PART 3: THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
“No.”
The word came out of my mouth before I even realized I had spoken.
Detective Hale kept his eyes on me.
“Lucy—”
“My father is dead.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t understand. I buried him.”
Daniel stood beside me, silent.
I turned toward him.
“I watched them lower his coffin into the ground.”
“I know.”
“I gave the eulogy.”
“I know.”
“My mother cried so hard she couldn’t stand.”
“I know.”
“Then stop looking at me like any of this is possible.”
Daniel didn’t answer.
That silence was beginning to feel like another kind of betrayal.
I pointed at him.
“You recognize the handwriting.”
“I think I do.”
“You think?”
“I haven’t seen your father’s handwriting in years.”
“But you recognized it.”
“Yes.”
My heart started hammering.
“From where?”
Daniel looked at Detective Hale.
Hale nodded once.
That frightened me.
It meant they had already discussed something without me.
Again.
I stepped backward.
“What else do you know?”
“Lucy,” Daniel said, “we need to get Matthew secure first.”
“He is secure.”
“For now.”
“What does that mean?”
Detective Hale answered.
“If someone else has been involved, we cannot assume Teresa and Chloe are the only threat.”
I felt cold.
“You think someone is going to come after him?”
“We don’t know.”
“That means yes.”
“It means we have to be careful.”
I looked through the small window at the end of the hall where Matthew had been moved.
My son was somewhere behind those doors, probably asking for his stuffed axolotl and wondering why his mother kept disappearing.
I was standing in a hospital hallway learning that my dead father might not be dead.
Nothing in my life felt real anymore.
“What do we do?”
“Matthew stays under police protection,” Hale said. “No visitors except you and Daniel. No outside food. No gifts. No packages.”
“Good.”
“I also want an officer at your house.”
I looked at him.
“My house?”
“If someone has been watching you, we need to know how close they’ve been getting.”
My mouth went dry.
I remembered the photographs.
My wedding.
Matthew.
Our house.
How many moments had been stolen from us without our knowledge?
“How long?”
“Until we understand what we’re dealing with.”
Daniel finally spoke.
“Marcus, show her the other one.”
I turned toward him.
“What other one?”
Daniel looked guilty.
Hale sighed.
Then he unlocked his phone.
“There were several photographs in Teresa’s car.”
He swiped.
Matthew at the park.
Another swipe.
Matthew leaving school.
Another.
Me walking into the pharmacy.
Another.
Daniel standing outside the hospital.
Another.
Our house at night.
Then another.
I stopped breathing.
It was a photograph of Matthew asleep in his bedroom.
Taken from inside the room.
I grabbed the phone.
“No.”
Hale let me hold it.
The image was grainy, but unmistakable.
Matthew was lying on his side beneath his blue blanket.
Moonlight came through the curtains.
His stuffed axolotl was tucked under his arm.
The picture had been taken from only a few feet away.
I whispered, “When?”
“We’re trying to determine that.”
“Someone was in my house.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Lucy.”
“No, my mother has a key.”
“We know.”
“Chloe does too.”
“We know.”
“Then it could be them.”
“It could.”
“But you don’t think it is.”
Hale didn’t answer.
I zoomed in on the photograph.
There was something near the edge of the frame.
A reflection.
Glass.
Maybe the bedroom mirror.
And in that reflection, a shape.
A shoulder.
Part of an arm.
Dark clothing.
I stared at it.
“Can you enhance this?”
“We’re already working on it.”
Daniel leaned toward the screen.
Then froze.
“What?”
He took the phone.
“Daniel?”
He zoomed in farther.
His face changed.
“What is it?”
“There.”
He pointed.
The reflection showed a hand.
On one finger was a ring.
Large.
Square.
Dark stone.
My body went numb.
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You recognize it?”
I did.
My father had worn a ring exactly like that for as long as I could remember.
A black onyx ring with a silver border.
It had belonged to his father.
My grandfather.
