Chapter 9 - What Melissa Hid

Mark did not answer Jason's text for ten minutes.

Then he wrote one word.

CALL.

The phone rang immediately.

Mark stepped into the garage and shut the door.

"What didn't she tell me?"

Jason sighed.

"I don't know how much you knew about Melissa near the end."

"Enough."

"No. You knew she cheated. You knew about the pills. You didn't know she owed people money."

Mark's shoulders tightened.

"What people?"

"Not movie gangsters. Calm down. Payday lenders. A guy she bought pills from. Friends she borrowed from. She was desperate."

"What does that have to do with Lily?"

"She contacted me three years after she left you. She wanted money. Said if I paid her, she'd tell me where Lily was."

Mark went cold.

"She tried to sell you information about our daughter?"

"I sent the money. She vanished again."

Mark leaned against the workbench.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because Lily is going to ask why I didn't find her. I need you to know I tried. Badly, maybe. Too late, definitely. But I tried."

Mark hated that the answer sounded human.

A villain would have been easier.

"You want a DNA test?"

Jason was quiet.

"Yes."

"And if you're her biological father?"

"I want to know her."

"That's not what I asked."

"I'm not trying to steal your kid."

Mark flinched at the word your.

Then he remembered Austin.

How many times had he quietly divided the house into mine and hers?

"We'll meet Saturday," Mark said. "Public place. Sarah and I will be there."

"Thank you."

Mark ended the call.

When he went back inside, Austin was in the hallway.

"How much did you hear?" Mark asked.

"Enough."

Of course.

Mark rubbed his forehead.

"I don't want secrets anymore."

Austin gave him a hard look.

"Then stop walking into the garage to make secret calls."

Mark almost argued.

Instead, he nodded.

"Fair."

Austin looked surprised.

Mark stepped closer but kept distance.

"Jason may really be Lily's biological father. He wants a test."

Austin studied him.

"Are you going to treat her different if it says yes?"

"No."

"That answer came fast."

Mark knew what the boy meant.

His answer for Lily was automatic.

His answer for Austin had not been.

Mark's voice dropped.

"I see it."

"See what?"

"The hypocrisy."

Austin looked away.

"Seeing it isn't fixing it."

"I know."

Before Austin could walk off, Sarah entered with a stack of mail.

"Mark?"

She held up a bank envelope.

"Why is there a college savings statement in Lily's name for forty-two thousand dollars... and nothing for Austin?"

Austin stopped in the hallway.

Mark's face fell.

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