Chapter 8
Victoria dropped to her knees.
“Catherine.”
The elderly woman looked at her sister without warmth.
“You look old.”
Victoria laughed through a sob.
“So do you.”
Catherine’s mouth twitched.
It might have been a smile.
Then she looked at Daniel.
My brother could not move.
“Daniel?”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
She held out her hand.
He stepped closer.
She touched his face.
“You have your father’s eyes.”
Daniel flinched.
Catherine noticed.
“So did you,” he said.
She nodded.
“I learned to live with that.”
Rebecca stood near the door, crying silently.
Catherine looked at her.
“Rebecca.”
My sister covered her mouth.
“You know me?”
“I know all of you.”
Her eyes moved to me.
Then stopped.
“And Emily.”
I swallowed.
“I’m not your daughter.”
Catherine’s expression softened.
“No.”
The word hurt more than it should have.
Then she continued.
“But you were my child once.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“I fed you. Held you. Walked the floor when you had colic.”
Victoria started crying harder.
Catherine ignored her.
“You were eleven months old when I learned who your mother was.”
I glanced toward Victoria.
“And you still wanted to take me when you left Dad?”
Catherine nodded.
“You were a baby.”
Her voice sharpened.
“None of what they did was your fault.”
Dad stood at the end of the hallway.
He looked almost bored.
“This reunion is touching.”
Catherine’s face changed.
“Thomas.”
He smiled.
“My love.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Marcus moved toward him.
Dad raised one hand.
“Careful.”
Marcus stopped.
I didn’t see a weapon.
That made it worse.
Dad looked at Sarah.
“You were supposed to keep Catherine comfortable.”
Sarah laughed.
“You mean quiet?”
“I gave her excellent care.”
“You kept her locked away.”
“She needed protection.”
Catherine snorted.
“From sunlight?”
Noah clung to Sarah.
Daniel kept one arm around both of them.
I looked at Dad.
“Why did you tell everyone Catherine died?”
“I didn’t.”
Marcus said, “Your company paid the facility that reported her death.”
“Not my company.”
“One of eleven shells.”
Dad smiled.
“You’ve been busy.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
Catherine leaned back in her chair.
“Thomas likes technical truths.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“He won’t say he killed anyone because he usually pays other people to make problems disappear.”
Dad’s expression remained calm.
“You always were dramatic.”
“You poisoned me.”
Victoria whispered, “Catherine.”
Catherine looked at her.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You knew.”
Victoria shook her head.
“I didn’t know for sure.”
“You saw the bottles.”
“I was nineteen!”
“You were twenty-seven.”
Victoria stopped.
Another lie.
I stared at her.
“You said you had an affair with Dad for two years.”
She looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Catherine says you were twenty-seven.”
“I was.”
“How old were you when I was born?”
“Twenty-eight.”
I did the math.
“Then you weren’t a teenager trapped by some older man.”
Victoria looked ashamed.
“No.”
“You chose him.”
“Yes.”
Catherine’s voice was cold.
“She chose him many times.”
Dad sighed.
“Are we really doing this?”
I turned on him.
“Yes.”
He looked almost amused.
“Fine.”
He walked into the room and sat in an armchair.
“No police are coming.”
Rebecca pulled out her phone.
No signal.
Dad nodded.
“The property is blocked.”
Marcus muttered, “Jammer.”
Dad spread his hands.
“So talk.”
Catherine stared at him.
“You think you still control the room.”
“I own the room.”
“No.”
Sarah looked at him.
“You sold it three months ago.”
Dad’s smile vanished.
Sarah continued.
“You didn’t know?”
Marcus looked impressed.
“What did you do?”
Sarah’s eyes never left Dad.
“I transferred seven of his shell properties.”
Dad stood.
“To who?”
“A trust.”
“What trust?”
“The Catherine Carter Recovery Trust.”
Catherine smiled.
“For someone who controls everything, Thomas, you sign documents without reading them surprisingly often.”
Dad’s face reddened.
“You forged my signature.”
Sarah shook her head.
“No.”
“Then how?”
“Your attorney signed under power you gave him.”
Dad froze.
Marcus laughed.
“Harold?”
Sarah nodded.
Dad’s eyes narrowed.
“You found Harold.”
“He found me.”
Daniel stared at his wife.
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
Sarah finally looked at him.
“Because I didn’t know if you were part of it.”
His face broke.
