He goes on, “Now, Dustin’s family has a lot of money. They are one of the founders of The District and are deeply Catholic. Adultery was completely reprehensible. People loved the rumour. I mean, Dustin and Madeline were political celebrities and the envy of everyone. Their love, life, and every moment was caught on camera and plastered all over The District. Which made what had happened even more impressive. Because,Christ, the whole world had been watching them. And yet, this had happened right under everyone’s noses. You were taken. Missing.”
Konnor slumps against the wall as though the energy has drained clean out of him. He begins cracking his knuckles, one by one. I wish he would stop, because it… It’s a bad habit.
God, that’s stupid.
I walk over. Leaning against the wall beside him, I look at his sad profile. He turns to me, and I see defeat.
Ben continues talking, “I’d be lying if I said I liked Dustin, but I never thought he’d go so far as to have a child kidnapped. I thought he might, well... I worried about your mother’s safety, but not yours. You were just a child. Who would hurt a child? Especially not you, the golden child of The District.” He shakes his head, looking down at the document on the desk. “I hadn’t realised how far he'd gone until now… I don’t know for sure, Konnor. I have no proof. But if this statement is true, then someone paid that man to take you.”
A small gasp escapes Cassidy.
“And I know in my heart that it wasn’t Madeline, so that leaves ... Well, it's Dustin and Madeline’s account.”
“That’s bullshit. Such bullshit.” Konnor edges toward him again. “Money came from that fucking account for my tuition! How’s that possible? Answer that question!” Konnor suddenly whirls around, pressing his forehead against the wall as if trying to push through it. He groans, voice low and strained. “I saw it, Ben,” he growls into the plasterboard. “The invoice was clearly made out to the university for my tuition.”
“Konnor, son, please, try to understand.” Ben pauses, and I watch his eyes moving, considering. “Your mother… Your mother handed the rights to that account over to me a few weeks before she died. She'd said it was for you and you alone if you were ever found or ever returned. That money would have gone to Dustin’s other children, his future children, and she knew she didn’t have much time left. So I have been using the funds for your tuition, and for anything else I see fit. We didn’t need the money, of course, but it was important to… to Madeline that it go to you.”
Relief washes over me. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t his family. Hedidhave a good life.
Konnor lifts his head from the wall. “You loved her.” He turns towards us, fixing his emerald eyes on Ben.
Ben’s eyes widen, moving cautiously to Cassidy. “I love your mum, Cassidy.” He looks back at Konnor. “But, yes, Konnor, Madeline was my first love.”
Konnor considers this information for several seconds, hope flashing in his eyes. “Okay, so areyoumy dad? If Dustin isn’t my dad, are you? I mean are you mybiologicaldad?”
Ben’s eyes close briefly, and when they open again, he shakes his head. “No, Konnor. I wish I was. You’re my son, but you’re not my blood. I’m sorry. I don’t know who is. She never told me.”
Konnor breathes out hard. “So you two had planned my adoption? Before they even found me? That’s such crap.”
Cassidy hums. “That makes zero sense. This sounds like fricking bs, Dad. When kids go missing, and they aren’t found for four fricking years, don’t people just, kind of—” She looks around, regretful. “Assume they’re dead?”
Ben thinks, then says, “No, Madeline never gave up hope, not for a second. I don’t know if she'd suspected foul play, because she never told me. We very rarely spoke, Konnor. We never discussed the adoption. I received a letter in the mail one day. It just said that I was entrusted to make sure you'd receive the money if you were found or that it went to her charity if you weren’t.” His eyes drop to the desk. An unmistakable sadness flashes across his face. “It was from a lawyer. She hadn't even sent it to me herself.”
Then the look is gone, whatever that was, it was full of despair, long and lost and never to be found.
Ben continues, “I’m not sure if you have heard about this, but Madeline started a charity for you. Nerrock Missing and Beyond. It is for lost children and their families. This is your legacy, Konnor. If you were never found. If you were just... gone. All the money would have been donated in your name. That was Madeline’s wish. Well, that was what the letter said.”
“You never tried to talk to her?” Konnor says shrugging. To him, stalking the woman you love is the only rational thing to do. “Face to face?”
“Of course I did.” Ben sighs. “I was completely disconnected from her. No one would let me speak to her.”
No one?
Who is no one?
“Did she know?” Konnor asks. “Did she know Dustin had something to do with my disappearance?”
Ben holds his hands up. “Slow down. Firstly, we don’t know he did for sure. We are just speculating here, and only because you came in, guns blazing. But since we are, I can admit it crossed my mind. It was very peculiar that months after the rumours of your legitimacy as a Nerrock began, you went missing.”
Konnor huffs. “She stayed with him anyway?”
“Even if she did suspect him, you don’t divorce people like Dustin Nerrock. It’s too... dangerous.”
He drops that word.
Dangerous.
Konnor shrugs. “I don’t understand.”