When I was little, I used to spin it around Dad’s finger while sitting on his lap.
At the funeral, I had asked my mother why they had buried him without it.
She told me the ring had been lost in the crash.
I stared at the reflection.
“My father had that ring.”
Hale’s eyes sharpened.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
Daniel whispered my name.
“Lucy.”
I looked at him.
“There are thousands of rings like that.”
“Maybe.”
“It proves nothing.”
“Maybe.”
“But you don’t believe that.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
My knees weakened.
I sat in the nearest chair.
Everything came rushing back.
My father.
Robert Bennett.
He was complicated.
Charming in public.
Distant at home.
He traveled often.
He yelled when he drank.
He bought expensive gifts after terrible fights.
I remembered my mother hiding bruises once.
At least, I thought I remembered.
Maybe I had spent years editing my childhood because the truth had been too ugly.
Then I remembered Chloe.
Nineteen.
Quiet.
Dropping out of nursing school.
Refusing to talk about why.
And the pregnancy.
My father’s child.
My stomach twisted.
I looked at Hale.
“If he was abusing Chloe, why would my mother help him fake his death?”
“We don’t know that she did.”
“She had those photographs.”
“Yes.”
“She knew he might be alive.”
“We don’t know that yet.”
“She knew something.”
Hale nodded.
“That’s more likely.”
I stood again.
“I want to talk to her.”
“No.”
“She’s my mother.”
“She’s also under arrest.”
“I don’t care.”
“Lucy, this is an active investigation.”
“She nearly killed my son.”
“That’s exactly why you cannot go into an interrogation room angry and give her control of the conversation.”
I hated him for being right.
Daniel touched my arm.
I pulled away automatically.
“You don’t get to comfort me yet.”
His face fell.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Because every time I turn around, there’s another secret.”
He lowered his eyes.
I stared at him.
“You knew Dad.”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
“Not very.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m not.”
“You recognized his handwriting after six years.”
Daniel took a breath.
“He wrote to me.”
My entire body tightened.
“What?”
“Before he died.”
“About Chloe?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“Mostly threats.”
I stared at him.
“You never told me.”
“I was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“That I had ever been involved with Chloe. That I had allowed myself to get pulled into their family disaster before I met you.”
“Their family disaster?”
He winced.
“Our family.”
“Better.”
He looked at me.
“When Chloe told me she was pregnant, I believed the baby might be mine.”
“But you said Dad was the father.”
“I found that out later.”
“How?”
“Your father came to the hospital.”
I felt something turn inside me.
“Why?”
“He wanted me to stay away from Chloe.”
“And?”
“I told him I would, because by then she and I were already over.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Then he said something strange.”
“What?”
“He said, ‘If she tells you the baby is yours, don’t believe her.’”
I felt sick.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You knew something terrible had happened.”
“I suspected.”
“Same difference.”
“No, Lucy. At the time I thought maybe Chloe had been seeing someone else. I didn’t think—”
“You didn’t think her father had gotten her pregnant.”
“No.”
“Did you ask her?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She denied everything.”
“Of course she did.”
“I didn’t understand how scared she was.”
My anger softened for half a second.
Chloe’s face flashed in my mind.
Nineteen.
Pregnant.
Trapped.
Living under the same roof as the man who had hurt her.
Then another thought came.
“Where was Mom?”
Daniel looked away.
“She knew.”
“Back then?”
“I believe so.”
I laughed bitterly.
“My mother knew her husband had gotten their daughter pregnant.”
Daniel stayed silent.
“And instead of protecting Chloe, she blamed you.”
“I think blaming me was easier.”
I stared at him.
“No. Blaming you was useful.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“If everyone believed you were the villain, no one looked at Dad.”
He went still.
Detective Hale looked at me with new interest.
I continued.
“My mother controls narratives. She always has.”
Hale nodded slightly.
“That would fit.”
“She protected my father.”
“Possibly.”
“And later she helped him disappear.”
