Chapter 2: The Secret In The Will
Chapter 2: The Secret In The Will
Three days earlier.
I had no idea my marriage was ending.
I was making dinner.
Waiting for Ryan to come home.
Like I had done for eleven years.
Then someone knocked on the door.
An older attorney stood outside.
"Mrs. Walker?"
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry to bother you."
He handed me an envelope.
"Your father-in-law requested that you receive this exactly six months after his death."
I frowned.
"What is it?"
His expression changed.
"Penance."
The moment he left, I opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
And a DNA test.
My hands started shaking.
The letter began:
Claire,
If you're reading this, my son has become exactly the man I feared he would become.
The blood drained from my face.
I kept reading.
Years ago, Ryan got another woman pregnant.
The child survived.
The mother disappeared.
Ryan paid someone to make the problem go away.
I couldn't breathe.
The words blurred.
There was more.
Much more.
The DNA report proved everything.
A daughter.
Ten years old.
Living somewhere in Chicago.
Completely unaware of who her father was.
I felt sick.
Eleven years.
Eleven years of lies.
When Ryan came home that night, I almost confronted him.
Almost.
Instead, I smiled.
Served dinner.
Kissed his cheek.
And pretended everything was normal.
Because for the first time...
I realized I didn't know my husband at all.
The next morning, I hired a private investigator.
Forty-eight hours later, he called.
"Mrs. Walker?"
"Yes."
"We found the little girl."
I sat up immediately.
"And?"
There was a pause.
May you like
Then he said something that made my entire world collapse.
"She's not the only child."
