Chapter 8

Conrad Calder was in his study when I found him, a glass of whiskey in his hand and a fire burning low in the grate. He had aged since I last saw him. The golden boy who had kissed me in the garden was gone. In his place was a tired man with guilt etched into his face.

“Nora,” he said. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I should have been here twenty-six years ago. You didn’t answer my calls.”

He set down the glass. “Vivian told me you abandoned the baby. She said you left the hospital and never looked back.”

“And you believed her?”

“I was a coward.” He rubbed his face. “I was married. I had everything to lose. When she told me you were gone, I let her take over. I let her raise him.”

“You let her steal him.”

“I didn’t know she faked the death. I swear to God. I thought you gave him up.”

Grant stepped out of the shadows by the bookshelf. Conrad startled. “Grant.”

“You knew I was adopted?”

Conrad’s face crumpled. “I knew you weren’t hers biologically. But Vivian told me the mother died. When you were older, she said the mother had abandoned you. I didn’t ask questions because I didn’t want to know.”

“You’re my father,” Grant said. “You had a responsibility.”

“I know.”

“I don’t need your guilt. I need your testimony.”

Conrad looked at me, then at his son. “What do you want me to say?”

“The truth,” I said. “That we were together. That you gave me the locket. That Vivian told you I abandoned the baby. That you believed her until now.”

He nodded slowly. “She’s going to destroy me.”

“She’s already destroying him,” I said.

Conrad poured himself another drink, then set it down untouched. “I’ll do it. I’ll stand up at the announcement and tell everyone.”

Grant’s phone buzzed. He read the message and his face went white.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Vivian just sent out a family announcement. She’s disinheriting me tomorrow night. She says she’s going to expose Nora Vale as a fraudulent blackmailer and announce that I am no longer her son.”

Conrad stood. “Tomorrow night?”

“The same ballroom,” Grant said. “The same guests. She wants to humiliate us in public.”

I looked at the two men - my son and his father - and felt something harden inside me. Vivian had taken everything from me. She had taken my baby, my name, my reputation. Now she wanted to take the only thing left: my chance to be believed.

“Then we’ll be there,” I said. “With the locket, the nurse, and the truth.”

Conrad nodded. “And me.”

Grant looked at me. “Are you ready?”

“I’ve been ready for twenty-six years.”