Chương 12
Maya stared at him.
“You’re a doctor.”
“I’m not a geneticist.”
“You understand what it means.”
“I understand what it could mean.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“No.”
Daniel’s voice rose, then he caught himself.
“No.”
He lowered it.
“It isn’t.”
Maya looked toward the door.
“What happens to him?”
Daniel followed her gaze to the bassinet.
“Nothing happens to him right now.”
“You know what I mean.”
“He is our son.”
“If we’re related—”
“He is our son.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Daniel’s voice broke slightly.
“He doesn’t become less our son because adults lied before he existed.”
The sentence hit her harder than any accusation had.
She pressed her fingers over her mouth.
Daniel looked away.
A minute passed.
Then another.
Outside, a hospital cart rattled past.
Somewhere down the hall, a baby began crying.
The sound was ordinary.
It made Maya cry harder.
Not loudly.
Tears simply slid down her face while she stared at the bassinet.
Daniel moved his chair closer.
He still did not touch her.
“I need to call my mother,” Maya said.
Daniel looked at her.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because if Aaron is right, she might have been involved.”
“She is my mother.”
“I know.”
“I need to hear her voice.”
Daniel rubbed his hands together.
“And if she lies?”
Maya’s face tightened.
“She already has.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know she told me my father left before I was born.”
Daniel said nothing.
“She knew his name.”
“Yes.”
“She worked with him.”
“Probably.”
“She changed her name.”
“Yes.”
Maya looked at him.
“That is not nothing.”
“No.”
Daniel stood.
“Call her.”
Maya reached for her phone.
Her hand shook so badly she nearly dropped it.
Daniel took the phone, unlocked it with her passcode, and handed it back.
The intimacy of the gesture felt almost unbearable.
Maya found her mother’s contact.
Laura answered on the third ring.
“Baby?”
Maya froze.
Her mother sounded cheerful.
“Did he arrive?”
Maya could not speak.
Laura laughed softly.
“I have been checking my phone every ten minutes like an idiot.”
Daniel looked toward the window.
Maya swallowed.
“Mom.”
The smile disappeared from Laura’s voice.
“What’s wrong?”
Maya looked at Daniel.
He nodded once.
“Do you know a man named Richard Carter?”
Silence.
Not confusion.
Not delay.
Silence.
Maya felt it immediately.
Laura’s breathing changed.
“Maya.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Maya pressed the phone harder to her ear.
“Answer me.”
“Where did you hear that name?”
“Answer me.”
Laura said nothing.
Maya’s voice sharpened.
“Was he my father?”
The silence lasted long enough to become an answer.
Maya stopped breathing.
Daniel moved closer but still did not touch her.
Finally Laura spoke.
“You just had a baby.”
Maya stared ahead.
“Yes.”
“This is not a conversation for today.”
Maya laughed through tears.
“Apparently everybody decided that for me.”
“What happened?”
“Was Richard Carter my father?”
Laura’s voice became very quiet.
“Who is with you?”
“Daniel.”
Another silence.
Longer this time.
Maya looked at Daniel.
He heard enough from her face.
Laura exhaled.
“Oh, God.”
Maya’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
Maya shut her eyes.
“Mom.”
“No, Maya.”
Laura’s voice trembled.
“Richard Carter was not your father.”
Daniel looked at her sharply.
Maya opened her eyes.
“Then why is his name on my birth certificate?”
Laura inhaled.
“What?”
“A copy of my birth certificate says Richard Carter is my father.”
“That is impossible.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was there when you were born.”
Maya’s anger flashed.
“That doesn’t explain anything.”
“I signed the original.”
“Whose name was on it?”
Laura stopped.
Maya’s voice broke.
“Whose name?”
“Samuel Reed.”
Daniel straightened.
Maya’s mouth went dry.
“So Samuel was my father.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Richard Carter spend years looking for me?”
Laura did not answer.
Maya stared at the wall.
“Mom.”
Laura began to cry.
Maya had heard her mother cry only twice in her life.
Once when Maya’s grandmother died.
Once after surgery when the anesthesia made her confused.
This was different.
“I tried to keep you out of it,” Laura whispered.
“Out of what?”
“Richard thought Samuel had taken something from him.”
Daniel moved closer to the phone.
Maya put it on speaker.
Laura heard the change.
“Is Daniel listening?”
“Yes.”
“Maya.”
“He is listening.”
Laura breathed in slowly.
“Then both of you need to understand that Richard did not hire Vale because of either of you.”
Daniel looked at Maya.
“Why did he hire him?”
Laura’s voice trembled through the speaker.
“Because Samuel left something behind before he died.”
Maya’s heart thudded.
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Daniel frowned.
“What kind of ledger?”
“A record of the Lakeshore money.”
Laura paused.
“Who paid whom.”
Another pause.
“Who knew.”
Maya stared at the phone.
“And Richard thought I had it.”
“Yes.”
“Did I?”
“No.”
“Did you?”
Laura began crying harder.
Daniel’s expression changed.
Maya whispered, “Mom.”
Laura did not answer.
Maya closed her eyes.
“You had it.”
“Yes.”
The word barely came through the speaker.
Daniel stood very still.
Maya’s voice dropped.
“What did you do with it?”
Laura sniffed.
“I gave it to Richard.”
Daniel looked at Maya.
“Then why did he keep looking?”
Laura’s next words came so quietly that Maya almost missed them.
“Because I gave him the wrong one.”
Maya stared at the phone.
“What do you mean, the wrong one?”
Laura’s breathing came ragged through the speaker.
“Samuel kept two ledgers.”
Daniel moved closer.
“One real and one fake.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
Laura laughed weakly through tears.
“That was his word.”
Maya pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead.
“Insurance against who?”
“Everyone.”
Laura took another breath.
“Richard, Vale, the investors, even me.”
Daniel looked at Maya.
“Where is the real one?”
Laura went quiet again.
Maya’s voice hardened.
“Mom.”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“I moved it twice.”
“Where is it now?”
Laura hesitated.
“In a safe-deposit box.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Of course.”
Maya looked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
May you like
“It was something.”
He rubbed his face.
