Chapter 10 - THE FATHER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
I returned to Rachel's house with the folder.
She looked at the photograph.
Then she began to cry.
“You knew.”
Rachel shook her head.
“I suspected.”
“Your father is alive.”
“I know.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“Claire knows.”
Rachel looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Why did she lie?”
“Because she was afraid.”
“Of him?”
Rachel nodded.
Then she told me the story.
Claire's father, Victor Hale, had built a financial empire through intimidation and fraud.
When Claire was sixteen, she discovered he had been using her name to hide money.
When she confronted him, he threatened her.
When she tried to tell the police, he threatened her mother.
Claire learned one lesson:
Silence kept people alive.
So she became silent.
Then she met Daniel.
And instead of escaping her father's world, she entered it deeper.
When Lily was born, Claire tried to leave.
Victor wouldn't allow it.
Daniel wanted to expose him.
Claire chose survival.
Then came the crash.
Then Sarah disappeared.
Then Claire met me.
I listened in silence.
Finally, I asked:
“Why did she let Lily believe I was dangerous?”
Rachel looked down.
“Because Victor told her he would hurt anyone Lily loved.”
I felt my hands tighten.
“So Claire made Lily afraid of me.”
Rachel began crying.
“She thought if Lily hated you, Victor couldn't use you against her.”
I stood.
“She sacrificed her daughter's childhood to protect a criminal.”
Rachel whispered:
“She thought she was protecting her life.”
I looked toward the door.
“No.”
I said.
“She was protecting a secret.”
That evening, Claire came home.
She walked into the house carrying her suitcase.
She stopped when she saw me.
Her face turned white.
“You know.”
I stared at her.
“Everything?”
“No.”
“Then tell me.”
She looked upstairs.
“Where is Lily?”
“Safe.”
Claire closed her eyes.
For the first time, I saw fear on her face.
Real fear.
“Ethan, you have to listen to me.”
“I have listened to you for eight months.”
She flinched.
“Now you are going to tell me the truth.”
Before she could answer, the lights went out.
A gunshot exploded somewhere outside.
May you like
Claire screamed.
And Lily began crying upstairs.