Hale didn’t answer.
But I could see it in his face.
That was exactly what he was beginning to believe.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I froze.
Daniel saw the screen.
“Don’t answer.”
Hale immediately held out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
The ringing stopped.
A second later, a text arrived.
UNKNOWN: YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE PAST BURIED.
Nobody spoke.
My blood turned to ice.
Another message appeared.
UNKNOWN: NOW YOUR SON WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOUR FAMILY DID.
Daniel grabbed my shoulder.
“Marcus.”
“I see it.”
Hale took screenshots.
My hands shook.
Then another message arrived.
UNKNOWN: ASK DANIEL WHAT HAPPENED AT LAKE TRAVIS.
I looked at my husband.
He turned white.
“No.”
I stared at him.
“What happened at Lake Travis?”
“Lucy—”
“What happened?”
Hale looked at Daniel.
“You know what this means?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell her.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not here.”
I almost laughed.
“Not here?”
“Lucy.”
“You have said that to me all day.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“Stop protecting me.”
“I can’t.”
“That’s the problem.”
I stepped closer.
“What happened at Lake Travis?”
Daniel looked at Hale.
Then at me.
Finally he whispered, “The night your father supposedly died, he called me.”
My mouth fell open.
“What?”
“He called me from Lake Travis.”
“When?”
“About an hour before the accident.”
“And you never told the police?”
“I did.”
“Then why wasn’t it in the report?”
Daniel’s expression twisted.
“Because your mother convinced them I was confused.”
“What did Dad say?”
“He wanted to meet.”
“Why?”
“He said he wanted to end everything.”
“What does that mean?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Did you go?”
“Yes.”
My heart started pounding harder.
“You went to meet my father the night he died.”
“Yes.”
“At Lake Travis.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“I told you I was at the hospital.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“Did you kill him?”
Daniel looked horrified.
“No.”
“Then why are you shaking?”
“Because I saw him do something that night.”
“What?”
“He drove another man’s car.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Your father arrived in his own car. We argued. Then another man showed up.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t know him.”
“What happened?”
“Your father handed him keys.”
My breathing slowed.
“What kind of keys?”
“His car keys.”
Hale stepped closer.
“Daniel, are you saying Robert Bennett gave another man his vehicle shortly before the crash?”
“Yes.”
“And that man drove away?”
“Yes.”
“What did Robert do?”
“He got into the other man’s car.”
I felt dizzy.
“So the person who died…”
“Could have been the other man.”
I grabbed the back of a chair.
“Why did you stay silent?”
“I didn’t.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“I told the detective working the crash.”
“What detective?”
He looked at Hale.
“Samuel Voss.”
Hale’s face changed.
“What?”
“You know him?”
Hale didn’t answer immediately.
“Samuel Voss retired four years ago.”
“From homicide?”
“No.”
“What then?”
“Internal affairs opened an investigation into him.”
Daniel frowned.
“For what?”
“Evidence tampering.”
The room became silent.
Hale continued.
“Voss was accused of altering reports, removing evidence, protecting informants, possibly taking money.”
My stomach twisted.
“From my father?”
“We don’t know.”
“But it fits.”
“Yes.”
I paced.
“My father stages a crash. Another man dies in his car. A corrupt detective alters the report. Mom identifies the body using Dad’s belongings.”
“That’s a possibility,” Hale said.
“And Daniel tells the truth, but no one believes him.”
“Yes.”
“And six years later, someone starts sending my mother photographs.”
“Yes.”
“Then Matthew gets sick.”
“Yes.”
I turned toward Daniel.
“What happened after Dad switched cars?”
Daniel looked like he wanted to disappear.
“I followed them.”
“You what?”
“I thought something was wrong.”
“You followed Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Toward the lake.”
My pulse quickened.
“He stopped at a boat ramp.”
“Then?”
“He got out.”
“Who was with him?”
“The other driver of the second car.”
“Same man?”
“No.”
I frowned.
