PART 9

Alyssa looked at me.

Her expression changed.

“You.”

I didn’t understand.

“What?”

“You knew.”

“No.”

“You knew this was going to happen.”

“I didn’t.”

“You found something in Dad’s study.”

I froze.

She noticed.

“You did.”

Vivian turned sharply toward me.

“What did you find?”

I said nothing.

Alyssa stood.

“You knew Dad left something for you.”

“I found photographs.”

“What photographs?”

“Of me.”

Alyssa’s face twisted.

“That’s all?”

“No.”

I hesitated.

“I found a letter.”

Vivian’s breathing changed.

“What letter?”

I looked at her.

“The one he wrote to me.”

Her face went completely white.

“You read it?”

“Yes.”

“What did it say?”

I held her gaze.

“He said he was sorry.”

Vivian’s mouth tightened.

“For what?”

“For believing your lies.”

The room exploded.

“You ungrateful—”

Vivian lunged toward me.

Mr. Bennett stood immediately.

“Mrs. Harper.”

She stopped.

I had never seen Vivian look frightened before.

Not when Dad left for business trips.

Not when I moved away.

Not when I confronted her at seventeen.

But now she looked terrified.

Because she knew something.

Something I didn’t.

Mr. Bennett slowly returned to his chair.

“There is one final document.”

He placed a second envelope on the table.

“This one was delivered to my office three weeks before William’s death.”

He looked at me.

“It was addressed to Candace.”

My fingers went cold.

“Why didn’t you give it to me?”

“Because your father instructed me not to release it until after the DNA results were verified.”

I stared at the envelope.

My name was written across the front.

CANDACE HARPER

Dad’s handwriting. I reached for it.But before I could touch it, Vivian said:

“Don’t.”

Everyone looked at her.

She seemed to realize what she’d done.

Alyssa slowly turned toward her.

“Why?”

Vivian said nothing.

Alyssa’s voice became quieter. “Why shouldn’t she open it?”

“I said don’t.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

Vivian looked at Mr. Bennett.

“You promised me.”

He frowned.

“I promised to follow your husband’s instructions.”

“You know what he wanted.”

“I do.”

“Then you know he didn’t want this.”

Mr. Bennett leaned back.

“Actually, Mrs. Harper, I think he wanted exactly this.”

Vivian’s eyes filled with tears.

I reached for the envelope.

My hands were shaking.

I opened it.

Inside was one handwritten letter.

Three pages.

I unfolded the first page.

My eyes landed on the opening line.

My dearest Candace,

I stopped breathing.

Then I read.

If you’re reading this, then either I finally found the courage to tell you the truth, or I ran out of time.

My vision blurred.

I continued.

There is something I should have told you eighteen years ago. Something I should have told you before you walked out of this house.

I looked up.

Vivian was crying now.

Not quietly.

Tears ran down her face.

Alyssa stared at her.

“What did you do?”

Vivian shook her head.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen this way.”

I lowered my eyes to the letter.

You were never the child I had to feel sorry for. You were the child I was afraid to lose.

My throat tightened.

Your mother did not abandon you. I did not rescue you. And you were never an outsider.

I stopped.

The room disappeared around me.

There was only Dad’s handwriting.

Only his words.

Only the truth he’d been carrying for years.

Then I reached the sentence that changed everything.

The woman you called your stepmother was not the reason you believed you were unwanted. She was the person who helped make sure you believed it.

I looked at Vivian.

She covered her face.

Alyssa whispered:

“Mom…”

I kept reading.

But there is something else you must know about Alyssa.

My hands went numb.

Alyssa was born nine months after Vivian told me she was pregnant. I believed she was mine because I loved her. But after years of doubts, I learned the truth.

I looked at Alyssa.

She was crying silently.

Dad’s letter continued.

I am not Alyssa’s biological father.

Alyssa covered her mouth.

I read the next line.

And neither of you knows the whole truth about who your mother was before she met me.

I stopped.

Vivian whispered:

“Please.”

I looked at her.

“What does that mean?”

She shook her head.

“Please don’t read the rest.”

I turned back to the letter.

There were only a few paragraphs left.

The man who is Alyssa’s biological father is still alive.

Alyssa suddenly looked up.

“What?”

I kept reading.

And he has been closer to this family than you realize.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

I looked around the room.

Dad had spent eleven years preparing this.

He had gathered records.

Moved assets.

Saved letters.

And apparently discovered something that could destroy more than one marriage.

I read the final paragraph.

Candace, I am sorry I waited so long. I was afraid that if I exposed the truth, you would be hurt again. But I now understand that protecting a lie only gives the lie more time to hurt you.

Then the final sentence.

Ask Vivian who was in the delivery room the night Alyssa was born.

CONTINUE FOR NEXT PART….