Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO COULD WALK
The river swallowed us.
Tobias pulled me through the open door before I could even think.
My lungs screamed.
I kicked toward the surface.
He grabbed my ankle and dragged me down.
I turned, furious, bubbles spilling from my mouth.
He shoved something into my hand.
A small emergency breathing mouthpiece.
Where had he gotten that?
I used it.
One breath.
Then another.
Tobias pointed toward an abandoned wooden pier fifty yards downstream.
We stayed underwater.
When we finally surfaced beneath the pier, I grabbed his jacket.
“You can walk.”
“Yes.”
“Fifteen years.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me for fifteen years?”
His jaw tightened.
“To keep us alive.”
I slapped him.
Hard.
He took it.
“My entire life,” I whispered. “I carried you. I defended you. I built ramps into my house. I changed my whole life around you.”
“I know.”
“You watched me marry Garrett.”
“I know.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I tried.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Rosalind, Garrett’s family killed Mom and Dad.”
I froze.
Water dripped from my hair.
“What?”
“The crash fifteen years ago wasn’t an accident.”
“That’s insane.”
“I was awake when the truck hit us.”
“You were twelve.”
“I remember.”
Tobias pulled back his sleeve.
A faded scar ran along his forearm.
“Dad was still alive after the crash. I heard him arguing with someone outside the car.”
“Who?”
“Victor Hale.”
Garrett’s father.
My knees almost gave out.
Victor Hale had attended our wedding.
He had hugged me.
He had called me family.
“Tobias, Victor died eight years ago.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“He disappeared eight years ago.”
“The police said—”
“The police said what they were paid to say.”
My mind raced.
The shipyard.
Our parents.
Garrett.
Penelope.
The baby.
“Why pretend to be paralyzed?”
“Because after the crash, someone came into my hospital room.”
I stared at him.
“He leaned over my bed and said, ‘If your legs ever work again, your sister dies.’”
I felt sick.
“So you stayed in the chair?”
“For fifteen years.”
“For me?”
“For both of us.”
A motor started somewhere nearby.
Tobias suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Down.”
A small boat moved slowly past the pier.
Garrett stood at the wheel.
Penelope sat beside him.
And a third man stood behind them.
An older man with silver hair.
Even from fifty yards away, I recognized him.
May you like
Victor Hale.
My supposedly dead father-in-law.