“You said another man showed up.”
“There were two.”
My skin prickled.
“What?”
“One drove your father’s car away.”
“And the other?”
“Stayed with him.”
“Who?”
Daniel stared at me.
“I know now.”
“Who?”
“Samuel Voss.”
I stopped breathing.
The detective.
The officer who later handled the crash.
Everything clicked into place in the most terrifying way possible.
Hale cursed under his breath.
“Then Voss wasn’t just covering it up.”
“No,” Daniel said.
“He was there.”
“Yes.”
“What did they do?”
“They boarded a small fishing boat.”
“And?”
“They left.”
“Did they come back?”
“Not while I was there.”
My voice shook.
“So Dad escaped by boat.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“I left after about twenty minutes. I had no idea what they were doing.”
“You must have known something was wrong.”
“I did.”
“But you still married me without telling me my father might be alive.”
“At the time, I thought maybe it was some kind of police operation.”
“What?”
“Voss later contacted me.”
Hale snapped his head toward Daniel.
“When?”
“The next morning.”
“What did he say?”
“That Robert had died in a crash.”
“And?”
“That whatever I believed I saw at the lake had nothing to do with the accident.”
Hale’s jaw tightened.
“And you accepted that?”
“No.”
“But you stayed silent.”
“Because he threatened me.”
My heart sank.
“With what?”
Daniel looked at me.
“With Chloe.”
I stared.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“He knew what Dad did to her?”
“Yes.”
“And he threatened to expose her?”
“Worse.”
“What’s worse?”
“He said if I kept asking questions, he would make it look like I had gotten Chloe pregnant and then harmed her.”
My stomach twisted.
“That would destroy your career.”
“Yes.”
“And maybe send you to prison.”
“Yes.”
“So you stayed quiet.”
“I was twenty-eight, terrified, and stupid.”
I stared at him.
“You chose yourself.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
At least he didn’t lie.
That almost made it worse.
My phone buzzed again.
Another message.
UNKNOWN: HE CHOSE HIMSELF THEN.
A pause.
UNKNOWN: HE WILL CHOOSE HIMSELF AGAIN.
We all stared at the screen.
Daniel stepped away from me as though he had been struck.
Hale looked toward the ceiling.
“They can see us.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
“Whoever is texting may know what we’re discussing.”
Daniel looked around the room.
“Bug?”
“Possibly.”
Hale immediately called security.
“Lock this wing down.”
He pointed at the room.
“Do not touch anything.”
Within minutes, two officers entered.
A hospital security specialist followed.
They swept the room.
I stood in the hallway beside Daniel.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I watched.
Five minutes later, the security specialist emerged holding a tiny black object inside an evidence bag.
“Found under the table.”
Hale stared at it.
“A transmitter?”
“Looks like it.”
My stomach dropped.
Someone had planted a listening device inside a hospital consultation room.
“How long has it been there?”
“We can’t know yet.”
“Who could get in here?”
“Staff. Patients. Visitors. Maintenance.”
Daniel whispered, “Or family.”
I stared at him.
Then a nurse came running down the hallway.
“Mrs. Carter?”
I turned instantly.
“What happened?”
“Matthew’s asking for you.”
I ran.
When I entered his room, he was sitting up weakly.
His stuffed axolotl rested in his lap.
He smiled when he saw me.
“Mom.”
I crossed the room and hugged him.
Carefully.
So carefully.
“Hey.”
“You were gone forever.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Dad too.”
Daniel came in behind me.
Matthew looked at him.
“Are you mad at each other?”
My heart broke.
“No.”
Daniel answered before I could.
“We’re just scared because we love you.”
Matthew nodded slowly.
Then he reached under his pillow.
“I found this.”
He held out a folded piece of paper.
I stared at it.
“What is that?”
“It was under Axie.”
My blood froze.
“Who put it there?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel immediately called Hale.
I didn’t touch the paper.
Hale came in wearing gloves.
He unfolded it.