“I would never—”
“I know that now.”
“How?”
“When your father’s people took me, you came back to Atlanta.”
Daniel looked confused.
“You knew?”
“I heard.”
“From who?”
Catherine raised one hand.
“Me.”
Daniel stared.
“You communicated with Sarah?”
“She was kept in the room beside mine for two weeks.”
Sarah nodded.
“We spoke through the vent.”
Dad’s voice turned cold.
“That was a mistake.”
Catherine smiled.
“Many of yours were.”
I looked between them.
“Why is Catherine here now?”
Sarah answered.
“Because Thomas moved her.”
“Why?”
“He knew I discovered the facility.”
Dad interrupted.
“You discovered nothing.”
Sarah glared at him.
“I discovered records proving Catherine was never legally declared dead.”
Marcus laughed.
“That’s why there’s no death certificate.”
“There is one,” Victoria said.
Sarah shook her head.
“There’s a forged one.”
Catherine looked at Victoria.
“You signed it.”
Victoria went white.
I turned.
“What?”
She stared at the floor.
“I was told Catherine had died.”
“And you signed paperwork?”
“I identified her.”
“You saw a body?”
“No.”
“Then what did you identify?”
“A photograph.”
Catherine’s face showed pure disgust.
“You wanted to believe I was gone.”
Victoria broke.
“Yes!”
We all went silent.
She sobbed.
“Yes. I wanted it to be over.”
She looked at Catherine.
“I loved your husband. Then I hated him. Then I spent twenty years terrified of him.”
She turned to us.
“I raised three children who reminded me every day of what I had done.”
Rebecca whispered, “That’s why you treated Daniel differently.”
Victoria looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You spent my childhood acting like everything I did disappointed you.”
“You looked exactly like Thomas.”
“So you punished me for his face?”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
Dad watched all of this with a strange calm.
I hated him for it.
“You caused this.”
He looked at me.
“I caused you.”
I felt sick.
“You think that makes you my father?”
“I am your father.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You contributed DNA.”
His face tightened.
“Victoria turned you against me before you ever met me.”
“She lied to me for my whole life.”
“Exactly.”
“And you kidnapped Noah.”
“To bring you here.”
“You imprisoned Sarah.”
“To stop her from destroying businesses that support hundreds of employees.”
“You imprisoned Catherine.”
“To keep her alive.”
Catherine laughed.
“You poisoned me for years.”
Dad looked at her.
“I treated you.”
“With what?”
“You were unstable.”
“I was leaving you.”
“You were taking my children.”
“Our children.”
“And Emily.”
The room went quiet.
Dad looked at me.
“She wasn’t yours.”
Catherine’s answer came immediately.
“She was a baby.”
Something in Dad’s face cracked.
A flash of anger.
For the first time, I saw what Catherine must have known for decades.
Control mattered more to him than love.
If a person belonged to someone else, he could not tolerate it.
“You took all of them,” he said.
Catherine shook her head.
“Victoria took them.”
“At your request.”
“Yes.”
“And you disappeared.”
“You put me in a clinic.”
“You were sick.”
“You made me sick.”
Dad stood.
“Enough.”
Marcus stepped between him and the door.
“No.”
Dad smiled at his brother.
“You still think you’re the righteous one?”
“I know what I am.”
“Do they?”
Marcus’s expression changed.
I noticed.
Dad did too.
He looked at me.
“Ask Uncle Marcus who drove your father’s truck the night everyone thought I died.”
I stared at Marcus.
“What?”
Marcus said nothing.
Dad continued.
“The body burned beyond recognition.”
“There was no body,” I said.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Dad smiled.
“Oh, there was a body.”
My stomach turned.
“Whose?”
Marcus whispered, “A man named Paul.”
Catherine stared at him.
“No.”
Dad nodded.
“Paul Harris. Father of two.”
Marcus’s voice broke.
“He was supposed to move the truck.”
“Tell them why.”
Marcus looked at us.
“Thomas wanted to disappear.”
“Why?”
“Federal investigators were looking into his companies.”
Dad shrugged.
“I had options.”
Marcus continued.
“He planned to abandon the truck near the highway and leave.”
“But?”
“The weather was bad. Paul lost control.”
I felt cold.
“He died?”
“Yes.”
“And everyone thought Paul was Dad?”
“Thomas arranged it.”
Dad corrected him.
“You arranged it.”
