Chapter 4 - THE MAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPHMy father's expression changed.
“Enough.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“Now you want silence?”
“Clara doesn't need to know everything.”
I stepped between them.
“No.”
My voice surprised me.
“I'm done being the last person to know what happens in my own life.”
My father looked at me.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
He said nothing.
I held up the photograph.
“Who is he?”
Silence.
Then Elena answered.
“His name is Daniel Mercer.”
I recognized the last name.
Everyone in town did.
The Mercers owned the largest construction company in the county.
Their family was worth hundreds of millions.
I looked at my father.
“Why was my mother married to him?”
“She wasn't.”
My father finally spoke.
“He wasn't her husband.”
“Then why is he holding her?”
“He was your mother's brother.”
My eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Elena shook her head.
“That's not true.”
My father glared at her.
“You're lying.”
Elena pulled out another photograph.
This one showed my mother.
Daniel.
And a newborn baby.
Me.
I stared.
Daniel wasn't holding my mother.
He was holding me.
“What is going on?”
Elena whispered:
“Daniel is your biological father.”
The room went silent.
I felt as though I'd been pushed underwater.
“No.”
“He is.”
“No.”
My father looked down.
I turned toward him.
“Dad?”
He didn't answer.
“Tell me she's lying.”
He swallowed.
Then he said something that destroyed the last piece of my certainty.
“She's not.”
I stepped backward.
My chair fell behind me.
Zoe began crying.
I picked her up automatically.
“You knew?”
My father closed his eyes.
“For twenty-five years.”
I laughed.
“You raised me for twenty-five years knowing I wasn't yours?”
“I loved you.”
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
He looked at Elena.
Then at me.
“Daniel.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel isn't safe.”
Elena stepped forward.
“Daniel wasn't the danger.”
She stared at my father.
“You were.”
My father's face hardened.
“He was going to take Clara.”
“No.”
“He had legal rights.”
“He had no idea what you did.”
“What did you do?”
Neither answered.
I screamed.
“What did you do?”
My father finally broke.
“Your mother and I forged the custody papers.”
My stomach turned.
“What?”
“We took you.”
“Kidnapped me?”
He looked away.
“Yes.”
Zoe began crying harder.
I held her.
My whole childhood suddenly felt fake.
Every birthday.
Every Christmas.
Every time my mother told me I was the center of her world.
A lie.
I wiped my tears.
“Where is Daniel now?”
My father didn't answer.
Elena did.
“He's alive.”
“Where?”
“Three miles from here.”
My heart stopped.
“Then take me to him.”
My father stepped forward.
“No.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
He whispered:
“Because Daniel has been trying to find you for fifteen years.”
“Why only fifteen?”
My father looked at Elena.
Then at me.
“Because fifteen years ago, he discovered what happened to your mother.”
“What happened to her?”
My father said nothing.
Elena did.
“She didn't die in an accident.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“What?”
Elena reached into her bag.
She pulled out a newspaper clipping.
The headline read:
WOMAN FOUND DEAD IN RIVER. POLICE RULE ACCIDENT.
Below it was my mother's photograph.
I stared.
“She was murdered,” Elena whispered.
May you like
And underneath her picture was another name.
Daniel Mercer.
