Chapter 4 - The Children He Used
Sophie called after midnight.
I almost did not answer.
Not because I was angry with her.
Because I was afraid I would fall apart the moment I heard her voice.
“Rachel?”
She sounded small.
“I’m here.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“No.”
“You looked mad at everyone.”
“I was hurt.”
“Dad said you knew Vanessa.”
“I knew her name.”
“He said you and him were getting divorced after Christmas.”
My hand tightened around the blanket.
“What else did he say?”
“That you didn’t want us to know yet.”
“He said you were going to move to California.”
“He said Vanessa might come on the trip because she was helping him through everything.”
Daniel had not simply hidden an affair.
He had been preparing his children to accept my disappearance.
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
Sophie began crying.
“Then he told us not to call you from the airport.”
“He said it would upset you.”
“Lauren took my phone when I tried.”
A cold wave moved through me.
“Where are you now?”
“At Grandpa’s house.”
“Is Daniel there?”
“He left.”
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know.”
Owen’s voice appeared in the background.
“Ask her if we can come home.”
Sophie hesitated.
“Can we come home?”
The house suddenly felt unbearably empty.
“Yes.”
“Dad said we have to stay here.”
“The two of you have a right to your bedrooms and your belongings.”
“Grandpa said you might sell the house.”
“I am not selling anything tonight.”
Owen took the phone.
“Rachel, there is something you need to know.”
His voice had changed over the last year.
It was deeper now, but fear still trembled beneath it.
“What is it?”
“Dad had me lie to you.”
My stomach tightened.
“About what?”
“The weekend in Milwaukee.”
Three months earlier, Daniel had told me he was attending a medical conference in Milwaukee.
Owen had supposedly gone with him to tour a university campus.
They had returned Sunday night with brochures, sweatshirts, and photographs.
“I was never in Milwaukee.”
“Where were you?”
“Grandpa’s lake house.”
“Dad took Vanessa to the conference.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why did you agree to lie?”
“He said you were going through something.”
“He said the truth would make you unstable.”
“I thought he was protecting you.”
Daniel had used my love for the children to turn them into unwilling accomplices.
“None of this is your fault.”
“I should have told you.”
“You were placed in a situation no child should have been placed in.”
“I’m sixteen.”
“You are still his son.”
There was silence.
“Are you going to divorce him?”
“Yes.”
The word came more easily than I expected.
Sophie began crying again in the background.
Owen lowered his voice.
“He told us you would say that because you never loved us as much as you loved him.”
That was the cruelest lie yet.
“Put me on speaker.”
A moment later, both children were listening.
“I need you to understand something.”
“My marriage to your father may end.”
“My relationship with both of you does not end because he made terrible choices.”
“I have loved you for twelve years.”
“That love is not connected to a court order or a last name.”
“Do you understand?”
Sophie whispered first.
“Yes.”
Owen took longer.
“I think so.”
The doorbell rang.
It was almost one in the morning.
I checked the security camera.
Daniel stood on the porch.
He was alone.
But he was not wearing the clothes from the airport.
His hair was damp.
His shirt was wrinkled.
And there was a red mark along his neck that had not been there when he left.
May you like
Vanessa had not gone to Paris alone.
She had never boarded the plane.
