Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

Uncertainty caused Evie to hesitate to do as directed and open the folder. Whatever was inside couldn’t be good—not if her father saw it as ammunition against her own mother.

But if there was one thing she’d learned in recent weeks, it was that she was a hell of a lot stronger than even she gave herself credit for.

You survived being held captive by monsters. Surely, you can handle whatever he thinks he has in his corner.

Evie opened the folder and looked inside. At first, she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. But then…

“These are DNA test results.” She glanced back at the top of the page and frowned. “From thirty years ago.”

Her stomach churned with dread as her father began to explain.

“You’d just turned two. You had a head full of short, dark curls, and your eyes were too big for your face. In fact…” He shoved his hands into his dress pants pockets. “The only real noticeable difference between pictures of your mother at that same age and you are those dimples of yours.”

My dimples?

“I don’t understand.” Evie stared back at him. “What does any of this have to do with?—”

“Your mother didn’t have dimples. No one in her family did. Obviously, I don’t possess that particular trait, nor does anyone I know from the Mitchell side.”

When he didn’t continue, she exhaled impatiently and started to close the folder. “I’m not sure what it is you’re rambling about, or what point it is you think you’re making, but?—”

“Those men who took you.” Her father slowly brought himself closer. “They called and demanded I buy my daughter’s freedom.”

“And you lied,” she bit back. “They told you they would kill me…I told you they were going to kill me…and you lied and said you didn’t have a daughter.”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong.” He removed his hands from his pockets and shook his head slowly. “I spoke the truth.”

Her father had gone mad. That was the only explanation for his confusing rant. Of course, he’d lied. And how he could stand here and even attempt to say otherwise?—

Evie glanced back down at the decades-old DNA test. Studying it closely, she took the time to read the details she’d previously ignored.

According to the report, the primary sample tested had come from her biological father. And the name listed by the results from the sample that had been tested…

It can’t be true. It can’t ? —

Her eyes flew back up to a man who, up until two seconds ago, she’d believed was her father. The paper held tightly in her hands suggested otherwise.

“You’re lying.”

“No.” His unwavering stare became void of emotion. “I’m not. The proof is right there in your hands.” He motioned to the printed test results. “The percentage of DNA you and I share is?—”

“Zero,” Evie whispered, shocked to her very core. “How is this…if this is true…if you really aren’t my biological father, then…w-who is?”

“A man named Denny Prescott. He and your mother were high school sweethearts. They dated through most of college, too. Until I came into the picture.”

“You broke them up?”

“Your mother broke them up. She finally came to her senses and realized they never should have been together in the first place. Everyone knew it. Her parents. Mine. We all knew I was better suited for your mother than Prescott.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He was a scholarship student, for one.” Her father—or whoever he was—said this as if it were the ultimate sin. “He had no money. No chance of a real future. Not the kind of future a woman like your mother deserved.”

Evie was starting to understand. Denny Prescott didn’t come from a wealthy family, therefore he wasn’t worthy.

Typical East Hamptons attitude.

“So you what…swooped in and saved Mom from a life of despair?” Her sarcasm was more than a little obvious.

“I saved her from a life that would have been mediocre, at best. And I didn’t want that for her.”

“Let me guess, because you loved her.” Evie’s comment came out as a sarcastic quip, rather than a question.

“You’re damn right I loved her!” He took a storming step toward her. “Don’t you get it? Your mother was my everything. My everything! And when she told me she was pregnant with you, I was over the moon with joy. I took time off of work and was at every single doctor’s appointment…and the day I saw you for the very first time on that ultrasound screen, I thought, ‘My god. My life is perfect’. Only it wasn’t perfect. It was all a facade. A joke created by your lying, cheating mother, and I…” Real emotion seemed to thicken her father’s throat. “I was the goddamn punchline.”

“You’re saying Mom cheated on you with this Denny Prescott guy?”

“She swore it was a one-time thing. A moment of weakness that just happened to result in your conception.”

“You think it was more than that.” Evie effortlessly surmised. “You think they’d been seeing each other behind your back for a while.”

“Wrong again, dear daughter.” His last word was an apparent dig. “I don’t think they ever stopped seeing one another.”

