Chapter 14 - A Song Left Unfinished
I stared at the card so long that Lily tugged my sleeve.
"Mommy, is it broken?"
"No, baby. I just found something."
The card was dated a week before Malcolm died. Rosa Vega, it said. Please know I am grateful you did not change the results to please us. My son has spoken of you with great love. I hope one day I can thank you myself.
Grace told me she'd found the music box in Malcolm's old desk, with the note still inside. Ethan had recognized it as a gift never delivered. He'd wanted Lily to have it without turning it into another demand on me.
I cried in the borrowed guest room while Lily slept. Malcolm had known my name. He hadn't seen me as a problem to be erased. All this time I'd imagined he would have despised an ordinary student dating his powerful son.
The next day I met Ethan in a quiet conference room, with Celia nearby. I showed him the card.
"He liked you," Ethan said. "He said you were the first person who'd challenged me without wanting anything."
"I wanted you," I said. "That's something."
He laughed once, sadly. Then he asked the question we had both avoided.
"Is Lily my daughter?"
I nodded. "Yes. I found out after you stopped answering. I was going to tell you in person. Then Pike came."
"Will you let us confirm it legally, so she never has to wonder?"
"Through our lawyers, and only if it protects her privacy."
"Whatever you need."
May you like
He did not try to touch me. That restraint mattered more than the expensive apology I'd once imagined.
As I reached the door, his phone rang. He answered, went still, and handed it to me. A man I didn't know whispered, "Malcolm kept a recording. Pike has been trying to find it for four years."
