Chapter 25
My mother died when I was seventeen.
A fall down the east staircase at our old house.
That was what I had been told.
An accident.
A terrible, ordinary accident.
My father never spoke about it.
Not because he did not love her.
Because grief sealed his mouth.
Or so I thought.
Now he stared at Damon’s message like a ghost had reached through the phone.
“What does he mean?” I asked.
My father sat slowly.
“Clara.”
“Tell me.”
Evelyn stepped toward the door.
“I can give you privacy.”
“No,” my father said. “You should hear this.”
My heart beat too hard.
My father folded his hands.
“The night your mother died, we argued.”
I stopped breathing.
“She wanted to leave me.”
“No.”
“She did. Not because she didn’t love you. Because she found out my brother had been stealing from the company, and I protected him.”
“Uncle Martin?”
“Yes.”
The room tilted.
“He threatened her. She planned to go to the police. That night, she fell.”
“Fell?”
My father looked at me.
“I never believed she fell.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because Martin disappeared two days later. Because the evidence vanished. Because you were seventeen and shattered. Because I was a coward.”
The last word hit hard.
My father was many things.
Coward was not one I had ever imagined.
Evelyn spoke quietly.
“Damon may have found old files.”
“How?”
My father’s jaw tightened.
“Martin came back last year.”
I sat up too fast.
Pain pulled at my stomach.
The monitor beeped.
My father gripped the bed rail.
“He contacted me. Wanted money. I refused.”
“And Damon?”
“I don’t know.”
But his voice said he did.
The door opened.
Officer Mills entered.
“Mrs. Hayes, your husband is demanding access to you.”
My father stood.
“No.”
The officer nodded.
“He also claims you assaulted him and locked him in an animal enclosure.”
I almost laughed.
Evelyn lifted one eyebrow.
“He was locked in the kennel after pushing an eight-month-pregnant woman into it.”
Officer Mills said, “We have patio camera footage.”
My breath caught.
Damon had forgotten.
So had I.
My father looked at me.
May you like
“Good,” he said.
“For once, this house watched the right person.”