One sentence.
YOUR GRANDPA SAYS HELLO.
My entire body went numb.
Matthew looked at me.
“Grandpa?”
I forced my face to stay calm.
“It’s nothing, sweetheart.”
“But Grandpa’s dead.”
I couldn’t answer.
Daniel turned away.
Hale took the note.
“We’re moving him again.”
“No more moving,” I said.
“We need a secure unit.”
“He’s eight.”
“I know.”
“He’s terrified.”
“So am I.”
That shut me up.
Hale looked at Matthew.
“Buddy, we’re going to take you somewhere special.”
Matthew frowned.
“Am I in trouble?”
“No.”
“Then why are police here?”
I knelt beside him.
“Because somebody did something very bad, and the police are helping us keep you safe.”
“Grandma?”
I looked at him.
He had always been too observant.
“Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Did Grandma make me sick?”
My breath disappeared.
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
I took Matthew’s hand.
“You don’t need to worry about that right now.”
He stared at me.
“That means yes.”
I wanted to lie.
But this child had spent a year being lied to by adults.
I couldn’t become another one.
“Yes.”
His face fell.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was I bad?”
“No.”
“Did I make her mad?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
I hugged him tightly.
“Because sometimes adults make terrible choices that have nothing to do with the children they hurt.”
He was silent for a long time.
Then he whispered, “I don’t want to see her again.”
“You won’t.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
And I meant it.
Police escorted us to a secured pediatric wing.
Two officers remained outside.
Every person entering was searched.
Food was checked.
Medication was verified twice.
For the first time in months, I felt like Matthew might actually be safe.
Then Hale asked to speak with me privately.
Daniel tried to come.
I stopped him.
“Not this time.”
“Lucy.”
“I need one conversation where you are not deciding what I should know.”
He looked wounded.
Good.
Maybe he needed to feel a fraction of what I felt.
Hale and I stepped into another room.
He closed the door.
No table this time.
No hidden corners.
We both stood.
“What?”
“We questioned Chloe.”
My heart tightened.
“And?”
“She’s cooperating.”
“Of course she is.”
“She says Teresa began poisoning Matthew about eleven months ago.”
I swallowed.
“What exactly did she use?”
Hale answered carefully.
“A combination of medications and household substances designed to cause intermittent symptoms without immediately appearing lethal.”
I felt sick.
“She learned how?”
“Chloe says Teresa received instructions.”
“From Dad.”
“She doesn’t know.”
“But she suspects.”
“Yes.”
I stared at the wall.
“Did Chloe help?”
“She admitted to helping deliver food.”
“Did she put anything in it?”
Hale hesitated.
“Twice.”
The word hit me like a punch.
“Twice.”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
My own sister.
“What else?”
“Chloe says Teresa kept letters.”
“Where?”
“She doesn’t know.”
“Yes, she does.”
“She says Teresa moved them.”
“When?”
“After the first time Matthew was hospitalized.”
“Why?”
“Because she became afraid Daniel was suspicious.”
I frowned.
“So Mom knew Daniel was watching.”
“Possibly.”
“Then the cameras—”
“She may have known about them.”
I stared at Hale.
“Then why keep going?”
“That’s the question.”
I thought about Teresa.
The arrogance.
The certainty.
The way she looked at me when arrested.
She hadn’t looked defeated.
She had looked offended.
As though being caught was somehow my betrayal.
“She thought she was untouchable.”
Hale nodded.
“Maybe.”
“No. She believed someone would protect her.”
Hale’s expression changed.
“Your father.”
“Yes.”
He considered it.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
“Hale.”
He listened.
His face hardened.
“When?”
Pause.
“Secure the scene.”
Another pause.
“No. Do not let anyone inside.”
He hung up.
“What happened?”
He looked at me.
“We sent officers to Teresa’s house.”
My heart started pounding.
“And?”
“The back door was open.”
“Was someone there?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“The place was searched before they arrived.”
“Robbery?”
