She hesitated.
Hayes answered first.
“I believed I was.”
Russell stared at him.
“You still do?”
Hayes said nothing.
Margaret looked at me.
“The DNA test Russell found was fake.”
My lungs tightened.
Russell’s head snapped toward her.
“What?”
“I replaced the original report years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed everyone to stop looking at Emily.”
Hayes went pale.
I whispered, “So who is my father?”
Margaret looked at Hayes.
“Thomas.”
The lawyer closed his eyes.
Everything inside me went quiet.
He really was my father.
The
man who had manipulated my job.
The man who had placed me in Russell’s path.
The man now holding a gun in a basement full of lies.
“Why?” I asked.
Hayes looked at me.
“Because Russell took everything from me.”
M
argaret’s expression sharpened.
“No. **You destroyed yourself.**”
He spun toward her.
“Don’t.”
“You sold client files.”
“I was protecting us.”
“You were selling blackmail material to criminal groups.”
“I was building leverage!”
“You were building a graveyard.”
Russell spoke weakly.
“Margaret found out.”
She nodded.
“Eleanor found out too.”
Claire’s mother.
Claire stared at her.
“You knew my mom?”
“She helped me escape.”
The room fell silent.
“That night in 2009,” Margaret continued, “Eleanor and I were driving here to retrieve evidence I had hidden beneath the farmhouse.”
Claire’s face tightened.
“She crashed the car.”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“On purpose?”
“Not the way your father’s recording suggested.
Claire swallowed.
“Then why?”
“Because Thomas was following us.”
Every face turned toward Hayes.
He didn’t deny it.
Margaret continued.
“His car forced us toward the bridge. Eleanor realized he intended to stop us before we reached this house.”
Hayes shouted, “I wasn’t going to kill anyone!”
Margaret turned on him.
“You fired at the car.”
Daniel’s face drained of color.
Claire’s gun rose.
“You shot at my mother?”
“It was a warning.”
“Eleanor panicked,” Margaret said. “She turned sharply. We went through the barrier.”
Claire stared at Hayes.
“You killed her.”
“No.”
“You killed her!”
