Chapter 6
I locked the back door.
Daniel noticed.
“So you think Ryan could be dangerous?”
“I don’t know who he is now.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
I looked through the glass at Grace.
“Yes.”
Michael exhaled.
“Emily, this is getting ridiculous.”
I turned on him.
“You don’t know Ryan.”
“Neither do you anymore.”
“I knew him well enough.”
“You said he never physically hurt you.”
“I said he controlled me.”
Michael shook his head.
“That was sixteen years ago.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You threatened a man for calling your wife two years ago, but you think we should assume her abusive ex became harmless?”
Michael’s face hardened.
“This is my house.”
“And that’s my daughter.”
Grace opened the back door.
“What are you talking about?”
All three of us stopped.
Her eyes moved between us.
“What happened?”
Daniel put his phone away.
“Nothing.”
Grace laughed.
“There it is again.”
“Grace—”
“Protecting me with lies.”
She held out her hand.
“Give me the phone.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Dad.”
He gave it to her.
Grace read the article.
Her face went pale.
“That’s him?”
I nodded.
“My biological father?”
“Yes.”
“He’s alive.”
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
“You said you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t.”
“Did you ever look?”
The question hurt.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid he’d look back.”
She stared at the photograph.
“Does he know where I am?”
“No.”
Daniel and I answered at the same time.
Michael stayed silent.
Grace noticed.
She looked at him.
“Do you know something?”
“No.”
Too fast.
My stomach tightened.
“Michael.”
“I said no.”
Grace stared at him.
Then her gaze shifted toward his phone lying on the counter.
A notification lit the screen.
LINDA.
I couldn’t read the entire message.
Only the first line.
Did you tell Emily about the man who—
Michael grabbed the phone.
I moved faster.
“What did that say?”
“Nothing.”
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Michael.”
“This is insane.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“If there’s something involving Grace—”
“There isn’t.”
“Then show her.”
Michael glared at him.
“You don’t tell me what to do.”
I held out my hand.
“Your mother knows something about a man.”
“She means Daniel.”
“No.”
I saw it in his eyes.
Fear again.
“What did Linda do?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you do?”
“Emily, enough.”
I snatched the phone.
He grabbed my wrist.
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“Let her go.”
Michael released me immediately.
“Everybody calm down.”
I opened Linda’s message thread.
My hands started shaking.
There were dozens of messages.
Most about money.
Mom: I took another 300. She noticed.
Michael: Tell her you needed groceries if she asks.
Mom: She keeps counting the envelope.
Michael: I’ll replace it after Friday.
Mom: Friday came and went.
Then another.
Mom: She put a lock on the drawer.
Michael: Spare key is in her desk.
I felt physically sick.
“You gave her the location of the spare key.”
Michael said nothing.
I kept scrolling.
Then I found a message from three weeks earlier.
Mom: That man called again.
Michael: What man?
Mom: The one asking about Emily.
Michael: RYAN?
The room went cold.
Grace whispered, “What?”
I kept reading.
Mom: Yes. He called the house number.
Michael: What did he want?
Mom: Asked if she still lived here.
Michael: What did you say?
Mom: Nothing useful.
Michael: DO NOT give him our address.
Mom: I’m not stupid.
I looked up.
“You knew Ryan was looking for me.”
Michael’s face drained.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“I didn’t know if it was really him.”
“Three weeks.”
“I was trying to verify it.”
“How?”
He hesitated.
My skin crawled.
“How, Michael?”
“I hired someone.”
“A private investigator?”
“Yes.”
“With what money?”
No answer.
I laughed once.
“Oh my God.”
Daniel swore.
“The stolen money.”
“I used my own money too.”
“It’s all our money!”
Grace looked confused.
“Why would Ryan be looking for her now?”
No one answered.
Then Daniel took the phone and read more.
His expression changed.
“There’s another message.”
I turned.
He read it aloud.
“Mom: Investigator called. Ryan knows about the adoption.”
My lungs stopped working.
Grace’s face went white.
“What?”
I grabbed the phone.
The next text from Michael:
How?
Linda:
Apparently someone contacted him.
Michael:
Who?
Linda:
No idea.
Michael:
Does he know her name?
Linda:
Investigator thinks yes.
Grace sat down hard.
Daniel put a hand on her shoulder.
“We’re leaving.”
“Dad—”
“Now.”
I agreed.
“Yes.”
Grace stared at me.
“What about you?”
My heart twisted.
“I’ll be okay.”
“Come with us.”
Michael’s head snapped up.
“What?”
Grace looked at him.
“She shouldn’t stay here.”
“This is her home.”
“She doesn’t look safe.”
Michael stared at her.
Then at me.
“Emily, tell her.”
I looked around the kitchen.
The house we bought six years earlier.
The kitchen I painted twice because Michael hated the first color.
The table where we ate anniversary dinners.
The refrigerator covered in vacation magnets.
The doorway where Linda had smiled while holding my biggest secret.
Suddenly it didn’t feel like home.
“I’m leaving tonight.”
Michael’s face collapsed.
“Emily.”
“I need space.”
“Don’t do this.”
“You stole from me.”
“My mother—”
“You arranged it.”
“I was desperate.”
“You blocked Daniel.”
“You hid Grace.”
“You threatened him.”
“I was scared.”
“You knew Ryan was searching for me.”
“I was trying to protect you!”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
He shouted.
“Because I knew you would react like this!”
I froze.
“So it’s my fault.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s always fear with you, Michael. Fear made you lie. Fear made you steal. Fear made you control my phone calls. Fear made you threaten Daniel.”
I picked up my purse.
“And somehow every time you’re afraid, I’m the one who pays.”
He stepped toward me.
“Don’t walk out.”
I backed away.
“Don’t touch me.”
His face crumpled.
“I love you.”
I wanted those words to matter.
Seven years ago, they would have.
Yesterday, they would have.
Now they sounded like another thing he used when the truth stopped working.
I went upstairs to pack.
Grace followed me.
I opened a suitcase.
For a minute neither of us spoke.
Then she said, “I’m sorry.”
I stopped.
“For what?”
“Coming here.”
I turned toward her.
“No.”
“Everything exploded.”
“It was already broken.”
She stared at me.
“I just didn’t know.”
Her eyes filled.
“Is that what happened when I was born?”
“What?”
“Was everything already broken?”
I sat beside her on the bed.
“Yes.”
“And I just arrived in the middle of it?”
“Yes.”
She nodded slowly.
“Then maybe neither of us caused as much as we think.”
I started crying.
Grace did too.
For one second, I thought she might hug me.
Instead, she reached over and squeezed my hand.
It was enough.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I stared at it.
Every instinct in my body screamed not to answer.
Grace saw my face.
“What?”
I answered.
“Hello?”
A man breathed on the other end.
Then he said my name.
“Emily.”
Sixteen years disappeared in a single second.
I knew that voice.
Older.
Rougher.
But I knew it.
Ryan.
“You’ve been hard to find.”
May you like
I couldn’t move.
Then he said, “I think it’s time I meet my daughter.”
