Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN MY FATHER LEFT BEHIND
I spent the next twenty-four hours searching for answers.
Not emotionally.
Professionally.
That was how Bennett Hale survived.
I investigated.
I collected information.
I found weaknesses.
But this time...
the target wasn't a company.
It was my own family.
I opened old records.
Private documents.
My father's archived files.
Everything I could access.
And then I found her.
Rose Reed.
A woman my father erased from our family history.
A woman my mother had carried in silence for twenty-eight years.
The file was thin.
Too thin.
Almost like someone wanted it gone.
But one document remained.
A hospital record.
A birth certificate.
And one handwritten note from my father.
My hands shook as I read it.
"I never stopped thinking about her."
I closed my eyes.
My father.
The man I spent my whole life trying to understand.
The man everyone called powerful.
The man who taught me loyalty.
Had a daughter he abandoned.
A family he destroyed.
I printed the documents and walked upstairs.
My mother was awake.
Clara was beside her.
When I entered, both of them knew.
They saw the papers in my hand.
Mother looked tired.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
"You found her."
I placed the documents on the table.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
My mother looked down.
"Because I was afraid."
That answer surprised me.
My mother was never afraid.
"Of what?"
She looked at Clara.
Then at me.
"That you would hate her."
I stared.
"I don't hate her."
Clara looked shocked.
"But you hate what happened."
I didn't answer.
Because she was right.
My mother reached for my hand.
"Bennett, your father made mistakes."
I laughed bitterly.
"Mistakes?"
The room went quiet.
"He destroyed someone's life."
My mother's eyes filled with tears.
"Yes."
That honesty stopped me.
She didn't defend him.
She didn't excuse him.
She simply admitted it.
Then Clara spoke.
"My mother never wanted money."
I looked at her.
"Then what did she want?"
Clara's voice cracked.
"She wanted him to choose her."
Silence.
"And he didn't."
I looked away.
Because suddenly this wasn't about inheritance.
It wasn't about a hidden daughter.
It was about a woman who spent twenty-eight years wondering why she wasn't enough.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice came through.
Cold.
Calm.
"You finally found out about Rose Reed."
Every muscle in my body tightened.
"Who is this?"
A short laugh.
"You really are your father's son."
I stood.
"Identify yourself."
The voice became serious.
"Your mother should have buried that secret."
I looked at Eleanor.
Her face changed.
She recognized the voice.
"Bennett..."
I covered the phone.
"Who is it?"
My mother whispered the name.
And the blood drained from my face.
Because it was the last person I expected.
"My father's closest friend."
The voice returned.
"You have no idea what your father did."
A pause.
May you like
"Or what your mother helped hide."
Then the line went dead.
