Chapter 6 - The Father Who Was Supposed to Be DeadI stared at the photograph.
I waited for my mind to reject it.
For my eyes to admit they had made a mistake.
But they didn't.
The man in the picture was my father.
Thomas Montgomery.
The man who had been buried fifteen years ago.
The man whose death certificate sat in a locked cabinet at the Montgomery family estate.
The man whose voice I had not heard since I was twenty-two years old.
My fingers trembled as I picked up the photograph.
"No."
The word came out before I could stop it.
Detective Bennett watched me carefully.
"Rosalind."
"No."
I shook my head.
"This isn't possible."
Tobias stepped closer.
His face had lost all color.
"Let me see."
I handed him the photograph.
The moment he looked at it, his expression changed.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
My stomach twisted.
"You know."
Tobias looked at me.
"I've seen him."
The room went silent.
I felt something inside me crack.
"You've seen our father?"
He didn't answer immediately.
That was worse.
"Tobias."
His eyes filled with regret.
"Yes."
I stepped back.
"How many secrets are you still hiding from me?"
"Rosalind—"
"No."
My voice shook.
"Don't."
Everyone in that hallway looked at me.
The detective.
The officers.
My brother.
But I didn't care.
Because the one person I trusted most had been carrying pieces of my life away from me.
"I spent fifteen years believing I was the only one left who remembered him."
Tobias lowered his head.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
I held up the photograph.
"You knew he was alive?"
"Not exactly."
I laughed.
A painful, empty sound.
"Not exactly?"
Tobias took a breath.
"I knew someone was alive."
"Who?"
He looked at the photograph.
"I didn't know it was him."
The explanation felt impossible.
"Start talking."
He nodded.
"Three years ago, after I discovered Garrett was involved with Victoria, I started following the money trail."
I crossed my arms.
"Three years ago."
The same year Garrett entered my life.
"Yes."
Tobias continued.
"I found accounts connected to companies that didn't exist publicly."
"Shell companies."
He nodded.
"One name kept appearing."
"What name?"
"Atlas Holdings."
Detective Bennett looked up.
"You know that company?"
"No," I said.
But Tobias did.
"I found meetings. Private transactions. Payments."
He looked at me.
"And one location kept appearing."
My heartbeat increased.
"Where?"
"An old private estate outside Savannah Creek."
The room felt colder.
"What does that have to do with Dad?"
Tobias looked at the photograph.
"Because three months ago, I went there."
My mouth opened.
"You went alone?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
He hesitated.
Then:
"I saw a man."
I waited.
"He was older. Different. He had a scar near his eye."
My breath stopped.
My father had a scar near his left eye.
A childhood accident.
A detail nobody outside our family knew.
"He told me to leave."
"What did you say?"
"I asked him who he was."
Tobias looked at me.
"He said, 'Someone who should have died a long time ago.'"
A chill went through me.
"And you didn't tell me?"
His face broke.
"I wasn't sure."
"You weren't sure if our father was alive?"
"I wasn't sure if it was a trap."
The anger returned.
"So you decided I was better off living another lie."
"No."
His voice became louder.
"For once, I decided I needed proof before destroying your world."
I stared at him.
Then I looked at the photograph again.
The man standing beside Garrett and Victoria wasn't a ghost.
He was real.
And somehow, he had been alive while I buried him.
"Why would he let us believe he was dead?"
Nobody answered.
Because that question was the center of everything.
Detective Bennett carefully took the photograph.
"Where did this come from?"
"We found it in the files from Tobias's drive," she said.
She looked at the back.
Then frowned.
"There is a date."
I leaned closer.
My eyes followed the handwritten numbers.
Three years ago.
Not fifteen.
Three years ago.
The photograph had been taken after Garrett married me.
After he entered my family.
After he gained access to everything.
A terrible thought entered my mind.
"My father knew about Garrett."
Tobias nodded.
"Yes."
"And he did nothing?"
Silence.
That hurt more than any betrayal.
I had spent years believing my father died protecting us.
But what if he had survived and abandoned us?
What if he chose to disappear?
The detective looked between us.
"There is something else."
She opened another file.
"This came from the same drive."
A document.
A medical report.
I recognized the hospital name.
The same hospital where my father was declared dead.
My eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
"That's impossible."
"What?" Tobias asked.
I pointed.
"The body identification."
Detective Bennett nodded.
"Read it."
I did.
The words blurred.
Identity confirmation pending.
I looked up.
"Pending?"
She nodded.
"Your father's body was never officially identified."
The room went silent.
"What?"
"The records show the funeral proceeded, but the identification process was incomplete."
My knees felt weak.
"So who did we bury?"
Nobody answered.
Because nobody knew.
Or maybe someone did.
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Everyone turned.
An officer approached Detective Bennett.
"Detective."
His face was tense.
"We found something outside."
"What?"
He handed her a small plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a key.
Old.
Rusty.
With a small metal tag attached.
The tag had three letters engraved on it.
T.M.
Thomas Montgomery.
My father's initials.
Detective Bennett looked at me.
"We found it near the tree line where the photograph was taken."
My heart raced.
"Was anyone there?"
The officer shook his head.
"No."
Tobias reached for the bag.
Then stopped.
He stared at it.
"What?"
I asked.
His face changed.
"I know this key."
"From where?"
He looked at me.
"The night our parents died."
The room went completely still.
"What?"
Tobias pointed at the key.
"This was hanging from my father's car keys."
I looked at the evidence bag.
"But how could it be here?"
Tobias didn't answer.
Because he knew.
Someone had placed it there.
Someone wanted us to find it.
Detective Bennett's phone rang.
She answered.
"Detective Bennett."
Everyone watched her expression change.
"Where?"
A pause.
Then:
"Do not let anyone leave."
She ended the call.
"What happened?"
She looked at us.
"The estate connected to Atlas Holdings was just searched."
"And?"
Her face was serious.
"We found someone inside."
My heart pounded.
"Who?"
She looked at me.
"An elderly man."
A strange feeling moved through my body.
"What elderly man?"
Detective Bennett took a breath.
"The man claims his name is Thomas Montgomery."
My world stopped.
Tobias grabbed the edge of the table.
"No."
The detective continued.
"He is alive."
I couldn't move.
Alive.
The word felt impossible.
Then she added:
"But before we could bring him in, he asked for one thing."
"What?"
Detective Bennett looked directly at me.
"He asked to speak with his daughter."
I swallowed.
"Which daughter?"
The detective's expression hardened.
"He said..."
A pause.
"He said he needed to speak with Rosalind."
The hallway disappeared.
The room disappeared.
Everything disappeared except one impossible truth.
My father was alive.
May you like
And after fifteen years of silence...
He wanted to explain why he left me behind.