Part 6: The Father Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Part 6: The Father Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
For several seconds, I couldn’t speak.
The phone was still against my ear.
Amelia was still there.
But my mind had stopped.
Because there was only one sentence repeating over and over.
Your father.
“That’s impossible.”
My voice came out quietly.
Almost like I was trying to convince myself.
“My father died.”
“I know what you were told.”
Amelia sounded afraid.
“But Daniel…”
A pause.
“Someone sent me a picture.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“What picture?”
She hesitated.
Then said:
“Your father.”
I stood up.
My heart was pounding.
“Send it to me.”
“Daniel…”
“Send it.”
A few seconds later, my phone vibrated.
A message.
One image.
I opened it.
And forgot how to breathe.
The picture showed a man standing outside a building.
Older.
Thinner.
Gray hair.
But the eyes…
The eyes were exactly the same.
My father.
Thomas Carter.
The man who had supposedly died in a car accident eight years ago.
“No.”
I whispered.
“No, no, no.”
I zoomed in.
The photo was clear.
Too clear.
My father was alive.
“Daniel?”
Amelia’s voice shook.
“Are you okay?”
I couldn’t answer.
Because every memory I had suddenly felt different.
The funeral.
The closed casket.
The rushed explanation.
The family members who avoided questions.
The accident report nobody wanted me to read.
All those years…
I thought I lost him.
Now I wondered…
Was I supposed to believe that?
“Where did you get this?”
I asked.
“My father’s file.”
A pause.
“He had been tracking him.”
“Tracking my father?”
“Yes.”
My mind raced.
“Why?”
Amelia took a deep breath.
“Because your father was connected to Ethan.”
I closed my eyes.
Another connection.
Another hidden relationship.
Another piece of a puzzle I never knew existed.
“Tell me everything.”
She was quiet.
Then she said:
“Your father and Ethan worked together.”
I felt sick.
“My father was a businessman.”
“Yes.”
“Ethan was…”
I stopped.
I didn’t even know what he was.
“Daniel, Ethan wasn’t just Lily’s father.”
A pause.
“He was involved with your father years ago.”
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“Involved how?”
Amelia whispered:
“They were part of the same organization.”
“What organization?”
“I don’t know.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
She ignored it.
“But my father discovered something.”
“What?”
“That your father wasn’t killed.”
Silence.
“He disappeared.”
I stared at the wall.
My entire life had been built around a death that might have never happened.
“Why would my father fake his death?”
“I don’t know.”
Another answer I hated.
“But I know one thing.”
“What?”
“He left a message.”
I waited.
“About you.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did he say?”
Amelia’s voice dropped.
“He said…”
A pause.
“If Daniel ever learns the truth, don’t let him trust anyone.”
The words hit me.
Because they sounded exactly like something my father would say.
Then another memory surfaced.
Something from when I was a child.
My father kneeling beside my bed.
Holding my hand.
Telling me:
“Daniel, people can lie with words.”
A pause.
“But they can’t lie forever.”
I had forgotten.
Until now.
“What else did he say?”
Amelia hesitated.
“Nothing.”
I knew she was hiding something.
Again.
“Amelia.”
Silence.
“What?”
“You’re lying.”
She went quiet.
Finally:
“He said one more thing.”
“What?”
“He said…”
Her voice cracked.
“Your wedding day would be the day everything came back.”
My blood ran cold.
The wedding.
This wasn’t random.
Ethan didn’t appear by accident.
The little girl wasn’t hidden by coincidence.
Someone knew.
Someone planned this.
I looked at the wedding ring on the table.
The symbol of the day that was supposed to begin my future.
Instead…
It had opened the door to my past.
“Daniel.”
Amelia’s voice brought me back.
“Yes?”
“Where are you?”
I looked around my apartment.
At the empty room.
At the life I no longer recognized.
“I’m going to find my father.”
She went silent.
“Daniel, please be careful.”
I grabbed my jacket.
“I’ve spent my whole life believing he was dead.”
A pause.
“If he’s alive…”
I opened the door.
“I need to know why he left me.”
Before I could leave, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
No one spoke.
Only breathing.
Then a voice.
Older.
Familiar.
A voice I had not heard in eight years.
“Daniel.”
My entire body froze.
“Dad?”
Silence.
Then:
“You were never supposed to find out this way.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Where are you?”
A long pause.
Then my father said:
“Ask the woman you almost married why she was chosen.”
The call ended.
And I realized something terrifying.
The wedding wasn’t destroyed because of a secret.
The wedding was destroyed because it was never a coincidence.
May you like
Someone had been moving pieces.
And I was the last person to understand I was part of the game.
