Chapter 3 - MEGAN’S LETTER
The envelope was old.
Not twelve-days-old.
Not even one-year-old.
The edges were soft and worn, as if someone had carried it from house to house for years.
Detective Ramirez placed it on the table in a private consultation room.
Daniel stared at his name.
DANIEL BENNETT.
Written in blue ink.
Underneath it were four words.
RYAN DESERVES THE TRUTH.
Claire felt sick.
“Open it,” she said.
Ramirez looked at Daniel.
“It’s addressed to you.”
Daniel’s fingers shook as he tore the envelope.
Inside were three folded pages.
And a photograph.
The photograph slipped onto the table.
Claire picked it up.
Megan Cole stood outside a small apartment building, smiling into the camera.
She was young.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
Beautiful.
And in her arms was a newborn baby.
Daniel stared at the picture.
“Oh my God.”
Claire looked at the back.
Written there:
Ryan Cole. Two days old.
Daniel sat down.
The chair groaned under his weight.
“Read it,” Claire said.
He unfolded the letter.
His voice barely came out.
“Daniel… if you’re reading this, something has happened to me.”
He stopped.
Claire didn’t blink.
“Keep going.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I lied to you. I never miscarried.”
Claire looked away.
There it was.
One lie from a woman she had never met.
One lie that had somehow reached eleven years into the future and struck her daughter in the head with a brick.
Daniel continued.
“I was angry. You chose Claire. I wanted you to hurt. Then Ryan was born, and the lie became too big to take back.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
He stopped reading.
Ramirez took the pages and continued.
“Megan says Ryan started asking about his father when he was six. She told him Daniel had another family.”
Claire shut her eyes.
“Jesus.”
Ramirez read silently for several seconds.
Then her eyebrows pulled together.
“What?”
Claire stepped closer.
Ramirez looked at Daniel.
“There’s another name.”
“Whose?”
“Travis Cole.”
Daniel frowned.
“Megan’s brother?”
“You know him?”
“Barely. I met him once.”
Ramirez turned the page.
“Megan says Travis became involved with Ryan about three years ago. She says he kept telling Ryan that Daniel abandoned them.”
Daniel stood.
“That’s not true.”
Ramirez lifted an eyebrow.
“You didn’t know he existed.”
“I know, but I didn’t abandon him.”
“Ryan may not understand the difference.”
Claire leaned against the wall.
“So Ryan grew up believing Daniel threw him away for us.”
“It sounds that way.”
Daniel looked toward Lily’s room.
“He hit her because of me.”
Claire’s voice turned sharp.
“No. He hit her because he picked up a brick and swung it.”
“He’s ten.”
“And Lily is five.”
Daniel said nothing.
Claire hated what she was feeling.
She hated that she could look at a hurt, grieving ten-year-old boy and still feel rage.
But every time she closed her eyes, she saw Lily fall.
Ramirez continued reading.
Then she stopped again.
This time, she looked genuinely concerned.
“What now?” Claire asked.
“Megan writes, ‘If Travis ever brings Ryan to Daniel, do not leave them alone together.’”
Daniel stared at her.
“Why?”
Ramirez scanned the next line.
“She doesn’t explain.”
Claire stepped forward.
“There has to be more.”
“There is.”
Ramirez reached into the envelope.
One smaller piece of paper had been folded separately.
She opened it.
On it was an address.
And a sentence.
Ramirez read it aloud.
“Daniel has no idea what Travis has already done.”
Daniel’s face went blank.
Claire slowly turned toward her husband.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel whispered something.
Claire couldn’t hear him.
“What?”
He looked up.
“There was money.”
Ramirez narrowed her eyes.
“What money?”
May you like
Daniel took a slow breath.
“Ten years ago, someone tried to blackmail me.”
