Chapter 9: The Father I Never Knew
The question followed me home.
Why did my father choose me?
I had spent years believing he left because he didn’t care.
But now every secret pointed toward something different.
Maybe he had been trying to protect something.
Maybe he had been trying to protect me.
Or maybe I was just desperate to believe that.
That night, Emily sat across from me at my kitchen table.
The same table where I had helped her with homework.
The same table where she had once cried because she thought she failed a math test.
Now she was eighteen.
And we were strangers trying to find our way back.
“I’m sorry.””
I looked up.
She stared at her hands.
“For what?””
“For yesterday.””
I knew exactly what she meant.
The roses.
The pictures.
The words.
But I didn’t want her to apologize because she felt guilty.
“I need you to understand something,” I said.
She looked at me.
“What?””
“I never raised you because I thought I would get anything.””
Her eyes filled.
“I know.””
“No.””
I shook my head.
“You need to know.””
I leaned forward.
“When I first met you, you were three years old. You had a pink jacket with a broken zipper. You hated vegetables. You cried every time your mom left the room.””
A small smile appeared.
“You remember that?””
“I remember everything.””
I looked at the photo on the refrigerator.
“You weren’t a responsibility.””
My voice softened.
“You were my daughter.””
Emily wiped her tears.
“Even now?””
The question hurt.
But I answered immediately.
“Especially now.””
She cried quietly.
And for the first time in days, I saw the Emily I knew.
Not the angry teenager.
Not the confused girl caught between adults.
My Emily.
Then my phone rang.
It was an unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?””
A woman’s voice spoke.
“Is this Michael?””
“Yes.””
“My name is Laura Bennett. I was your father’s attorney.””
I sat up.
“My father had an attorney?””
“Yes.””
Emily looked at me.
The woman continued.
“There is something your father instructed me to deliver only after certain conditions were met.””
“What conditions?””
A pause.
“Emily turning eighteen.””
My heart raced.
“What is it?””
“I have a package for you.””
“Can you tell me what’s inside?””
Another pause.
“No.””
That worried me.
“But I can tell you this.””
I waited.
“Your father knew Richard would return.””
I froze.
Emily noticed my expression.
“What did she say?””
I covered the phone.
“Hold on.””
Then I returned.
“How did my father know?””
The attorney’s voice lowered.
“Because Richard told him.””
My blood ran cold.
“What?””
“Seventeen years ago, Richard threatened legal action over Emily’s inheritance.””
I stood.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?””
“Because your father made a decision.””
“What decision?””
“He decided to let Richard believe he had won.””
I stared at the wall.
That made no sense.
Unless…
Unless my father had planned something.
The attorney continued.
“Michael, there is one more thing.””
“What?””
“The package contains a recording.””
“A recording of what?””
Her answer came quietly.
“A conversation between your father and Richard.””
I stopped breathing.
“From when?””
“Two weeks before your father died.””
Emily stood.
“Michael?””
I looked at her.
The attorney gave me the address.
Then she said the words that changed everything.
“Your father wanted you to hear Richard’s confession yourself.””
The call ended.
Emily looked at me.
“What confession?””
I grabbed my jacket.
“I don’t know.””
“But we’re going to find out.””
As we walked toward the door, my phone buzzed again.
This time, it was a message.
From Richard.
One sentence.
*You should listen carefully before you trust a dead man’s story.*
I stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
A photo.
My father.
Richard.
And Sarah.
Together.
The date was seventeen years ago.
The day before Richard disappeared.
May you like
And beneath the photo was a caption:
*Ask Sarah what happened that night.*
