Chapter 12 - Emma’s Daughter
Colonel Marcus Reed was not my father either.
Emma had been pregnant before marrying him.
She hid the pregnancy because the father was a soldier under Marcus’s command.
Thomas Hale.
Thomas sat across from me when the full results arrived.
Probability of paternity: 99.99%.
He stared at the page.
Then at me.
“I didn’t know.”
Emma told him the baby died.
Marcus forced her to surrender me through an illegal private adoption.
Diane and Wade took me because a child made their financial cover appear legitimate.
Then Diane left Wade and met Daniel.
She allowed him to believe I was his biological daughter.
Dad closed his eyes.
For twelve years, everyone around him had known some part of the truth.
Except him.
Thomas reached toward me.
I stepped back.
He stopped immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
“You left.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“So did Dad.”
I looked at Daniel.
“He stayed.”
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
There was no fight over the word father.
Not then.
Thomas understood biology had arrived too late to claim authority.
Emma’s buried body was identified publicly.
Her family demanded answers.
Thomas gave investigators the rest of the evidence.
Diane finally confessed.
She took me after Wade told her Emma had abandoned me.
By the time she discovered the truth, she had already built a life with Daniel.
She feared losing both of us.
So she remained silent.
Then Marcus threatened to expose the adoption if she stopped moving money.
She chose the conspiracy again and again.
Her fear became habit.
Her habit became betrayal.
I met her once before the trial.
She looked smaller behind the glass.
“I wanted to be your mother.”
“You were.”
Her eyes filled.
“Does that mean anything?”
“It means you had more chances to protect me.”
May you like
She began crying.
I did not.
