Chapter 6
Thomas Hart's lake house sat two hours north of the city.
We left Lily with Claire and Daniel.
I hated leaving her.
But taking a four-year-old into whatever waited for us felt worse.
Ryan drove.
I sat beside him.
Neither of us spoke for the first hour.
Finally, I said, "Did you sleep with Rebecca?"
His hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"I don't know."
I looked out the window.
"I need better than that."
"I remember the event."
"What event?"
"My father's retirement fundraiser."
"When?"
"Five years ago."
"While we were married."
"Yes."
"Where was I?"
"Home."
"Pregnant?"
"No. Before Lily."
I turned toward him.
"And Rebecca was there."
"I remember seeing her across the ballroom."
"What else?"
Ryan's jaw tightened.
"I remember being angry."
"At her?"
"At Mom."
"Why?"
"Because Mom had told me Rebecca ran away years earlier. Rebecca said that wasn't true."
"So you talked."
"Yes."
"Then?"
"We drank."
"You expect me to believe you forgot sleeping with your former fiancée?"
"I was drunk."
"That's not an answer."
"I remember waking up in a hotel room."
My chest hurt.
"With her?"
"Alone."
"And you never told me."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I wasn't sure what happened."
"You were sure enough to hide it."
He looked toward the road.
"Yes."
I wanted to hate him.
That would have been easier.
Instead, I looked at the man I'd loved for ten years and felt like someone had replaced him with a stranger.
Maybe that was the theme of our entire life now.
Replaced babies.
Replaced memories.
Replaced truths.
The lake house appeared just after noon.
A wooden structure surrounded by tall pines.
Thomas had loved this place.
Diane hated it.
She called it primitive even though it had four bedrooms and a private dock.
Ryan unlocked the front door.
Dust floated through the sunlight.
Nothing looked disturbed.
"Where would your father hide something?"
Ryan stared around.
"He used to keep documents in his office."
The office safe was empty.
Desk drawers.
Empty.
Cabinets.
Empty.
We searched for an hour.
Nothing.
Then I remembered Rebecca's letter.
He hid evidence inside the lake house.
Not the office.
I walked into the living room.
Thomas had built most of the shelving himself.
One wall held dozens of family photographs.
Ryan as a child.
Ryan graduating.
Our wedding.
Lily as a newborn.
I stopped.
The newborn photograph showed Diane holding Lily.
I had never noticed something before.
Behind Diane, reflected in the hospital window, was Thomas.
He wasn't looking at the camera.
He was looking at Diane.
His expression was furious.
"Ryan."
He came over.
I pointed.
"Your father knew."
Ryan touched the frame.
Then it moved.
Not the photograph.
The wooden panel behind it.
He frowned.
He removed the frame.
A tiny metal latch sat behind it.
Ryan pressed it.
Part of the wall opened.
Inside was a narrow compartment.
A black waterproof case rested there.
My heart began pounding.
Ryan pulled it out.
Inside were three things.
A stack of documents.
A digital recorder.
And a sealed envelope.
TO RYAN.
His hands shook.
"Open it."
He did.
Son,
If you're reading this, I failed to tell you the truth while I was alive.
That failure belongs to me.
Not you.
Diane has built our family around secrets.
Some were mine because I allowed them to become mine.
You are not my biological son.
But you are my son in every way that ever mattered to me.
Ryan broke.
He sat on the floor.
I lowered myself beside him.
For one second, despite everything between us, I held his hand.
He kept reading.
I knew about Diane's affair before you were born.
I chose to stay.
I chose you.
Never let her use biology to convince you that love is less real.
My throat tightened.
Thomas seemed to be speaking to more than Ryan.
He was speaking to me too.
About Lily.
Ryan continued.
When Lily was born, I discovered Diane had altered hospital documentation.
She believed an incorrectly processed blood sample could expose the identity of your biological father.
She panicked.
Margaret Ellis caught her moving nursery cards.
Diane then bribed Patricia Monroe to delete nursing reports.
I obtained copies.
I planned to go to the police.
Diane threatened to destroy you, Emily, and the company if I did.
I was a coward.
I waited.
Later, Rebecca contacted me.
Together, we reconstructed most of what happened.
The girls were not switched permanently.
I repeat: Lily is Emily's biological daughter.
