Chapter 32 - MY FATHER'S CONFESSION
I wanted to hit him.
I wanted to hug him.
I wanted to demand answers.
Instead, I stood there frozen.
"You let me believe you were dead."
My father nodded.
"Yes."
"You watched me bury you."
"I know."
"You watched me raise Leah without telling me who she was."
His eyes filled with tears.
"Yes."
I stepped closer.
"Why?"
"Because I was trying to keep you alive."
"That's not an answer."
He looked at Evelyn.
She nodded.
My father finally said:
"Arthur had people everywhere."
"I know."
"No. You don't."
He sat down.
"After your grandmother disappeared, Arthur took control of everything."
"The foundation."
"The accounts."
"The people."
"The police."
"The lawyers."
"Even some judges."
He looked at me.
"Anyone who challenged him disappeared."
"What about Sarah?"
"She discovered the accounts."
"And Leah?"
"Sarah was pregnant."
My father continued.
"Arthur realized the child could become evidence."
"How?"
"Because Sarah kept copies of the transactions."
"Where?"
"She hid them in Leah's medical records."
I remembered the flash drive.
"So Leah was never just a child Arthur wanted to control."
"No."
"She was evidence."
My father nodded.
"That's why I helped Daniel hide her."
I looked toward Daniel.
"And me?"
"You were the safest person I knew."
"Why?"
"Because you had no connection to the criminal side of the family."
I laughed bitterly.
"I was still a Whitmore."
"Exactly."
He looked at me.
"Arthur believed blood made people loyal."
"You knew it didn't."
"I knew you were different."
My voice cracked.
"Then why did you erase my memory?"
He looked down.
"Because you were captured."
I froze.
"What?"
"Nine years ago, Arthur's men took you."
"When?"
"The night you went to the old house."
My memory returned in fragments.
A dark hallway.
A man's voice.
A needle.
A baby crying.
Then nothing.
My father continued.
"They wanted to know where Sarah was."
"I didn't know."
"I know."
"So they let me go?"
"No."
He looked at Daniel.
"Daniel got you out."
I stared at him.
"Then why didn't I remember?"
"Because the doctors said the trauma had damaged your memory."
I closed my eyes.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
The dreams.
The flashes.
The feeling that I had met Leah before.
The reason I had instantly felt protective of her.
It hadn't been an accident.
I had promised her before I remembered making the promise.
My father stood.
"There is one thing you need to know."
"What?"
"Arthur wasn't the person who ordered your abduction."
I stared at him.
"Then who?"
He looked toward Evelyn.
She shook her head.
My father said:
"Your grandmother."
Silence.
I turned to Evelyn.
"You ordered them to take me?"
She began crying.
"No."
"Then why did he say that?"
My father stepped forward.
"Because I misunderstood her."
"What does that mean?"
"She ordered them to take you somewhere safe."
I frowned.
"She knew Arthur would come after you."
"So she staged my kidnapping?"
"Yes."
"She saved me by making me believe I had been kidnapped?"
My father nodded.
"But there was one thing she didn't know."
"What?"
"Arthur discovered the plan."
"And?"
"He replaced her people with his."
I felt cold.
"So when I was taken..."
"It wasn't her plan anymore."
"It was Arthur."
My father nodded.
"That's why I faked my death."
I looked at him.
"And Leah?"
He took a long breath.
"Leah was the reason everything changed."
"What do you mean?"
He looked directly into my eyes.
May you like
"Sarah didn't disappear to protect herself."
"She disappeared because she was protecting you."
