Chapter 15 - The Man I Called Dad
"Thomas Vale is my father?"
Marlene looked at the floor.
"The man who raised you loved you."
"That wasn't my question."
Ross moved us upstairs after the basement was secured.
Sofia clung to my shirt while Marlene sat handcuffed in a dining chair.
"Who was Thomas?"
"A doctor."
"At the hospital?"
She nodded once.
"Did Dad know?"
"Eventually."
"Eventually?"
"When you were five."
"He stayed."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he loved you."
My eyes burned.
"And you?"
She looked at me.
For one second, something like shame appeared.
Then it vanished.
"I did what I had to do."
Ross asked, "Where is Thomas Vale now?"
Marlene smiled faintly.
"Dead."
I searched his name anyway.
Dr. Thomas Vale died in 2018.
His obituary listed one son.
Caleb Vale.
A criminal defense attorney.
The same attorney who had filed Marlene's emergency motion that morning trying to lift her no-contact order.
Noah saw it too.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Ross took my phone.
"Don't contact him."
Too late.
A new email appeared.
From Caleb.
Subject: BEFORE YOU BELIEVE HER.
The message contained one attachment.
A video.
I pressed play.
Thomas Vale sat in a dim room, older, sick.
"My name is Thomas Vale. If Claire Harper is watching this, Marlene has finally lost control of the story."
I stopped breathing.
He continued.
"I am not Claire's biological father."
I looked at Marlene.
Thomas leaned closer to the camera.
"Marlene used my name because she needed a second birth record. Claire was born under another name entirely."
Noah whispered, "How many layers does this have?"
On the video, Thomas held up a photograph.
A young woman.
Not my mother.
"I was present at Claire's birth," he said. "But Marlene Harper did not give birth to her."
The room disappeared around me.
I stared at the screen.
May you like
Thomas finished with a final sentence.
"Claire, the woman you call your mother stole you from the hospital."