The room began to spin, and it was becoming harder and harder to breathe. Feeling sick to the point of nearly vomiting, she was forced to support herself with a hand on the edge of her father’s desk.

Except he wasn’t her father. A man named Denny Prescott was her father. The proof was clutched tightly in her white-knuckled fist.

Her mother had lied to her. The basis for Evie’s entire existence had been one giant lie.

It was no wonder the man standing before her never acted the way a father should. All those years of him being disinterested and distant. The times she’d tried over and over to gain even a fraction of his attention. Or a sliver of his love.

He hadn’t dismissed her because she’d been born a girl rather than a boy. She couldn’t even blame his presumed disdain on the stresses of his job or that maybe he hadn’t wanted children to begin with.

Phillip Mitchell was many things, but even she had to admit he was no liar. Sure, he’d initially tried excusing his claims of not having a daughter as his belief her call from the cave had been a scam. But now Evie understood why.

He’d been protecting her from the truth. Or, more accurately, he’d been trying to protect himself…and the Mitchell family name.

“That’s why you never said anything.” She glanced back up at her father. No…at Phillip. “You never told me the truth about this…about us…because it would sully your precious reputation.”

“It also would have sullied your mother’s reputation.” A hint of real emotion flared behind his otherwise cold eyes.

“Did you ever tell her you knew?”

“I confronted her with that same piece of paper the day I got the results.”

“And?”

“And we both agreed it was in all our best interests to keep the truth a secret.”

“From me?”

“From everyone.”

Everyone…

“Does that mean Denny Prescott has no idea I’m his daughter?”

The man had the right to know he had a child.

“Prescott is dead.” He blurted out the news. “Car accident. It happened before you were ever born.”

And the hits just keep coming.

“If Denny died before I was born, how can you be so sure he was my biological father?”

“There’s something else in that folder. A photograph in the very back.”

Evie’s hands trembled as she reached inside the folder. As promised, she found a picture. And when she studied the frozen image, any doubt that Phillip was telling her the truth vanished in an instant.

The photo showed a woman and a man. They were standing on the beach. Smiling at the camera as they held each other close.

“This is Mom,” she whispered softly.

“And that’s Denny Prescott.”

The deep rumble held what she guessed was years of pent-up resentment and jealousy.

“He looks like?—”

“You.” Phillip nodded. “Or rather, you look just like him.”

Evie studied the deep caverns Denny Prescott’s smile had created. Twin dimples that looked just like…

Mine.

“Your mother didn’t even bother denying the affair,” he continued. “And the test results are irrefutable, so even if she had…”

His voice trailed off, and Evie understood why. There wasn’t much more to be said on the matter. The proof of what he’d said was printed in black and white.

“I always felt like you resented me,” she finally spoke up again. “I just never understood why.”

“I loved your mother,” Phillip announced as a matter of fact. “I would have done anything for her.”

“And I was a constant reminder that she didn’t love you back.”

When he didn’t argue the fact, Evie knew she’d finally gotten the answer she’d been searching for. And as much as it shredded her to know she’d spent her entire life desperately seeking her father’s approval and love, there was a part of her that felt almost…relieved.

Phillip Mitchell’s disdain for her wasn’t a result of anything she had or hadn’t done. It stemmed from a deep-seated pain that her mother had caused.

If his claims were to be believed, then he’d truly loved her mom. But it was becoming clear that, despite his feelings, her mother’s heart had belonged to another.

Evie had been lucky enough to get out of her relationship with Preston despite massive pressure from both their families to solidify their coupling through marriage. Looking back now, she couldn’t help but wonder if her mother hadn’t felt the same sort of pressure. And maybe that’s why she chose to marry Phillip rather than the man she’d truly loved.

Oh, Mom.

“I’d like to keep this if you don’t mind.” She held up the photo in her hand.

The man standing before her nodded but said nothing.

Evie slipped the picture into her purse and then faced the man she’d called her father for what she assumed would be the very last time. Tears filled her eyes, but she ignored them and forged on. There was one more thing she needed to make crystal clear.

