Chapter 10 - THE SECRET UNDER THE STAIRS
I had spent sixty-seven years believing I knew my family.
That belief disappeared in a matter of minutes.
A man who sounded exactly like my dead father was standing upstairs.
Michael was terrified.
Vanessa was crying.
Mark was holding the fireplace poker.
And Lily was clinging to my jacket.
Nobody moved.
Then footsteps began descending the stairs.
One.
Two.
Three.
Slow.
Measured.
A shadow appeared on the wall.
Then the man stepped into view.
He was old.
White hair.
Thin face.
Gray eyes.
And for one impossible second, I thought I was looking at my father.
The same nose.
The same jaw.
The same scar above the eyebrow.
I couldn't speak.
The man smiled.
"Hello, Thomas."
I whispered:
"Robert."
He smiled wider.
"No."
He took another step.
"Edward."
Michael raised the poker.
Edward laughed.
"You always were dramatic."
Mark stepped forward.
"Stay away from my daughter."
Edward looked at Lily.
"She isn't your daughter."
Mark froze.
Edward continued:
"She's Sarah's."
"I know."
"No."
Edward's smile disappeared.
"You don't know who Sarah's father was."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"What are you talking about?"
Edward looked directly at me.
"Sarah wasn't Robert's daughter."
The room went silent.
I shook my head.
"You're lying."
"Ask your father."
"My father is dead."
Edward smiled.
"That's what they wanted you to believe."
I couldn't breathe.
Then he pointed toward the staircase.
"Under the stairs."
"What?"
"Your father left something for you."
I didn't move.
Michael whispered:
"Don't."
Edward laughed.
"Why?"
"Because it's a trap."
"Everything is a trap to you."
Edward turned toward the stairs.
"Thomas has spent his entire life believing he was protecting his family."
He looked back at me.
"But he never asked the most important question."
"What?"
"Why did Sarah know about me?"
I stared at him.
"She didn't."
Edward smiled.
"She did."
He stepped backward.
Then the lights came back on.
He was gone.
Nobody understood how.
Michael ran upstairs.
No one was there.
The windows were locked.
The doors were locked.
There was no escape route.
Except one.
Under the stairs.
We moved the wooden panel.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside was a metal box.
Mark opened it.
There were documents.
Photographs.
Letters.
And one envelope addressed to me.
My hands shook as I opened it.
The first page contained a sentence.
Thomas, if you are reading this, Sarah has discovered the truth.
I stopped breathing.
The letter continued.
Edward is not your enemy.
I looked at Michael.
Then at Vanessa.
Then at Mark.
The next sentence was worse.
The man you believe to be Edward has been dead for twelve years.
I stared at the page.
My hands went numb.
If that was true...
Who had just been standing in my house?
I turned the page.
There was a final sentence.
And the person pretending to be him is someone you have trusted for years.
I looked at everyone in the room.
Mark.
Vanessa.
Michael.
Lily.
Then my eyes stopped on the photograph lying beneath the letter.
It showed Sarah.
Alive.
Standing beside a man.
The man had his arm around her.
I recognized him immediately.
It was Daniel Reeves.
But that wasn't what terrified me.
Because Sarah was holding a newborn baby.
And written on the back of the photograph were six words:
LILY WAS NOT BORN BY ACCIDENT.
I looked at my granddaughter.
Then at Mark.
And finally at Vanessa.
For the first time, Vanessa wasn't looking at me.
She was looking at Lily.
With tears in her eyes.
And fear on her face.
Because whatever Lily's birth had to do with Sarah's death...
May you like
Vanessa already knew the answer.
And she had been hiding it for nine years.
