Chapter 6 - THE LIE INSIDE THE TRUTH
I refused to believe it.
Eleanor had spent twenty-eight years searching for Caroline.
She had cried when she saw me.
She had brought the matching pendant.
Richard was lying.
He had to be.
But Coleman didn't dismiss his claim.
"Everyone lies in cases like this."
"Even victims."
"Even families."
She arranged a recorded interview.
Richard sat behind thick glass.
His wrists were cuffed to the table.
The man who had terrified me my entire life suddenly looked old.
I picked up the phone.
"Tell me where Caroline is."
He smiled.
"Hello to you too."
"Tell me."
"You look like her."
I gripped the receiver.
"You knew her."
"Very well."
"Did you kidnap me?"
His smile faded.
"No."
"Did Victor?"
"No."
"Then who?"
"Caroline gave you to me."
I almost stood.
"That's a lie."
"Ask your precious grandmother."
"Eleanor?"
"Yes."
"She wasn't there."
Richard leaned closer.
"Exactly."
He told me Caroline had discovered Victor's theft.
But Victor wasn't working alone.
The Hale company had hidden illegal payments for years.
Eleanor had authorized some of them to protect the company during a financial crisis.
Caroline found everything.
She threatened to expose Victor.
And Eleanor.
According to Richard, Eleanor ordered Caroline to stay quiet.
Caroline refused.
Then Victor panicked.
He arranged for Caroline to disappear.
Richard helped her escape instead.
I stared at him.
"Why would you help her?"
His expression changed.
"Because I loved her."
My stomach turned.
"You loved my mother?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you raise me like you hated me?"
Richard looked away.
That answer hurt because it was honest.
"Because every time I looked at you..."
He swallowed.
"I saw her."
I said nothing.
"Caroline made me promise to keep you hidden."
"Then why did Rose have me?"
"Because I couldn't take you immediately."
"Why not?"
"Victor was watching me."
Richard leaned forward.
"Rose hid you for eleven months."
"Then Caroline contacted me."
"She told me to take you."
"Where did she go?"
"I don't know."
I stared at him.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
He smiled sadly.
"But it's true."
"Why did you destroy the adoption papers?"
"Because they weren't adoption papers."
My pulse quickened.
"What were they?"
"Proof."
"Of what?"
"That Caroline was alive after everyone believed she died."
I remembered the photograph.
The phone call.
"Where is she?"
Richard shook his head.
"I haven't seen her in nineteen years."
"Why nineteen?"
"Because that's when she came back."
I stopped breathing.
"When I was nine."
He nodded.
The day Rose came to our house.
The screaming.
The closed door.
It hadn't only been Rose.
Caroline had been there.
My mother had been twenty feet away from me.
And nobody told me.
"Why didn't she see me?"
"She did."
My eyes burned.
"What?"
Richard looked through the glass.
"You were asleep upstairs."
"She stood in your doorway for almost an hour."
Tears came before I could stop them.
"Why didn't she wake me?"
"Because Victor had found Rose."
"He was watching the family again."
"Caroline believed staying away was the only way to keep you alive."
I pressed my forehead against the glass.
Everything hurt.
Then Richard said something unexpected.
"Emily."
I looked at him.
"Don't trust Travis."
I laughed bitterly.
"Of course."
"I'm serious."
"Why?"
"Because his father didn't just help Caroline."
Richard's eyes hardened.
"Daniel Cole worked for Victor."
I froze.
"He was the one who gave Victor Caroline's location."
The interview ended.
I walked into the hallway.
Travis was waiting.
He stood when he saw me.
"Emily."
I looked at him differently now.
He noticed immediately.
"What happened?"
I said nothing.
Then his phone buzzed.
He glanced at the screen.
Too quickly.
But I saw the name.
MADISON.
And beneath it was her message.
May you like
SHE DOESN'T KNOW YET.
My blood turned cold.
