“When we came back, you were gone. We checked the cameras, and it turned out Paulina had taken you. We had no idea how she got past the building’s security, but somehow, shedid. Your mom was in agony, weeping and screaming the second she saw you weren’t in the room. I called some of my best men to search for you, but we couldn’t find you that night.”
Silence disperses in the room, and tension gathers within the concrete walls.
My heart is racing in my chest and my mind is carefully holding onto the details he’s giving me.
I feel something inside of me stir, reaching out to him, an invisible thread that connects me to him.
“That night was the worst night of my life, son. The stress and fear I felt that day was nothing I had experienced before. It was a fucking nightmare I never thought I’d have to live through.” We lock eyes, but I quickly tear my gaze away from him, unable to hold the weight of his words.
“Police were at our door, and their men were searching for you. You were only three months old — so small, but so loud.” He smiles, and for the first time, I see him like this — soft, almost vulnerable.
“My security team was on the search too, but nothing came up until the morning. Paulina called me, demanding ransom and some favors. She wanted five million dollars, her brother released from jail, and fake IDs and passports. I was able to fulfill all of her requests except for bailing her brother out. He was facing some serious charges, and getting him out wasn’t going to be easy.”
My heart climbs up to my throat.
“I didn’t want to get him out. Believe me, I didn’t. I hated that I was in a position where I had to do that. Later in the afternoon, she sent me a video of you, lying cold, only in your underwear, with winter just around the corner. You could’ve gotten sick, and I... I had to make a choice.”
My mind and heart are a fucking mess. I sweep a hand through my hair to relive some of the tension stirring inside of me.
Mom wipes her tears but stay quiet otherwise.
“I put my best lawyers to work, paid a hefty amount of money to anyone and everyone I could so they’d let him go. All the while, I felt filthy for doing something like that. But I had to. You were with that psychotic woman who was... hurting you.” His voice drops, almost a whisper.
“By ten that night, I’d given her everything she demanded. She dropped you off on a bench in the park—naked. I rushed you to the hospital, and you were fine. I drove back home to your mom, who was overjoyed to see you. She held you that entire night and day, not putting you down for a second. It was maddening. She kept you close, terrified that someone might take you away again.”
I’m too stunned to utter a single word. Too surprised and bewildered to form even the simplest sentence. My mouth is dry, as if the words just won’t come.
“When Emery was born, we left you two in this town, making sure you’d be safe, away from us... away from me. Because of me, you got kidnapped. I couldn’t risk a repeat. So, I didn’t think twice and sent you both here.”
"Is this the truth?" I ask, my eyes searching his face. He doesn’t look like he’s lying.
“All of it,” he says, his deep voice heavy with meaning. It touches my heart, and I step back, the weight of his words settling on me.
“And you never thought to tell me?” I accuse him as anger swims through my veins.
“I did. Multiple times. But every time I looked at you, I realized I had to set a criminal free. That you were kidnapped because of me. I was consumed with guilt and rage. And that’swhy I never visited you. I distanced myself, speaking only when it was absolutely necessary.”
I burst out laughing. Humor cripples my sides and squeezes my heart as I crack. I can’t believe he let me hate him instead of telling me the truth.
“I can't believe you. You let me hate you for years. Just because of this. You could have told me. You should have told me.” I shout at him but he doesn’t even flinch.
He sighs. “And let you know that I had let you down. That in order to save you I did something I hate myself for every single day. That my money and hard work couldn't offer you basic security and a life that should have been normal for you. Maybe I should have told you. But I'm glad I didn’t."
I walk over to him, my fists clenched. “Why the fuck are you saying this?”
“Because nothing will change the way you hate me. Or extinguish the fire that burns for me inside you. Now that I’ve told you the truth… You hate me more, don’t you?”
I want to say yes. I want to scream that word at him, but somehow, I can’t find the courage to spit out that three-letter word. The pain of the past and the raw truth of the present hit me like waves crashing in my stomach, mixed with an intense fury I can’t contain. I don’t know what to do with him. Or what to say to him.
“I’m not a good man. But I’ve tried my best to keep you away from the evil. Even if it meant you being away from me and hating me.”
I stay still and silent.
"You can hate me all you want, Heath. But I'll always protect you. Always look out for you. You're all I've left anyway.”
“Emery died because of you. You weren't there,” I whisper those words that have always haunted me.
Dad nods. “I know I’m the reason. And I carry the guilt and blame with me every day. She was my daughter, after all. You can’t imagine how I felt when I saw her in that hospital bed, hooked up to wires, sleeping. The rise and fall of her chest was the only reassurance she was still alive. But it was also the trut — that she was there because of me.”
