Chapter 9
Lily watched Leonard Price’s confession twice.
No one interrupted.
The old man described altered dates.
False witnesses.
Forged signatures.
He described Robert personally delivering documents connected to Anna’s daughter.
He described Thomas Hale being told Anna had abandoned the baby permanently.
When the video ended, Lily looked at Robert.
“You lied to my parents too.”
Robert’s face remained controlled.
“I made sure you had a stable home.”
Lily stared at him.
“That wasn’t your decision.”
“You had a mother who could barely care for herself.”
Anna flinched.
Nathan stepped forward.
“Stop.”
Robert ignored him.
He looked only at Lily.
“Your adoptive parents gave you everything Anna couldn’t.”
Lily’s eyes filled.
“And you still told them she disappeared voluntarily.”
“They did not need the chaos.”
Anna whispered, “You took my daughter.”
Robert finally looked at her.
“No.”
His tone was almost bored.
“Child services took your daughter.”
“You made sure I couldn’t get her back.”
“You were drinking.”
“I got sober.”
“You relapsed.”
“And got sober again.”
Robert’s jaw tightened.
“You were unstable.”
Anna walked toward him.
Nathan tensed.
She stopped inches from Robert.
“You beat me.”
He looked away.
“You took my son.”
Silence.
“You paid people to tell him I was dead.”
Nothing.
“You used my worst days as permission to destroy every good day I had after them.”
Robert’s expression flickered.
Anna continued.
“And when I had another child, you took her too.”
“I saved her.”
Anna slapped him.
The sound cracked through the office.
Nobody moved.
Robert slowly turned back.
A red mark spread across his cheek.
Anna was shaking.
“I waited twenty-four years to do that.”
Lily’s mouth almost twitched.
Nathan saw it.
So did Anna.
For one strange second, something like family existed between them.
Then the elevator opened.
Charles Whitmore stepped out with two police officers.
Emily stared.
“Dad?”
His face was bruised.
A bandage covered his forehead.
He looked at Susan, who had arrived with police downstairs and now stepped out behind him.
Charles stopped when he saw her.
“Susan.”
She didn’t answer.
Robert laughed.
“Look who found his courage.”
Charles looked at Nathan.
“I gave them a statement.”
Robert’s smile vanished.
“What?”
Charles continued.
“Everything.”
Emily stared at her father.
“Why?”
He looked at her.
“Because I watched you look at me today the way I spent thirty years pretending your mother didn’t look at me.”
Susan lowered her eyes.
Charles swallowed.
“And I finally understood what I had become.”
Robert stepped toward him.
“You pathetic coward.”
Charles almost laughed.
“You kept files on me.”
“Yes.”
“You recorded me.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened my wife.”
Robert shrugged.
“You helped me.”
“I did.”
Charles looked at the officers.
“And I will answer for it.”
Emily began crying.
Charles looked at her.
“I don’t expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
He flinched.
Emily continued.
“Because I don’t have any.”
Charles nodded.
“I know.”
Nathan watched.
It was the first accountable thing he had seen any guilty person do all day.
Robert looked around the office.
Anna.
Nathan.
Lily.
Emily.
Susan.
Charles.
Police.
Everyone he had controlled.
Standing outside his control.
His face finally cracked.
“You all think you’re better than me.”
Nathan spoke.
“No.”
Robert looked at him.
Nathan stepped forward.
“I think we’re done being afraid of you.”
Police approached Robert.
One officer said, “Robert Cole, we need you to come with us for questioning regarding unlawful imprisonment, burglary, fraud, and several other matters.”
Robert laughed.
“Questioning?”
He looked at Nathan.
“This will destroy the company.”
Nathan said nothing.
“Thousands of people depend on me.”
Nathan finally answered.
“No. Thousands of people work there.”
Robert’s eyes narrowed.
“There’s a difference.”
“Exactly.”
They escorted Robert toward the elevator.
He stopped beside Nathan.
His voice dropped.
“You think Anna is going to fix what’s wrong inside you?”
Nathan stared.
Robert continued.
“She missed your entire life.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“She will disappoint you.”
Anna heard him.
Robert smiled.
“People always do.”
Nathan looked at his father.
Then said quietly:
“That doesn’t mean you get to own them.”
Robert’s face hardened.
The elevator closed.
For a long time, nobody spoke.
Lily finally looked at Anna.
“What happens now?”
Anna wiped her tears.
“Whatever you want.”
Lily frowned.
“You’re not going to ask me to call you Mom?”
“No.”
“You’re not going to tell me I belong with you?”
“No.”
Lily looked almost confused.
Anna smiled sadly.
“You already had parents.”
Lily’s eyes filled.
“They were good.”
“I’m glad.”
“My mom made terrible pancakes.”
Anna laughed through tears.
“So did I.”
Lily smiled despite herself.
“My dad cried at every movie.”
Anna nodded.
“David did too.”
Lily’s expression changed.
“My biological father?”
“Yes.”
“What was he like?”
Anna looked toward the city lights.
“Kind.”
Lily waited.
Anna continued.
“He loved old motorcycles, hated olives, and sang badly when he cooked.”
Lily laughed softly.
