Chapter 19

Stella quickly put the photo frame back together, all fingers and thumbs – minus the letter; she was going to hang on to that for now – then stood it back in its position on the dressing table. That done, she hurried out of her mum's bedroom, barely registering the masculine dressing gown hanging next to her mother's on the back of the door.

As she drove away, the guilt of snooping around her mother's bedroom was at loggerheads with the fact that her mum had been keeping secrets from her. ‘How could she?' Stella cried, hitting the steering wheel as tears scorched their way down her cheeks. It took a lot to make Stella cry. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she'd shed a tear, but now the urge to release the rising tide of hurt and deceit was too overwhelming, too great to hold back and she gave in to great wracking sobs.

It didn't take long for anger to become the dominant emotion, pushing its way through hurt, confusion and innumerable others that were swirling around inside her. What right had her mum to keep this from her for so long? And as for the link to Pim, well, she didn't even know where to start thinking about that. What she'd found had only added to the list of questions Stella had about her father. But how the heck was she going to broach this with her mother? She was going to have to confront her at some point. She couldn't leave something as significant as this unspoken, couldn't leave it to burn away in her gut as her anger intensified.

Stella snatched the tears away from her eyes. She couldn't go back to her apartment right now, she didn't want to risk Alex seeing her like this. And besides, her head was too full of what she'd just learnt to simply switch off and hold any kind of normal conversation with him. She wouldn't want him to think she'd gone off him again.

Heading out of town, Stella drove until she arrived at the long road that led to the moors, continuing along until she came to a suitable place to park her car, too consumed by stress to notice the stunning scenery that usually captivated her. She indicated right and slowed down.

The car that had been behind her for much of her journey – tailgating her at times – swerved around her and shot off, the driver revving the engine aggressively. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought whoever it was had been following her. She watched as it reached the crest of the hill, almost taking off it was travelling so fast.

Pulling up, sending a handful of the free-roaming sheep scattering, Stella stilled the engine and sat back in her seat. She took a moment, gazing out at the miles upon miles of undulating moorland, her mind going to the letter and what she'd found at her mother's.

She pulled out her phone and enlarged the photos she'd taken of the locket, confirming to herself that the initials were almost identical to those of Pim's tattoo. She scrutinized the photo of the young man, noting the laughter in his eyes, the unsettlingly familiar expression. Where, exactly had she'd last seen that face. Realisation slowly dawned and she pulled down the visor, taking a moment before she looked in the mirror. She gasped, pressing her hand to her mouth. There, gazing back at her were those self-same eyes, the resemblance so strong, it was uncanny.

When she was finally able to pull her gaze away from the photo, Stella set her phone down and turned to the letter she'd tucked into her handbag. The words on the page leaving her in no doubt she'd finally discovered the identity of her father. Johan de Groote. The only problem was, how could she track him down and get in contact with him, if that's what she decided to do? And what the heck was she going to say to her mum?