I gasped.
Ryan looked at me.
I started crying.
Not softly.
Not gracefully.
I covered my face and sobbed.
Lily was mine.
Biologically.
Mine.
I hadn't realized how deeply the doubt had entered me until someone finally pulled it out.
Ryan put his arms around me.
For a moment, I let him.
Then he continued.
Rebecca's daughter, Grace, was also returned correctly.
DNA testing confirmed it.
However, Diane committed serious crimes to conceal the medical records.
Bribery.
Record tampering.
Threats.
Possibly more.
I recorded a confrontation with her.
The digital recorder.
Ryan picked it up.
We turned it on.
Thomas's voice filled the room.
"Diane, sit down."
Then Diane.
"I don't answer to you."
"You moved the nursery cards."
Silence.
"You paid Patricia."
"You don't understand what was at stake."
"My granddaughter was at stake."
"No one was hurt."
"You put two newborn babies at risk."
"I fixed it."
"You created it!"
Diane's voice sharpened.
"If those blood results had remained attached to Ryan's file, everything would have come out."
"Everything should have come out years ago."
"You think Ryan wants to know his father is a criminal?"
Ryan stopped the recording.
I looked at him.
"What?"
He stared at the recorder.
Then pressed play.
Thomas spoke.
"Victor Lane isn't Ryan's father because I say so. He's Ryan's father because you told me."
Diane hissed, "Lower your voice."
Victor Lane.
The name sounded familiar.
Then I remembered.
"Ryan."
He looked at me.
"Victor Lane was your father's business partner."
Ryan nodded slowly.
"Until he went to prison."
I remembered the headlines from years ago.
Fraud.
Embezzlement.
Witness intimidation.
Victor had served almost fifteen years.
Thomas continued.
"You spent your entire life hiding that connection."
"I protected Ryan."
"You protected yourself."
"If Victor learns Ryan is his son—"
"He already knows."
Diane went silent.
So did we.
Thomas said, "He contacted me."
Diane's chair scraped.
"When?"
"Last week."
"What does he want?"
"Money."
"Of course."
"He also wants to meet Ryan."
"No."
"That isn't your decision."
"It is absolutely my decision."
Thomas's voice became tired.
"You don't own everyone."
The recording ended.
Ryan stared at the device.
"Victor is alive."
I reached for my phone.
"No signal."
Ryan stood.
"There's a landline."
He went toward the kitchen.
Then we heard tires outside.
One vehicle.
Then another.
Ryan looked through the window.
His expression hardened.
"Emily."
"What?"
"Go upstairs."
"Who is it?"
"My mother."
Diane stepped from a black SUV.
Two men climbed out behind her.
Not security guards.
Not police.
Men I didn't recognize.
Ryan locked the front door.
"What does she want?"
"The evidence."
Diane walked onto the porch.
She didn't knock.
She looked directly through the window.
"Ryan."
He didn't answer.
"I know you're inside."
Ryan whispered, "Call 911 from the landline."
I ran to the kitchen.
The phone was dead.
The wire had been cut outside.
I returned.
"No line."
Diane smiled through the glass.
"Open the door."
Ryan stepped closer.
"Leave."
"Give me the case."
"No."
"Ryan."
"We heard Dad's recording."
Her expression changed.
"Your father was confused."
"He knew everything."
"He was sick."
"He wasn't sick when he recorded you."
One of the men walked around the side of the house.
I grabbed my phone again.
Still no signal.
Diane's voice became soft.
"Ryan, you don't know what you're doing."
"For the first time, I think I do."
"If those records become public, your life changes forever."
"Maybe it should."
She looked past him at me.
"This is because of her."
I almost laughed.
"Of course. Everything is always my fault."
Diane's eyes narrowed.
"You took my son."
"No. He grew up."
Her face twisted.
Then she said, "You really think this is about me?"
Ryan frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Diane slowly smiled.
"Victor is out of prison."
My stomach tightened.
Ryan already knew.
But she continued.
"And he's been watching your family."
I stepped closer.
"Why?"
Diane's smile disappeared.
"Because he doesn't want money anymore."
Ryan whispered, "What does he want?"
Diane looked directly at him.
"You."
A floorboard creaked behind us.
We turned.
May you like
The back door stood open.
One of Diane's men was already inside.
