whispered, “She was better than all of us.”
Margaret continued.
“Russell collected information. Thomas sold access to it. I built the security systems.”
I looked at Hayes.
“And you were with my mother?”
His expression changed.
“Yes.”
Margaret’s voice became colder.
“Thomas and I were engaged.”
The room seemed to shift again.
“But he wasn’t my father?” I asked.
She hesitated.
Hayes answered first.
“I believed I was.”
Russell stared at him.
“You still do?”
Hayes said nothing.
Margaret looked at me.
“The DNA test Russell found was fake.”
My lungs tightened.
Russell’s head snapped toward her.
“What?”
“I replaced the original report years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed everyone to stop looking at Emily.”
Hayes went pale.
I whispered, “So who is my father?”
Margaret looked at Hayes.“Thomas.”
The lawyer closed his eyes.
Everything inside me went quiet.
He really was my father.
The
man who had manipulated
