I was winding down for the night when my phone buzzed with a call from an unknown number, followed by a text that made my heart race: “ALICE, THIS IS YOUR DAD. PLEASE CALL, I AM IN THE HOSPITAL.” Dad? After two decades of silence? My curiosity got the better of me, and I called back.

“Dad?”

“Alice, it’s me… I don’t have much time.”

“Why are you reaching out now?” I asked, still in shock.

My Dad Who Left 20 Years Ago Called from His Deathbed for a Final Wish —  What He Asked Broke My Heart – Chronology

“I need to explain… and ask you for something. But please, don’t tell your mother.” He then dropped a bombshell: my grandfather had paid him to leave our lives, believing Dad was a failure. “I took the money to secure your future,” he admitted.

“Then why didn’t you come back?” I demanded.

“I couldn’t,” he said, voice strained. “But I watched from afar, saw you graduate, watched your volleyball games.”

My head spun. “Why didn’t Mom ever tell me?”

“Maybe she thought it was better that way.”

“So, what do you want now?”

WWE RESULTS - MY DAD, WHO LEFT OUR FAMILY 20 YEARS AGO, CALLED ME FROM HIS  DEATHBED TO ASK FOR A FINAL WISH – WHAT HE ASKED FOR BROKE MY HEART. I

“I need to see you, Alice. One last time, before it’s too late.”

I made the difficult decision to go. At the hospital, I barely recognized the frail man lying in the bed. “Alice,” he whispered.

“Why did you abandon us, Dad?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“I thought it was the best way to secure a future for you. I wrote letters every year—they’re in a safety deposit box,” he revealed.

After he passed, I found the letters, brimming with his regrets and love. When I confronted my mom, she admitted that she had kept it from me, believing it was the right thing to do.

In the end, I used the money Dad had taken to create a scholarship in his name, a way to honor the difficult choices he made for what he thought was my best interest.