Marcus looked furious.
“I helped before Paul died.”
“You switched dental records.”
“After you threatened my family.”
Dad smiled.
“Details.”
I stared at Marcus.
“You helped fake our father’s death.”
“Yes.”
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“So literally everyone knew except us.”
Rebecca whispered, “And me.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You knew I was alive and chained my son to a fence. You don’t get to claim innocence.”
She looked away.
Noah began crying again.
Sarah crouched.
“Sweetheart.”
“I want to go home.”
Her face crumpled.
“So do I.”
Daniel knelt beside them.
“We’re leaving.”
Dad stepped toward the door.
“No one leaves yet.”
Marcus blocked him.
“What are you going to do?”
Dad looked toward the window.
Headlights appeared through the trees.
One vehicle.
Then another.
Then another.
Rebecca whispered, “His people.”
Dad smiled.
“You thought I’d come alone?”
Marcus looked at Sarah.
“How many exits?”
“Back staircase.”
Daniel lifted Noah.
“Go.”
Dad shouted, “Stop them.”
Footsteps thundered downstairs.
We moved.
Sarah pushed Catherine’s wheelchair toward the back hall.
Victoria helped.
Rebecca followed.
Marcus stayed behind.
I grabbed his sleeve.
“Come on.”
He shook his head.
“I’ll slow them.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“You’re family too.”
He looked surprised.
Maybe no one had said that to him in years.
Then a man appeared at the stairs.
Marcus tackled him.
Daniel shouted, “Emily!”
I ran.
We reached the back staircase.
Sarah opened a narrow door.
Cold evening air rushed in.
A path led into the woods.
We pushed Catherine down a ramp.
Behind us, shouting filled the house.
Then a gunshot cracked through the air.
Noah screamed.
Daniel pulled him close.
We ran harder.
Another gunshot.
Rebecca stumbled.
I grabbed her.
“Keep moving.”
Marcus emerged from the back door.
Blood covered his sleeve.
“Go!”
“Are you shot?”
“Not mine.”
He took over Catherine’s chair.
We rushed into the trees.
Dad stepped onto the porch behind us.
“EMILY!”
I turned.
He stood beneath the light.
“Don’t do this!”
I laughed through tears.
“You kidnapped a child!”
“I brought your family together!”
“You destroyed this family.”
“No.”
His voice carried through the dark.
“Catherine did.”
Catherine raised her head.
For someone so physically weak, her voice was astonishingly clear.
“Thomas.”
He looked at her.
She smiled.
“The files are already gone.”
His face changed.
“What?”
Sarah stopped.
Catherine reached into her cardigan pocket.
She pulled out a small flash drive.
Dad stared at it.
“You don’t know what’s on that.”
“No.”
She looked at Sarah.
“But she does.”
Sarah nodded.
“I sent everything.”
“To who?” Dad shouted.
Sarah looked toward the distant road.
We heard sirens.
At first faint.
Then closer.
“Federal investigators.”
Dad’s face collapsed.
Marcus started laughing.
For the first time all night, Thomas Carter looked afraid.
Men spilled from the house.
But instead of chasing us, they began running toward vehicles.
Dad screamed at them to stop.
No one listened.
The sirens grew louder.
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you.”
He kissed her forehead.
“We’re alive.”
She started crying.
“I thought I’d never see you again.”
Noah wrapped both arms around them.
Catherine watched.
Then her eyes closed.
Victoria screamed.
“Catherine?”
The wheelchair stopped.
Catherine didn’t respond.
I touched her neck.
There was a pulse.
Weak.
“She’s alive.”
Headlights appeared between the trees.
Cars stopped along the road.
Doors opened.
Voices shouted.
Dad ran from the porch toward the woods.
Marcus stepped forward.
Daniel put Noah behind him.
Dad stopped twenty feet away.
His face was wild now.
No calm.
No smile.
“You think this is over?”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
He shook his head.
“Sarah doesn’t have everything.”
Sarah stared at him.
Dad pointed toward me.
“She never found Emily’s file.”
My stomach dropped.
“What file?”
Dad smiled.
“There’s a reason Catherine shouted that I had Emily the night of the fire.”
Victoria whispered, “Thomas, don’t.”
Dad looked at me.
“You weren’t taken from me as a baby.”
I stared.
“What are you talking about?”
He smiled.
May you like
“You were given back.”
Then federal agents burst through the trees.
