CHAPTER 23 — THE FATHER LILY NEVER KNEW
They hid inside a fishing cabin north of the estate.
Lily slept beside Mason, who had suffered two fractured ribs protecting her from the explosion.
Claire sat across from Margaret.
“Tell me why my father tried to kill you.”
“He believed I had joined Sarah.”
“Had you?”
“For a time.”
Margaret unfolded a surviving page from the ledger.
“I helped create false medical files for Vane descendants. We needed evidence that Gray Tide had used fraudulent diagnoses to steal their property.”
“You helped Sarah build the same system she later used against us.”
“Yes.”
The admission seemed to age her.
“When I tried to destroy the program, Peter discovered what we had done. He believed Sarah had already replaced me.”
“Replaced you?”
“Gray Tide created doubles for witnesses, executives, even family members. Peter no longer knew whom to trust.”
“So he ran your car off the road?”
“He forced it off the road to stop me from reaching Sarah. The gasoline was meant to destroy the files in my trunk.”
“He let me believe you were dead.”
“I asked him to.”
Claire rose from the table.
“Every person in my life decided lying to me was protection.”
Lily appeared in the doorway.
She had heard enough to understand that another secret had been revealed.
“Mommy?”
Claire wiped her face.
“What is it?”
“Detective Cole wants to leave.”
Cole waited outside near the water.
Claire joined him.
“I cannot stay near Lily,” he said.
“She is not a threat to you.”
“I am a threat to her.”
“You did not choose what Sarah did.”
“That does not change the result.”
Claire studied him.
“Do you want to know her?”
Cole looked through the window.
Lily was helping Elaine replace Mason’s bandage. She spoke seriously while Mason pretended not to be in pain.
“I spent my life believing my mother abandoned me,” Cole said. “Now I know she created me for a purpose.”
“You are more than that purpose.”
“So is Lily.”
Claire handed him the paternity report.
“You are biologically connected to her. That does not give you the right to take Mason’s place or mine.”
“I know.”
“But it gives you a responsibility to help protect her.”
Lily opened the cabin door.
She approached Cole with a folded drawing.
It showed herself holding Claire’s hand.
Mason stood on one side.
Cole stood on the other.
“I don’t know where to put you,” she said.
Cole crouched.
“You do not have to put me anywhere.”
“Are you my real dad?”
“I am one of the people whose blood helped make you.”
“That sounds weird.”
“It is.”
“Mason is still my daddy.”
Cole glanced toward the cabin.
“I know.”
Lily handed him the picture.
“You can be Aaron.”
For the first time, Cole smiled.
Rebecca interrupted through the radio.
“I found Peter Bennett.”
Claire grabbed the receiver.
“Where?”
“Lake Emery Medical Retreat. He has been receiving neurological treatment under the name Paul Barrett.”
“How recently?”
“A hospital bill was signed three days ago.”
“By Sarah?”
“No.”
Rebecca sent the signature.
Claire recognized her father’s handwriting.
Beneath the signature, Peter had added a message disguised as a billing note:
CLAIRE MUST NOT TRUST THE WOMAN WHO SURVIVED THE CRASH.
Claire turned toward Margaret.
Her mother was no longer inside the cabin.
The back door stood open.
On the table, she had left the damaged photograph of Peter.
May you like
Across his face, Margaret had written four words.
HE IS NOT YOUR FATHER.