“I’m not going to blackmail you or use the truth about us or your refusal to help me and those girls to try to ruin your reputation.” Her solemn gaze returned to his.

He blinked, almost as if this caught him by surprise. “Then what is it you want?”

“From you?” She shrugged. “I don’t want anything from you. But even if I did, it’s not rightfully mine now, is it?”

Not anymore.

A knowing expression spread across the man’s hardened face. “You could fight your right to the Mitchell family inheritance. And, given that you were raised as if you were my child, you’d most likely win.”

Didn’t he get it?

“No one wins here, Phillip.” Evie purposely used his given name. “Not me…and certainly not you.”

Evie turned her back on him and walked out of the room. Moving with hard, purposeful steps, she kept her chin up and her emotions in check as she made her way down the hall and through the home’s elaborate foyer.

She reached the front doors. Yanking open the one on the right, Evie started to cross the threshold but was stopped by an unexpected wall of muscle.

A familiar deep voice accompanied a set of steadying hands. “Whoa, there. Where’s the fire?”

“Oh!” A tiny squeal of surprise escaped Evie’s throat. “Excuse me. I’m so sorr—” She blinked as recognition belatedly sank in. “Mr. Granger?”

“Evelynn?” Her father’s years-long business partner stared back at her with obvious surprise. “I didn’t realize…” He glanced back at the circle drive behind him. “I didn’t see your car. And since when do you address me in such a formal manner?”

At fifty-four, the middle-aged financial genius was one of the very few people in her parents’ circle Evie actually liked.

“Sorry, Landy.” The smile lifting her lips was genuine. “And I only flew in for the day. My ride’s on the way to take me back to my hotel.”

Well, her ride would be on its way. Just as soon as she could get on the app and arrange for one to pick her up.

She should probably feel guilty for the harmless, little white lie. But the fewer the questions Landy asked, the sooner their unexpected reunion would be over.

Exchange a few pleasantries. Leave this place with as much dignity as possible. Fall apart in the privacy of my hotel room.

That was her plan, and as hard as it was becoming to keep herself together, Evie was bound and determined to follow through.

“Hotel? Why aren’t you staying…” His friendly blue stare slid to the house behind her and back again. “Let me guess. Your father’s still being his stubborn, pig-headed self?”

Apparently my father’s already dead.

“I wasn’t sure what his schedule was, so I played it safe and got a room in town.”

His broad shoulders shook with a chuckle. “You’re the only multi-millionaire I know who prefers basic to luxury.”

“It’s a perfectly lovely room, and I’m not a multi-millionaire yet,” Evie reminded him. “My birthday isn’t for another four months.”

“The trust.” Landy nodded. “I remember, now. But listen, why the whirlwind trip? I assumed when you returned from your little trip overseas, you’d stay here for at least a few weeks.”

“You mean, you thought I’d spend my time away to reflect on how I left things the last time I was here, and I’d do what I always do and try to make amends.”

“Such a smart little cookie.” Landy’s familiar smile momentarily eased the aching in her broken heart.

Evie chuckled at the forgotten nickname. “I don’t think you’ve called me that since I was a child.”

“Yes, well…I do suppose I should abandon the silly notion. After all, you are clearly no longer a child.”

No, I’m not.

She was an adult who was free to do whatever she wanted. And right now, what she wanted to do more than anything was to leave.

“It was great seeing you again, but my ride will be here any moment. If you’re looking for my—” Evie caught herself, correcting the near-miss with a quick shift in her choice of words. “He’s in the den.”

“Where else would he be?” Landy pulled her in for a hug. “Don’t be a stranger, yeah?”

“I won’t.” Another lie. “Take care, Landy.”

“You, too, honey.” With a parting grin, he disappeared inside the house.

Finally alone once again, Evie drew in a cleansing breath and made her way down the mansion’s front steps. She pulled her phone from her purse and quickly ordered a ride from the previously used app before embarking on a reflective walk down the quarter-mile paved driveway.

Less than ten minutes later, the expected blue sedan arrived at the property’s wrought-iron gate. And as she left her family home—and a lifetime full of lies—behind, Evie realized she was finally and truly…

Free.