Chapter 17
A faint, sad smile touched my mouth.
“My father gave me the notebook and told me to take it to my mother.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
The smile disappeared.
“My father was waiting when I returned.
He took it from me.”
“Did he read it?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“I saw him burn several pages in the study fireplace.
He didn’t know I was watching.”
The room seemed to grow colder.
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
“I was afraid he would know I had read the notebook.”
“You had read it?”
“Some of it.”
“What did it say?”
“Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Enough to understand that my father had been lying to people for years.”
“And you still said nothing.”
Dominic accepted the accusation.
“I was afraid.
Then I became ashamed.
After that, every year I waited made it harder to tell the truth.”
The honesty did not erase what he had done.
But it gave the silence a shape I could finally understand.
Not an excuse.
A fear that had been allowed to become a life.
I opened the notebook.
The first pages were filled with figures and abbreviated names.
Then, halfway through, the writing changed.
The entries became less formal, more urgent.
*Elena says the company books are being altered.*
*She found transfers to accounts I was never told existed.*
*If I confront him, he will know she has spoken to me.*
*Dominic is watching everything.
He is still a boy, but he understands more than his father thinks.*
I looked up.
Dominic’s face had gone completely still.
“You were in this.”
“I don’t know what he meant.”
“You were.”
“Perhaps he meant that I saw what happened.”
“Maybe he was asking you to help him.”
Dominic looked away.
The next page held only a single sentence.
*I cannot leave Naomi with a story that makes her believe she was abandoned.*
My vision blurred.
I pressed my fingers against the paper.
“He was going to come back,” I whispered.
No one answered.
I turned the page.
*Elena has the original records.
If I do not return, she must take Naomi somewhere safe.
The Kings will say I ran.
They will say I stole.
They will say whatever protects them.*
A second line had been added in different ink.
*The room key is with Dominic.
He has agreed to deliver the notebook.*
I looked at him.
“You agreed.”
“I did.”