“I hate olives.”
Anna started crying again.
Nathan looked away to give them the dignity of the moment.
Emily slipped her hand into his.
He held it.
Hours later, police released the office.
Everyone went separate directions.
Lily asked for time.
Anna said yes.
Susan went with Emily to a hotel.
Charles went with investigators.
Diane called repeatedly.
Nathan didn’t answer.
At three in the morning, he and Emily returned to their apartment.
Wedding gifts filled the living room.
Champagne waited unopened.
A sign on the wall read:
MR. & MRS. COLE
Emily stared at it.
Then started laughing.
Nathan looked at her.
“What?”
She laughed harder.
Then cried at the same time.
“This is the worst wedding night in human history.”
Nathan stared at her.
Then he laughed too.
It hurt.
But it felt good.
Emily kicked off her shoes.
“I hate this dress.”
Nathan smiled faintly.
“You looked beautiful.”
She stopped.
He looked at her.
“You did.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“Nate.”
He stepped closer.
“I’m still angry.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know when that changes.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want our marriage to become another thing our fathers arranged.”
Emily nodded.
“Then we choose it ourselves.”
Nathan looked at the wedding band on his hand.
“How?”
Emily took hers off.
Nathan’s chest tightened.
Then she placed it on the table.
“Tomorrow, or next week, or six months from now, if you still want me, ask me again.”
Nathan stared.
“You want an annulment?”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“I want the opposite.”
He frowned.
“I want to know that when we keep these rings, it’s because we chose them after we knew the truth.”
Nathan’s throat tightened.
He removed his ring.
Placed it beside hers.
Then took her hand.
“I love you.”
Emily began crying.
“I love you too.”
They slept on the couch holding hands.
At eight, Nathan woke to forty-seven missed calls.
News alerts filled his phone.
ROBERT COLE QUESTIONED IN FRAUD INVESTIGATION.
COLE DEVELOPMENT BOARD CALLS EMERGENCY MEETING.
ALLEGED FAMILY COVER-UP SPANS DECADES.
Then one message stopped him.
From Diane.
Please come to the hospital.
Nathan sat up.
Emily opened her eyes.
“What happened?”
He showed her.
They drove there immediately.
Diane sat in a waiting room.
Her eyes were swollen.
Nathan stopped in front of her.
“Who’s hurt?”
Diane stood.
“Robert.”
Nathan stared.
“What happened?”
“He collapsed during questioning.”
Nathan’s emotions tangled.
Fear.
Anger.
Guilt for feeling fear.
Diane continued.
“They think it was a heart attack.”
Emily touched Nathan’s arm.
Diane whispered, “He asked for you.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“Of course he did.”
“You don’t have to go.”
Nathan stared through the doors.
His father.
The man who raised him.
The man who lied to him.
The man who taught him to ride a bike.
The man who erased his mother.
The man who sat beside his bed when he had the flu.
The man who destroyed lives.
Both things could be true.
That was the worst part.
Nathan walked into the room.
Robert looked small in the hospital bed.
Monitors beeped.
He opened his eyes.
“Nathan.”
Nathan remained near the door.
Robert smiled weakly.
“You came.”
“Don’t make this sentimental.”
Robert’s smile faded.
Nathan continued.
“If you’re expecting forgiveness because you almost died, you’re going to be disappointed.”
Robert looked toward the window.
“I didn’t almost die.”
“Congratulations.”
Robert laughed painfully.
For a moment, Nathan remembered being fourteen.
His father laughing at a bad joke.
Then Robert said, “The doctors think stress triggered it.”
Nathan stared.
“You want sympathy?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Robert looked at him.
“There is one thing I never lied about.”
Nathan folded his arms.
“What?”
“That I loved you.”
Nathan’s eyes burned.
“You don’t get to call what you did love.”
Robert flinched.
“I was afraid she would take you.”
“So you destroyed her.”
“Yes.”
The admission stunned Nathan.
Robert closed his eyes.
“At first I told myself it was temporary.”
Nathan said nothing.
“I thought Anna would stabilize. I thought we would negotiate.”
“But?”
“She fought me.”
Nathan almost laughed.
Robert opened his eyes.
“Every time she fought, I pushed harder.”
“And Lily?”
Robert looked away.
“That was revenge.”
Nathan felt physically sick.
Robert whispered, “I knew it then.”
Nathan took a step backward.
“You knew you were hurting her.”
“Yes.”
“And did it anyway.”
“Yes.”
Nathan nodded slowly.
“Thank you.”
Robert looked confused.
“For what?”
“For finally telling the truth without pretending it was noble.”
Nathan turned toward the door.
Robert called after him.
“Nathan.”
He stopped.
“There’s one more thing.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
There was always one more thing.
“What?”
Robert looked frightened.
“The missing pages from the ledger.”
Nathan turned.
Robert continued.
“I didn’t take them.”
Nathan stared.
“Then who did?”
Robert swallowed.
“Your grandmother.”
“Why?”
“Because the last pages weren’t about me.”
Nathan’s pulse quickened.
“Who were they about?”
Robert looked toward the hallway.
Where Diane waited.
May you like
Then he whispered:
“My sister.”
