Chapter 8 - LilyI couldn't speak.
Harris looked at the note.
Then at Vanessa.
She was standing in the kitchen doorway.
She saw the paper in my hand.
Her face collapsed.
“No.”
I stepped toward her.
“Who is Lily's father?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Ryan, please.”
“Who is Lily's father?”
“You are.”
“Then why would they write this?”
“I don't know.”
Nora whispered, “Daddy said Lily wasn't yours.”
I turned toward her.
“How would you know that?”
“Because Aunt Claire told me.”
Vanessa covered her face.
I felt something break inside me.
Not because I believed it.
Because for the first time, I realized how much of my daughter's life might have been built on secrets I couldn't see.
Harris asked, “Mr. Carter, when was Lily born?”
“Four years ago.”
“Were you present?”
“Yes.”
“Did you sign the birth certificate?”
“Yes.”
He looked at Vanessa.
“Did you ever have doubts about paternity?”
“No.”
Vanessa answered too quickly.
Harris noticed.
I did too.
I walked toward her.
“Did you?”
She began crying.
“No.”
“Look at me.”
She did.
“Did you ever think Lily wasn't mine?”
A long silence.
Then she whispered, “I didn't know.”
I stepped back.
“What does that mean?”
She sat down.
“I found out something after Lily was born.”
“What?”
“That Marcus had been tracking you before we met.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“What does that have to do with Lily?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“It means he knew you before I did.”
Harris opened the envelope again.
There were hospital records.
One had a handwritten note across the top.
PATERNITY SAMPLE — REQUESTED BY C. CARTER.
I stared at the signature.
Claire Carter.
My sister.
“Claire ordered a paternity test?”
Vanessa nodded slowly.
“After Lily was born.”
“Why?”
“She thought Marcus had arranged for you to meet me.”
My stomach dropped.
“Arranged?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
Vanessa's voice broke.
“To get close to you.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Why me?”
“I don't know.”
Harris read another page.
Then he frowned.
“Mr. Carter.”
He handed me a document.
It wasn't a paternity test.
It was a medical record.
A birth record.
For Lily.
Under father:
UNKNOWN.
I looked at Vanessa.
“You changed this.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the real father was dead.”
“Who?”
She whispered a name.
“Daniel.”
The name meant nothing.
Harris asked, “Who was Daniel?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Your best friend.”
My blood ran cold.
Daniel had been my best friend in college.
He died in a motorcycle accident six years before Lily was born.
I had stood beside his grave.
I knew he was dead.
“That's impossible.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I know how it sounds.”
“Then explain it.”
“I can't.”
She started crying.
“Because Daniel isn't Lily's father.”
I stared.
“Then why did you say his name?”
“Because that's what Marcus wanted me to tell you.”
Silence.
Harris stepped closer.
“Why would Marcus care who the father was?”
Vanessa whispered, “Because Lily wasn't the target.”
I felt the room tilt.
“What was?”
Vanessa looked toward Nora.
“Nora.”
Nora shook her head.
“No.”
Vanessa crouched beside her.
“He wanted Nora because she had something.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
Harris frowned.
“What truth?”
Vanessa looked at the wall.
“The reason all those names were in the ledger.”
I waited.
She whispered:
“They weren't children he sold.”
“They were witnesses.”
Before I could ask what that meant, every light in the house went out.
Nora screamed.
Harris shouted, “Everyone stay together!”
A phone rang in the darkness.
Not mine.
Vanessa's.
She answered.
A woman's voice said, “You finally found the right question.”
Vanessa froze.
I knew the voice.
I had heard it upstairs.
Claire.
May you like
Then Claire said:
“Now ask Ryan why he was at this house fourteen years ago.”
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