Chapter 7 - MY MOTHER'S CONFESSION
My mother lived outside the city in a house I'd visited only twice since the divorce.
When I arrived, she was waiting at the door.
She looked like she'd been expecting me.
"You found them."
I stopped.
"You knew."
She closed her eyes.
"Yes."
"How long?"
"Three years."
I felt betrayed all over again.
"Everyone knew except me."
She began crying.
"I wanted to tell you."
"But you didn't."
"Your father threatened me."
"With what?"
She looked at me.
"With your life."
I froze.
"What does that mean?"
She led me inside.
On the dining table sat a stack of documents.
"Your father didn't just manipulate Grace."
She pointed toward the papers.
"He manipulated me."
I picked them up.
They were surveillance reports.
Photos of me.
My apartment.
My car.
My office.
"Why was I being watched?"
"Because your father knew you were getting suspicious."
"About what?"
"Richard."
She sat down.
"Your father believed Richard would kill anyone who threatened his claim."
I stared at her.
"Where is Emma?"
My mother looked at me.
"Safe."
"Where?"
She hesitated.
"Your father took her."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"He didn't order the kidnapping."
"Then who did?"
"Richard."
"Where is he taking her?"
"I don't know."
She reached into a drawer.
Pulled out a key.
"This belonged to your grandfather."
"What does it open?"
"A private facility."
I stared at the key.
"Where?"
"Indiana."
My mother handed me an address.
"Go there."
"Why?"
"Because that's where your father stored everything he wanted hidden."
I drove through the night.
Grace came with me.
Michael followed separately.
We reached an abandoned estate just before dawn.
The building looked empty.
But lights were visible inside.
We entered through the rear.
Security guards appeared.
Michael moved first.
Within seconds, they were down.
We rushed inside.
A hallway.
Another.
Then a locked steel door.
I used the key.
It opened.
Inside were boxes.
Documents.
Photographs.
Medical records.
And a wall covered with pictures of my children.
I felt sick.
"Someone has been watching them their entire lives."
Grace began crying.
Then we heard a child's voice.
"Daddy?"
I ran.
Emma was sitting on a bed.
Alive.
An IV in her arm.
I rushed toward her.
She smiled.
"You came."
I held her.
"I'll always come."
Grace fell beside us.
But then footsteps sounded behind us.
My father entered.
He looked exhausted.
"Ryan."
I stood.
"You kidnapped my daughter."
"No."
"She's here."
"I brought her here to protect her."
"From whom?"
"Richard."
I wanted to hit him.
"You took her from a hospital."
"Because someone inside the hospital was working for Richard."
"How do you know?"
"Because I hired them."
Silence.
My father looked at Emma.
"I couldn't risk her dying."
I stared at him.
"You could have told me."
"I was afraid."
"Of what?"
He finally said:
"Of losing everything."
I laughed bitterly.
"You already lost it."
He looked at me.
"I loved you."
"Then you should have trusted me."
He lowered his head.
Then Michael entered.
My father's face went white.
"Michael."
"Hello, Father."
My father took a step backward.
"I thought you were dead."
"I know."
Michael raised a folder.
"Then perhaps you should explain why you paid someone to make it look that way."
My father froze.
I looked between them.
"What?"
Michael opened the folder.
Inside were bank transfers.
Payments made twenty-four years ago.
To the man who had supposedly killed Michael.
My father had funded his disappearance.
"Why?" I asked.
My father looked at me.
"Because Michael found the truth."
"What truth?"
My father finally whispered:
"Richard killed your grandfather."
Silence.
"He didn't just steal from the company."
"He murdered him."
Michael nodded.
"And Father covered it up."
My father looked broken.
"I was trying to protect the family."
I shook my head.
"You destroyed it."
Then Emma coughed.
We all turned.
She collapsed.
The monitor beside her began screaming.
Grace shouted for help.
My father froze.
Michael grabbed the medical bag.
I carried Emma.
The nearest hospital was forty minutes away.
We had no time.
Then my father said:
"There is a surgical center two miles from here."
"Is it safe?"
He looked at me.
"It's mine."
I stared.
"Then take us."
For the first time in my life, my father and I ran together.
May you like
Because both of us knew one thing.
If Emma died, none of our secrets would matter.
