Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
In ten seconds of excruciating silence, Simon looks from me to his father. Then back.
His beautiful eyes shine with something breaking—shattering—behind them. I see the war inside him, watch the battles being fought and won. On one side, the boy raised by this family. On the other, the man who fell in love with me.
The guilt.
The fear.
The conditioning.
All grinding together until something finally snaps.
“It’s okay,” I whisper, hardly a sound leaving my lips. Everything inside me is screaming. Begging. “Just tell them the truth.”
His face wrinkles, as if that’s the cruelest thing I could’ve said. It’s not easy, I know. What I’m asking of him.
But we have no choice.
Slowly, he turns toward the officer. My heart slows. Waiting. Listening.
“She’s… My wife has been having a hard time.” His voice is dull. Dead. It doesn’t even sound like him. “She hasn’t been well.”
A bomb detonates in my chest.
No.
He keeps going. “Ever since her mom died, she’s been paranoid. Hearing things. Imagining… I’ve tried to keep it from being an issue, but…” He lowers his head into his palm, then drops his shoulders as he looks back up. “I’m so sorry she dragged you into this.”
I stagger as if I’ve been stabbed. That’s what it feels like. The room spins.
He can’t look at me. His eyes stay fixed on the officer.
“It’s not her fault,” he whispers. “She’s just…overwhelmed. Sad. This wedding was a lot on her. It made her think of…our wedding. Her mom.”
No.
No.
No.
The room flips on its head.
Pierce exhales, closing his eyes like a prayer has been answered. I watch the officers exchange glances, sympathetic nods.
“So, you see,” Pierce says, filling the silence, “whatever she sent you, I’m sure we can verify it was fabricated. We’d love it if we could keep this between us. She’s harmless, just a bit…unwell. Don’t fault her for it. We’re going to make sure she gets the help she needs.”
A hot, dizzying rage lights in my skull.
“Simon,” I say. My voice is still so low. I only want him to hear me. “Don’t do this. Please. Please don’t do this.”
But he just takes a step farther back. My husband—my safe place, my gravity—chooses them over me. Over truth. Justice. Our family. Our child.
Our child.
Something inside me goes still.
Not broken. Not defeated.
Cold. Sharp.
Focused.
My child.
“I didn’t want this,” I say quietly. “Any of this.”
They all turn, watching me.
I straighten my shoulders, keeping my voice steady as I look at the officer.
“You want proof? Truth? There is a room filled with hard drives in the back of the closet of the second bedroom downstairs. You’ll find all the proof I had stored on my computer.
Everything I sent you already, and I’m guessing a lot more. ”
“Our security office,” Pierce cuts in. “That’s what she means, but I can assure you there are no hard drives. Only cameras.”
They’ve had enough time to get rid of them.
I swallow. “There’s something else.”
Again, all eyes are on me. “The little girl I thought I was talking to? It turns out, she exists. The real Lia, anyway. After her father died, she was adopted by Rachelle’s sister, Allison Raines.”
Aunt Allison. Her face flashes in my mind from the wedding, the nausea that overtook me at the sight of her, the memory of what I’d learned.
Rachelle can’t hide her sharp inhale. She had no idea I knew, and neither did I—I didn’t remember the girl or her case—until I opened those flash drive files just days ago and searched for her name with just a glimmer of hope.
“Pat’s death was never investigated. Never solved. But the Mornings were quick to make sure his daughter was adopted by a family she’d never met.”
“Out of the kindness of our hearts,” Pierce says angrily, hand balled into a fist. “Tell her, Carl. That little girl needed a family. We made sure she had one.”
I let the weight of everything settle into the room.
“After I learned about Lia, I knew the little girl I was talking to couldn’t be her.
I thought maybe it was her daughter, though I couldn’t put all the pieces together.
” I lick my lips, preparing myself. “I ordered a tracking necklace and planted it in a place I knew the Mornings would find it. I gave it to Simon, who, I’m certain, gave it to Pierce.
I’d bet anything, if you figure out where the necklace is hidden now, you’ll find where Pierce Morning keeps whatever proof you might need. ”
Rachelle stiffens. Pierce’s face drains of color.
Simon’s head snaps up, confusion flickering—but he stays silent.
They thought I was na?ve, but they misjudged me. Like I misjudged them. I just hoped I was wrong.
The officer looks at Pierce. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”
He scoffs. His face twitches. “Absolutely not.”
Slowly, ever so slowly, the officer is looking back at me. “Can you show me the tracker?”
I pull out my phone, freshly charged, and open the app. I pass it to the officer. “Here.”
“This is ridiculous,” Pierce says. “Carl, tell them.”
“Dad, what’s going on?” Duncan appears at the end of the hall, dressed in workout gear.
But the officers are already moving, leaving Carl behind as they move past Rachelle and down the hall.
Panic ripples through the room.
Simon glares at me. “Astrid, what did you do?”
“I knew if he thought the necklace was real, if he didn’t throw it away, he’d hide it somewhere only he had access to.” I’m talking to Simon but looking at Pierce. “And now, I’m assuming they’ve spent the day moving all the hard drives and evidence to that hiding spot.”
Pierce’s composure fractures. “This is…absurd. Absolutely preposterous.” He’s beet red. “Carl, surely there’s something you can do. Tell them who we are. Tell them we’d never do anything wrong.”
A shout echoes from down the hall. “Found something!”
We rush forward together. Finally, I am one with the Mornings.
The sound comes from Pierce’s office. He shoves past us and into the office, where the first officer has removed a painting on the wall. Behind it, there’s a large safe.
“You have no right?—”
The second officer grabs Pierce’s arm, stopping him in his tracks. “Sir, you need to stay back. Our warrant allows us to search the entire property. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
His face goes white.
Next to me, Simon looks as if he’s watching his world collapse piece by piece. Someday, the guilt might take root in me over this, but for now, I just feel numb. Determined.
He grips the doorframe as if he can barely keep himself upright.
Rachelle paces like a trapped animal, keeping close to Officer Watson.
All around me, the pieces of the life I’ve built are collapsing, but I feel nothing.
Just clarity. There was no way to avoid this, and it was never what I wanted. I’m protecting myself.
“You’ll need to tell me the code,” the officer says.
“Like hell,” Pierce tells him.
“If you don’t give us the code, we’ll be forced to break into it. Easy way or hard way.”
“I want my attorney,” Pierce says firmly.
The officer releases his arm. “You’re free to call anyone you’d like.”
Pierce darts from the room, but it’s Rachelle who steps forward and hands over the code, jotting it down on a piece of paper.
We wait as the officer types in the six-digit passcode. A beep.
He turns the handle.
Inside, there are stacks of documents. Stacks of cash. The missing hard drives. So much, it’s overwhelming. I don’t even know where to begin.
Behind us, Duncan, Polly, and Vic linger, horrified.
The house turns to chaos, with Pierce somewhere down the hall yelling into his phone.
The officers step back, assessing everything. There’s a quick glance back at me from one of them, a look that feels almost like an apology.
For now, it’s enough.
I don’t wait. I move, back down the hall and out the front door.
No one notices me, or if they do, they don’t try to stop me. I get in the front seat of the car and press the button to start it up. My fob is somewhere in my bags.
Simon appears on the porch, his face soft and desperate, but he doesn’t call out, and I don’t hesitate. I disappear down the driveway quickly, my mind an empty slate. My hands don’t shake. My heart doesn’t break.
Not yet. I don’t leave any space for it to.
I did what was necessary, and now, I’ll live with the consequences. At least I’ll be free. The same thing can’t be said for my in-laws.