Chapter 10 - The Father
Adrian walked out of the attic.
I followed him.
He made it to the backyard before he stopped.
Rain had soaked the patio.
He stood under it anyway.
“Adrian.”
“Don’t.”
I stopped three feet behind him.
He laughed once.
“I’m thirty-five years old.”
I said nothing.
“My whole life, that man looked at me like I was never quite good enough.”
“Victor raised you.”
“That’s supposed to help?”
“No.”
He turned.
His eyes were red.
“I spent my entire life trying to become him.”
The sentence broke something in me.
I stepped closer.
“You became yourself.”
He looked away.
“That’s what people say when they don’t know what else to say.”
“Then I’ll say something else.”
He looked back.
“I need you right now.”
That reached him.
His shoulders dropped.
I touched his hand.
“We can fall apart later.”
He gave a tired nod.
Inside, Cassandra had arrived.
She saw the photograph and sat down hard.
“That’s my father.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Looks like it.”
She shook her head.
“No. You don’t understand.”
“What?”
“My father used to say Victor stole something from him.”
“Maybe he meant me.”
Cassandra looked sick.
We called Victor.
He answered on the first ring.
Adrian held the phone in front of him.
“Are you my father?”
Silence.
Victor finally said, “Where are you?”
“Answer me.”
“Adrian—”
“Are you my biological father?”
Another silence.
“No.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Victor continued.
“But Charles Vale isn’t either.”
Cassandra stood.
“What?”
Victor took a breath.
“Your mother was treated for infertility before you were born. The clinic used donor material without proper consent. Charles discovered it years later and used the secret to control her.”
Adrian’s face twisted.
“Who was the donor?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I’ve spent twenty years trying to find out.”
Cassandra grabbed the phone.
“Yes.”
Victor said nothing.
I took the phone.
Victor’s voice went low.
The room disappeared around me.
Adrian took the phone before I dropped it.
Victor answered immediately.
“What problem?”
Cassandra whispered, “He knows.”
“Knows what?”
A security officer came in from the front hall.
Everyone froze.
Then looked at me.
“There’s a man at the gate.”
“Who?”
May you like
The officer’s face hardened.
“He says he’s Michael Hart.”
