ot home, the kind of gray that ma

staring at the house she'd grown up in a house that suddenly felt unfamiliar. Her fin

r's company. The s

n the hallway"He's back.

was dead. So who wa

rched toward the front steps. She wasn

sound. Her mother wasn't in the kitchen. Her father wasn't in his study. For a mo

voices. Coming f

"important files," and he always said it was no place for children. Eve

closer, he

d happen if we kept hidi

nk she would've lived norm

d to find out

hear it from u

ack, her stomach ch

meone

a little more-and the old wo

le

the doorway like a gh

doing down h

Emily said, her voice s

eared, looking pale and sh

on. I know everything about his father. About Car

hed. Her father'

ily said. "Because if you don't t

d a glance then her

said. "You wan

The basement smelled of old paper, dust, and

d the walls. In the corne

ved," her mother said, wringing her

ou do to Ja

as my business partner. We started Carte

t what he

he was

e liar," Emily said

s of thousands. I gave him a chance

"It wasn't that simple.

t mo

itated but her

blackmai

froze.

r family. He used it to leverage power in the company. When your father found out, he tried to buy him ou

t her father.

dn't

mily... he wasn't just blackmaili

turned cold.

led a small wooden box from one of the shelves. I

r father sa

anded the letter

ds, Emily unfold

el

You said we'd figure it out together. But now you're pretend

vision

il

her mother.

I didn't know I was pregnant. I thought the relationship was over

mily wh

embezzlement, give him money to start over. But he refused. He s

any what they needed. They pressed charges.

opped th

son's dad

n's. His half-brother. From a previous m

thless. "So Jason's dad is

le

mother sa

ked away. "You kept this

to protect you,"

ed and fle

d swirling leaves across the yard. Emily didn't know

edge of town, near the old auto shop Jason sometimes wor

the hood of an old Mustang, looking li

ack," he sa

out the

s searched

se than I

wai

your dad had an affair. Before she married D

didn't

back. Be a father. But they

o bitter. Why he drank himself into silence. He never told m

ou and I we're not related. But we share

ly, whatever happened back

hy our parents hate this. Why they

. "Then maybe we're exactl

he tears. "Maybe we'

oment, the weight of generations-the

they both knew

Carter driveway. A man stepped out, gray-haire

opened the d

't be here,"

ed him a man

said. "And if you don't t

alked away, disappe