlord who appreciated her green thumb, not just the potential for profit. As my daughter settled into her new home, I couldn’t help but feel proud.
Lily and I sat on her new porch, looking out at the spacious yard that would soon become her next gardening project.
A smiling older man | Source: Unsplash
“Dad, I can’t thank you enough,” she said, her eyes bright with relief and excitement. “I was so scared, but you knew exactly what to do.”
I smiled, squeezing her hand as we swung on the porch swing. “You did the hard part, kiddo. You stood up to him. And now, you’ve got a fresh start.”
A porch swing | Source: Unsplash
What would you have done?
If you enjoyed this story, here’s another one for you:
My Sweetest Old Neighbor Helped Me Unpack & Later, I Found Her Note in the Box – It Made Me Immediately Sell the House
When Phoebe decides that her new chapter begins with a divorce and a new house, she finds a little house in a sleepy neighborhood. As she gets unpacking, she meets a wonderful neighbor, who has a big responsibility for Phoebe.
When we first moved to the little house at the end of Maple Street, I was filled with hope and a sense of new beginnings. It was just my 6-year-old daughter, Lily, and I.
The exterior of a house | Source: Unsplash
We were finally starting over after a difficult year: me going through a tough divorce with Lily’s father, and Lily having to navigate life without her father living in the same house.
“It’s okay, Mom,” she said softly to me one night. “I don’t like how Dad always shouted at us.”
It was clear then that we needed to break free.
A young mother and daughter | Source: Midjourney
From the moment I met Mrs. Thompson, she reminded me of my own grandmother. There was this motherly warmth to her that made me feel like moving here was the right decision.
“I’m Hazel,” she said, walking up to our porch with a batch of freshly baked cookies. “I’m so glad you’re moving into the neighborhood. My house is that one.”
She pointed to the little house directly next to mine.
Freshly baked cookies | Source: Midjourney
“And who is this little girl?” she asked, seeing Lily jump into a pile of leaves.
“This is Lily, my daughter,” I said, introducing the two. “We needed a new start.”
When our official moving day arrived, Mrs. Thompson insisted on coming over and helping me unpack.
Read the full story here.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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