Chapter 3: The Voice From The Past
I didn’t move.
The phone continued ringing.
Ryan stood behind me, frozen.
Vanessa watched both of us like she was waiting for the final piece of a puzzle to fall into place.
My father had been gone for three years.
I had attended his funeral.
I had held his hand when the doctors told us there was nothing more they could do.
I had watched them lower his casket into the ground.
Yet my phone said his name.
Dad.
The ringing stopped.
A second later, a voicemail appeared.
I looked at Ryan.
“What is this?””
He didn’t answer.
That was enough.
I pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then a voice.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakable.
“Emily…”
My knees almost gave out.
I grabbed the edge of the nightstand.
“Emily, if you’re hearing this, it means Ryan failed to keep his promise.””
I looked at Ryan.
He closed his eyes.
My father’s voice continued.
“I didn’t want you involved. I wanted to protect you.””
My heart pounded.
“Protect me from what?””
The voicemail continued.
“Your husband knows what happened the night before my accident.””
I stopped breathing.
My father’s accident.
The one Ryan told me was just bad weather and bad timing.
The one nobody questioned.
I looked at my husband.
“What did you do?””
Ryan stepped forward.
“Emily, please.””
“No.””
I backed away.
“You knew about this?””
His silence answered me.
Vanessa spoke softly.
“Ryan wasn’t supposed to marry you.””
I looked at her.
“What?””
She swallowed.
“I know how it sounds.””
“It sounds like you know something about my life that I don’t.””
She nodded.
“Because I do.””
Ryan suddenly grabbed the phone from my hand.
I reacted immediately.
“What are you doing?””
“Emily, you need to calm down.””
The words made me angry.
Calm down.
That was what people said when they wanted you to stop asking questions.
I reached for the phone.
He stepped back.
And for the first time, I saw him differently.
Not as my husband.
Not as the man who kissed me goodbye every morning.
I saw someone who had been guarding a secret.
A dangerous one.
“Give me my phone.””
Ryan’s voice softened.
“Emily, please. I can explain everything.””
“Then explain.””
He looked at Vanessa.
She shook her head.
“Tell her the truth.””
Ryan closed his eyes.
“I knew your father before I met you.””
My stomach twisted.
“What?””
“He hired me.””
“For what?””
Ryan looked at the floor.
“To help with his company.””
I waited.
But I knew there was more.
“There’s more.””
He swallowed.
“Your father discovered someone was stealing from him.””
“Who?””
Ryan didn’t answer.
Vanessa did.
“Your father thought it was me.””
My eyes widened.
“Then why are you here?””
Vanessa looked at Ryan.
“Because I found proof that I wasn’t the person who betrayed him.””
The room became silent.
I looked at the document in my hand.
The hidden drawer.
The affair.
The voicemail.
Everything felt connected.
“Ryan.””
He looked at me.
“Why was my father’s message hidden in our bedroom?””
His face changed.
And that was when I knew.
Whatever he had hidden was worse than cheating.
Much worse.
He walked toward the closet.
Slowly.
Then he reached behind a row of jackets.
And pulled out a small black box.
My heart raced.
“What is that?””
Ryan looked at me.
His eyes were full of regret.
“This is the reason your father died.””
I stared at the box.
And before he opened it, I saw something engraved on the top.
A name.
Not mine.
Not Ryan’s.
May you like
Someone else’s.
Someone I had trusted for years.