“Nothing valuable appears missing.”
“What was taken?”
“We don’t know yet.”
I already knew.
“The letters.”
Hale nodded.
“That would be my guess.”
My mouth went dry.
“So whoever is doing this knew she was arrested.”
“Yes.”
“And went straight to her house.”
“Yes.”
“Dad.”
“Possibly.”
“Stop saying possibly.”
“Because I need evidence.”
“Well, I need my family alive.”
He didn’t argue.
Then another officer entered.
“Detective.”
“What?”
“We pulled traffic footage from the street outside Teresa Bennett’s home.”
My heart stopped.
“Anything?”
The officer looked at me, then back at Hale.
“There was a vehicle.”
“What kind?”
“Dark SUV.”
“Plate?”
“Obscured.”
“Driver?”
The officer held out a tablet.
“We got one frame.”
He enlarged the image.
A man was stepping out of the SUV.
Older.
Gray hair.
Sunglasses.
Tall.
He turned just enough for the camera to catch half his face.
My knees weakened.
I grabbed the wall.
Hale looked at me.
“Lucy?”
I couldn’t breathe.
The man was older than I remembered.
Thinner.
Gray around the temples.
But I knew that jaw.
That nose.
That posture.
I knew the way he tilted his head when he walked.
I had watched that man walk down our hallway every night of my childhood.
“That’s him.”
Hale remained still.
“You’re sure?”
“That’s my father.”
The room became silent.
The dead man was alive.
Six years of grief.
Six years of birthday visits to a grave.
Six years of watching my mother place flowers beneath a stone carrying his name.
All of it was a lie.
I started laughing.
I couldn’t help it.
A broken, horrible laugh.
“He’s alive.”
Hale lowered the tablet.
“It appears that way.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Say it.”
“Lucy.”
“Say it.”
He took a breath.
“Your father appears to be alive.”
I cried.
Not because I was happy.
Because part of me was still a daughter.
Some stupid, buried part of me wanted to feel relief.
My father was alive.
Then I remembered Chloe.
Matthew.
The photographs.
The note.
And the relief turned into disgust.
“He was near my mother’s house today.”
“Yes.”
“So he could be nearby.”
“Yes.”
“Then find him.”
“We will.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“Find him before he finds my son.”
Hale nodded.
“We’re issuing a statewide alert.”
“Good.”
“And Lucy?”
“What?”
“Do not go home.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because if Robert has been watching you, your house is compromised.”
“Where do we go?”
“We’ll arrange somewhere.”
I looked through the window toward Matthew.
“No hotels.”
“Agreed.”
“No relatives.”
“Agreed.”
“No one Mom knows.”
“Agreed.”
Then my phone buzzed again.
We both froze.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
It had been taken seconds earlier.
Me.
Standing inside the hospital room with Detective Hale.
Taken through the glass.
I spun around.
The hallway outside was empty.
Under the photo came one sentence.
UNKNOWN: YOU LOOK JUST LIKE YOUR MOTHER WHEN SHE’S AFRAID.
Hale pulled his gun.
“Lockdown.”
Alarms sounded.
Doors began closing.
Officers ran down the hallway.
I rushed toward Matthew’s room.
Daniel was already there.
“What happened?”
“He’s here.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
Daniel turned pale.
“He’s in the hospital?”
“He can see us.”
Then the lights went out.
Everything went black.
Matthew screamed.
“Mom!”
I ran toward his voice.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Somewhere down the corridor, someone shouted.
Then a loud crash.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Lucy.”
“My son is in there.”
We reached the room.
Matthew was crying.
I grabbed him.
“I’m here.”
He clung to me.
“I don’t like this.”
“I know.”
Daniel locked the door.
Hale’s voice shouted from the corridor.
“Everyone stay inside!”
Then my phone rang.
Same unknown number.
I answered before anyone could stop me.
“Where are you?”
Silence.
Then breathing.
Slow.
Steady.
A man’s voice.
