Chapter 6 - The Husband Who Lied for Love|
Anna refused to return to the mansion with Daniel.
She stayed in a small hotel near Bellweather's courthouse, with Rachel in the adjoining room and Marcus stationed downstairs. The arrangement felt absurdly dramatic, but Anna preferred an unfamiliar hotel to a house where every corridor concealed another secret.
Daniel called three times.
She ignored the first two.
On the third, she answered.
“What happened to my mother?”
His voice was quiet.
“I don't know exactly.”
“You knew there was a woman who helped my father. You knew something happened to her.”
“I knew Victor was involved in Elena's disappearance. I didn't know whether your mother was alive.”
“Stop saying Elena as if she's a person you once heard about. She's my mother.”
“I know.”
“No, Daniel. You don't. You had a mother who raised you in a mansion. You knew your name, your family, and the rules you were expected to follow. I had a father who worked with his hands and taught me how to change a tire. I loved him. I still love him. But he took my history away from me.”
Daniel let the silence remain.
Then he said, “You're right.”
The answer disarmed her.
“I thought if I found the ledger, I could understand what happened to my aunt,” he continued. “I thought your father might have kept evidence that could protect my family from Victor.”
“And marrying me was convenient.”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“Did you ever intend to tell me?”
“At first, I told myself I would tell you when I had the evidence. Then I fell in love with you, and every day I waited made the truth harder to confess.”
“That wasn't love. That was fear of losing what you wanted.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“I do now.”
Anna pressed her forehead against the cool hotel window.
“Why did you ignore me at the gala?”
Daniel's answer came slowly.
“Victor was watching us. He had been making threats against my father and the organization. He wanted me to appear weak. I thought if I kept you away from me publicly, he would believe you weren't important.”
“You made me feel worthless to protect me from a man who already knew exactly who I was.”
“Yes.”
“And you never considered asking me what I wanted.”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“I'm filing for divorce.”
“I understand.”
“Don't say you understand unless you're prepared to act like it.”
“I won't interfere with your lawyer. I'll provide every document you request, and I'll sign the papers when they're ready.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn't have to. I'll prove it.”
She ended the call.
For several minutes, she stood motionless, surprised by the absence of relief. She had imagined that hearing Daniel admit the truth would somehow close the wound.
Instead, it had simply made the wound impossible to deny.
The next morning, Rachel received a call from a woman named Margaret Ellis.
Margaret was seventy-two, lived in a retirement community outside Milwaukee, and had once worked as a nurse for the Calloway family. According to Rachel, she had been paid for decades through a private account associated with Edward.
Anna felt her pulse quicken.
“Does she know my mother?”
“She says she does. She also says she can prove Edward knew Elena survived the night she disappeared.”
They drove to Milwaukee that afternoon.
Margaret received them in a sunroom filled with potted plants. She was small, neatly dressed, and had the cautious manner of someone who had spent years choosing words carefully.
When Anna entered, Margaret began to cry.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Anna remained by the doorway.
“Did you know my mother?”
“I helped deliver you.”
The room became very quiet.
Margaret explained that Elena had given birth in a private clinic after fleeing the Calloway estate. Thomas Calloway had taken Anna to Indiana when the situation became dangerous. Margaret had helped arrange the transfer and had later treated Elena after she was injured in an apparent accident.
“Was she alive when you last saw her?” Anna asked.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three years after you were born.”
Anna gripped the back of a chair.
“That's impossible. My father said she died.”
“He believed she was dead. Edward told him that.”
“Why did Edward lie?”
Margaret looked down.
“Because Elena wanted to expose Victor. She had evidence that could destroy the organization and send several powerful people to prison. Edward wanted to bring her home. Victor wanted her silenced.”
“Which one of them caused the accident?”
“I don't know. I was told not to ask.”
Margaret reached into a drawer and removed a small photograph.
Elena stood outside a clinic, holding a toddler.
The child was Anna.
On the back was a date and an address in northern Wisconsin.
Margaret whispered, “Your mother left that address with me. She said if anyone ever came looking for her daughter, I should wait until the girl was old enough to choose what to do with the truth.”
Anna stared at the photograph.
For twenty-five years, she had believed her mother was a grave she had never seen.
May you like
Now she had an address.
And perhaps, somewhere beyond the trees of northern Wisconsin, a living woman who had never stopped waiting for her.
