Chapter 2: Secrets at the Lake House
The lake house looked the same—weather-beaten shingles, the dock creaking in the wind—but everything felt wrong. I parked behind a beat-up black pickup I didn’t recognize. Ryan’s, probably.
He was waiting on the porch, taller than I remembered, with the same stubborn jaw and Dad’s eyes. Twelve years had added scars and a beard, but it was him.
“Anna,” he said, voice rough like gravel. “You came.”
“No shit I came. What the hell is this, Ryan? Dad left you everything. Everything.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking tired. “Yeah. Figured you’d be pissed.”
“Pissed doesn’t cover it. Mom’s devastated. Jess is already talking lawyers. What did you do to him? Blackmail? Threaten him?”
Ryan stepped closer. The air between us crackled. “I didn’t do anything. He reached out six months ago. Said he was sick. Wanted to make it right.”
“Make what right?” I demanded.
He pulled out his phone, scrolled, and handed it to me. A photo of a woman I didn’t know, holding a little girl who looked... God, she looked like me at that age.
“That’s Lily,” Ryan said softly. “My daughter. Your niece. Dad had another family. Mom knew. Sort of. She found out right before I left. That fight? It wasn’t just about the truck.”
My knees went weak. “You’re lying.”
“Check the key he gave you. It opens the safe in the study. There are letters. DNA tests. The whole damn mess.”
I shoved past him into the house, fumbling with the key. The safe clicked open. Stacks of papers, old photos. One showed Dad with that woman, years ago. My hands shook as I read the first letter.
Then I heard tires on the gravel outside. Headlights swept across the windows.
May you like
Ryan cursed under his breath. “That’s Jess. She must’ve followed you. Anna... there’s one more thing Dad didn’t put in the will. Something that could destroy everything.”
Before he could finish, the front door banged open. Jess stood there, eyes wild, holding Dad’s old hunting rifle. “Nobody’s taking what’s ours.”