Older.
Familiar.
A voice I had heard in dreams.
“Hello, princess.”
My body stopped moving.
Daniel stared at me.
I couldn’t breathe.
Only one person had ever called me that.
“Dad?”
A soft laugh.
“You always were the smart one.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Matthew.”
His tone changed.
“I never wanted the boy hurt.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Mom says differently.”
“Your mother has always misunderstood instructions.”
“Instructions?”
“Lucy, listen carefully.”
“No.”
“You need to leave the hospital.”
“Never.”
“Take Matthew and leave.”
“Why?”
“Because the police cannot protect you.”
“You poisoned him.”
“No.”
“Someone did.”
“Yes.”
“Mom did.”
“Yes.”
“Because of you.”
Silence.
Then my father said something that turned my blood cold.
“Teresa was supposed to scare Daniel.”
I stared at my husband.
“What?”
“Not kill the boy.”
“So you knew.”
“I knew your mother wanted revenge.”
“You gave her instructions.”
“I gave her a way to make the child sick enough to frighten Daniel.”
My stomach turned.
“You are admitting this.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“You tried to poison my son.”
“I told her doses that should have caused discomfort.”
I nearly screamed.
“He had seizures!”
“That was not supposed to happen.”
“YOU DON’T GET TO SAY THAT!”
Matthew buried his face against me.
I lowered my voice.
“Where are you?”
My father ignored the question.
“Daniel needs to pay.”
“For Chloe?”
“Yes.”
“It wasn’t Daniel.”
Silence.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
I gripped the phone.
“You were the one who hurt Chloe.”
He laughed softly.
“Is that what Teresa told you?”
“Chloe told me.”
Another pause.
Then his voice became cold.
“Chloe lies.”
I felt rage explode through me.
“She was nineteen.”
“And confused.”
“You got her pregnant.”
“No.”
I froze.
“What?”
“The child wasn’t mine.”
I looked at Daniel.
His face changed.
I whispered, “Then whose?”
My father answered.
“Daniel’s.”
Daniel shook his head immediately.
“No.”
The voice continued.
“Your husband has spent years letting your family carry his sins.”
Daniel stepped toward me.
“Lucy, hang up.”
I moved away.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Your father is lying.”
“Am I?”
The voice on the phone laughed.
“Tell her about the DNA test, doctor.”
Daniel went white.
I stared at him.
“What DNA test?”
He said nothing.
“Daniel.”
My father whispered in my ear.
“He kept it.”
My heart pounded.
“Kept what?”
“The result.”
I stared at my husband.
“What result?”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“Lucy…”
“No.”
I pointed at him.
“Don’t say my name. Tell me.”
He looked destroyed.
“The baby was mine.”
My world stopped.
My father laughed.
Then the line went dead.
I couldn’t move.
Daniel reached for me.
I stepped away.
“No.”
“Lucy.”
“You told me Dad was the father.”
“I believed he had assaulted her.”
“But the baby was yours.”
“Yes.”
“You knew.”
“Not until later.”
“When?”
“After the miscarriage.”
I stared at him.
“You had a DNA test after the baby died?”
“Chloe had tissue testing done.”
“Why?”
“She needed to know.”
“And you found out.”
“Yes.”
“Then why let everyone believe Dad did it?”
Daniel looked shattered.
“Because something did happen between Robert and Chloe.”
“What?”
“He abused her.”
My stomach turned.
“But the pregnancy was yours.”
“Yes.”
“So Dad was telling the truth about that.”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
Every truth had another lie underneath it.
Every villain seemed to be guilty of something different.
And every person I trusted had hidden part of the story.
Then we heard a knock.
Three slow knocks.
On Matthew’s hospital door.
Everyone froze.
Hale’s voice came from the hallway.
“Lucy, don’t open it.”
Then another voice.
Older.
Calm.
Right outside.
“Princess.”
My blood turned to ice.
My father was standing on the other side of the door……
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 4…
