Chapter 8 - THE DEAD MAN'S SECRET
The courtroom erupted.
Reporters stood.
The judge ordered everyone to remain seated.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“Where did you get this?”
Madison swallowed.
“From Jason.”
I turned toward him.
Jason closed his eyes.
“I never wanted her to show it.”
“Why did you have it?”
He finally answered.
“Because Robert contacted me.”
The room went silent.
“When?”
“Six months after everyone believed he died.”
Jason explained that Robert had been hiding.
He told Jason Eleanor was dangerous.
He warned him not to trust anyone.
But Jason made the worst decision of his life.
He believed his mother.
Robert eventually disappeared again.
Jason spent years trying to find him.
Then he found him.
Three months ago.
Alive.
Living under another name.
“Where is he now?” the judge asked.
Jason looked at Madison.
“I don't know.”
Madison stepped forward.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
She opened the folder.
“There were emails.”
Robert had contacted Madison because he knew Jason was secretly seeing her.
He wanted information.
He wanted to know whether Jason had discovered the truth.
Madison had initially cooperated.
Then she fell in love with him.
She regretted everything.
The final email from Robert contained an address.
Daniel read it.
His expression changed.
“He's in Virginia.”
My father's face went pale.
“Where?”
Daniel showed him.
My father whispered the name of a town.
“That’s where I disappeared.”
We left the courthouse under police protection.
For the first time, Jason walked beside me.
Not as my husband.
Not as my enemy.
Just as a man who had finally run out of lies.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
I kept walking.
“You should be.”
“I thought if I controlled everything, I could keep you safe.”
“You destroyed me.”
“I know.”
“No. You don't.”
He stopped.
I turned.
“You didn't just betray my marriage. You made me question my own mind.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“I know.”
“No,” I said quietly.
“You don't get to understand that in one afternoon.”
Then I walked away.
We found Robert that night.
He was sitting alone in a small house overlooking the river.
When he saw my father, he stood.
“You came back.”
My father nodded.
Robert looked at me.
“You must be Iris.”
I nodded.
He smiled sadly.
“I’m sorry you were pulled into this.”
Then he handed me a small envelope.
“This is why Jason married you.”
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Eleanor.
Standing beside my father.
Twenty years earlier.
May you like
And between them was a newborn baby.
Me.
