Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Danica sat in the chair in front of her father’s desk. “Tell me what you’ve been hiding.”
“Before I get into this, I need you to know—”
“Dad, enough. Tell me.”
He looked over at the engagement portrait on the wall. Danica’s mother and father, smiling and happy. The Grant and Foster names, about to be united.
“It has to do with your mother.”
“Mom? What about her?”
William picked up his desk phone and hit a button. “Could you come in here, please?” he muttered. “It’s time.”
Danica had no clue what to think. Her chest was growing tighter and tighter the longer she had to wait. Especially now that she knew it was something about her mom.
She wanted to reach out for Noah’s hand, but of course he wasn’t here. He’d stayed behind to allow her to have this conversation.
Danica was pissed at herself for letting her father win that argument. But her need for the truth was just too compelling, and Noah had understood.
Noah was waiting for her. That reassured her.
But she felt awful about Rosie getting fired. Danica would need to get in touch with her, make sure she was all right. Her father might accuse her of being disloyal. But Danica was more like Noah that way. She was loyal to those who deserved it.
The door opened, and Tori stepped inside.
Her head was bowed, eyes down. She slunk over to stand beside William.
So Tori did know William’s secret. He’d shared the truth with his lover. Big surprise.
But why had Tori contacted Danica at the gala? To confess that secret, because William’s poor daughter was hopelessly out of the loop? Taking pity on her?
Danica’s confusion gave way to anger. “Dad, you said this was a family matter. That’s why Noah couldn’t be here. What does Tori have to do with it?”
“Because she is family,” William snapped, his face turning red.
“What?” If her father had snuck off and married this woman, Danica was going to lose it.
“I’m your sister,” Tori blurted out.
The room went quiet. Danica could hear blood rushing in her ears. My sister? What the hell? There was nothing to do but wait for an explanation, even though she wanted to run over to Tori and shake it out of her.
My sister.
William had covered his eyes with his hand.
Tori took a step closer to Danica. “I wanted to tell you. That’s why I tried to get in touch with you at the gala. William didn’t agree, and I didn’t want him to find out. That’s why I went through Lindley at the museum. William’s my father. We have different mothers.”
Tori was in her late twenties. But Danica’s mother had died less than two decades ago. She could do that math, and she despised what it said about William.
How far do the lies go?
“How long have you known, Dad?” Danica glared at her father, who wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“A long time.”
The engagement portrait looked down on them all from its place of honor on the wall.
“For most of my life, I didn’t know,” Tori said. “After I found out, I tried to tell you last fall. I emailed you.”
Email? Then it dawned on her. “You tried to blackmail me?”
Tori cringed. “I didn’t think of it like that. I didn’t want to blackmail you. I just…wanted your attention. And I needed help. My mom needed help.”
“Go on.” Danica’s voice was low. Dangerous.
Tori came over to sit in the chair beside her. She seemed to be warming up to this conversation. “I never knew who my father was. But I figured it out last year.”
“How?” Danica demanded.
“Well, it started when my mom and I saw you on TV. You were doing an interview. My mother, she’s got a lot of medical conditions.
Diabetes, emphysema. She’s been deteriorating the last few years.
That day, as we watched your interview, she started saying things about how I could’ve been the one on TV.
I could’ve had what you had. She wasn’t making any sense.
But finally, I got enough out of her that I understood.
And I just…I was angry. My mom needed better care, and we couldn’t afford it, so the burden was all on me.
I got desperate. I emailed you. I’m sorry. ”
“Blake got in touch with you?” Danica asked in a monotone.
Tori nodded. “He made the arrangements.”
“Arrangements. He paid you off?”
“He offered me a job. As his assistant. And a chance…” Tori looked over at William. “To meet my father. To be part of your lives. Part of this family, even in secret.”
“Has your mother gotten the care she needs?” Danica asked.
“Yes. She has. I’m grateful, even if I wish I’d dealt with it differently.” Tori held out her hands, palms open, like she was begging Danica to believe her. To forgive. “I just wanted a little bit of what you have. Can you blame me?”
Why would you want any of this? Danica wondered. But the answer was obvious.
Tori and her mother had needed the money. So much ugliness came down to money.
“Why didn’t your mother ask for a pay off before? She could have.”
“I think she was proud. And I think she got some money before? Right after I was born.”
William was nodding.
Danica felt sick. “Let me guess. Your birthday is January 17th? You’re twenty-eight? Or probably twenty-nine now.”
Tori glanced down at her lap. “Yes.”
“Good old Dad paid off your mom when you were born. Because he was married to my mother.” Danica jumped up from her seat, fists clenching.
“It was not like that,” William said. “Your mother knew, all right? It was no secret. Not from her.”
“So, what, she had to hide what you’d done? How is that supposed to make me feel better?” She wanted out of this room. Out of this house. But Danica had the feeling she hadn’t heard everything yet.
Danica went to the window, and her dad followed her across the office. “Our marriage was all but arranged by our families. The Fosters and the Grants, uniting their fortunes.”
“Yeah, that’s what all the articles say. I know.” How many times had she heard this story? “But then during your engagement, you fell in love, and…”
Her father was shaking his head, the saddest look on his face.
“No, sweetheart. We didn’t fall in love. It was a business deal. Nothing more.”
Danica felt like he’d slapped her. Like he’d taken a photo of their family—a representation of her perfect childhood before her mom died—and torn it in two.
This couldn’t be right. If she accepted what her father was saying, then everything about her parents would be a lie. Everything about her mom.
“You said you were soul mates. You loved her. She was everything.”
“In a way, she was. Your mother was my best friend. But we lived separate lives.”
“You’re saying it was fake? You pretended to love each other? Why?”
“It was what our families wanted. Given our public profile, the business…”
“The business,” Danica repeated. She felt numb.
“And then, you and Soren. We wanted to do what was best.”
“You lied to us.”
“Your mother and I made sacrifices. It wasn’t easy. I fell in love with someone else. And so did she. But we did what we had to, and we kept our family together.”
The Foster-Grant name. The Foster-Grant reputation.
“After your mom died,” her dad went on, “I didn’t want to tarnish her memory. I had to keep that…fiction going. For you, and Soren, and the family name.”
This was too much. More than Danica could take. It was sick and twisted, and it couldn’t be her life. “Does Soren know?”
“I think he suspects,” William said.
“Am I supposed to tell him?”
“I’d rather you didn’t speak about this to anyone. I’ll handle Soren. But this has to stay in the family. Surely, you must see that.”
“You mean Noah. I’m supposed to lie to him?”
She had to keep pretending that she didn’t have a sister?
“This is why I didn’t want someone like him involved in our lives,” William said. “We can’t trust his discretion.”
Trust? Her father was talking about trust?
“I can’t listen to any more.”
Danica walked away from them in a daze, ignoring her father’s requests for her to stay. She didn’t want to hear anything else, and she couldn’t offer forgiveness.
In the hallway, she swayed, catching herself against the wall.
“Danica, wait.” Tori had followed her. “Our dad forgave me, and I forgave him. Maybe you could do the same. Can we talk about this? Please?”
“Not now.” She had to get back to Noah, and she had to figure out what the hell she was supposed to say.
All her life, she’d held onto the private hope that she’d find a love like her parents had. Soul mates. All of it, lies. Fake.
And I made Noah lie for me, too. Didn’t I?
Noah was so good. He deserved much better than this twisted mess of a family.
Better than me.