Chapter 7: The Stranger at My Window
“Don't open that door.””
Denise's voice cracked across the living room.
My father stood between me and the front entrance, staring through the glass at the man beside Brielle's SUV. The stranger held an old photograph in one hand. Even from inside, I could see the paper was yellowed at the edges, as though it had been carried in a wallet for years.
Brielle stood behind Grant, clutching her phone.
“He said his name is Marcus,” she whispered.
“He said he needs to talk to Avery.””
Denise shook her head violently.
“He's lying.””
I looked at her.
“You said you didn't know where he was.””
“I said I didn't know!””
“Then how do you know he's lying?””
She opened her mouth but produced no answer.
The stranger knocked again.
Three deliberate knocks.
Grant glanced toward Leonard, who had remained beside the coffee table with the trust documents spread before him.
“Do you know whether Marcus is alive?”” Grant asked.
Leonard shook his head.
“I know someone claiming to be Marcus contacted me. I haven't confirmed his identity.””
“Then we're not letting a stranger walk into this house and tell us who he is.””
I stepped around my father.
“I'm going to talk to him.””
Grant caught my arm.
“Avery, no.””
“Dad, he's standing ten feet away. I'm not going anywhere.””
“You don't know what he wants.””
“Neither do you.””
His grip loosened.
I saw the fear in his eyes, and it hurt more than I expected. Grant had always been the person who stepped between me and anything that frightened me. Now he seemed terrified of a man he had never met.
I gently removed his hand.
“I'm just opening the door.””
I unlocked it but left the security chain attached.
The stranger stood in the bright afternoon sunlight, his eyes fixed on my face.
Up close, he looked to be in his late forties. He had a faint scar near his left eyebrow and tired eyes that seemed to search my features for something familiar.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he lifted the photograph.
“Your mother used to keep this beside her bed,” he said.
I stared at the image.
It showed a young Black man standing beside a pregnant woman in front of a small house. The woman was Denise. Younger, smiling, one hand resting on her stomach.
The man beside her had the same scar near his eyebrow.
“Where did you get that?”” I asked.
“From the life I had before you were born.””
“Are you Marcus Reed?””
His eyes glistened.
“Yes.””
Behind me, Denise made a strangled sound.
Marcus heard it.
He looked past my shoulder and met her eyes.
“Hello, Denise.””
She backed away from the door.
“You can't be here.””
“I've been trying to come here for eighteen years.””
“You should have stayed away.””
Marcus lowered the photograph.
“You told me my daughter was better off without me.””
My stomach dropped.
I turned toward Denise.
“You told him that?””
She shook her head.
“It's not that simple.””
Marcus gave a bitter laugh.
“Of course it isn't. Nothing ever is when Denise has to explain herself.””
Grant moved beside me.
“I'm Grant Mitchell. Before you go any further, I want to know why you claim to be Avery's father.””
Marcus looked at him for a long moment.
“Because I am.””
“That's a serious claim.””
“I know.””
“Do you have proof?””
Marcus nodded toward Leonard.
“The trust documents. The original birth records. The letter Avery is holding. And a DNA test, if that's what it takes.””
I felt my throat tighten.
A DNA test.
The words made everything horribly real.
I looked at Marcus again.
“Why did you leave?””
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at Denise.
“Tell her.””
“No,” Denise whispered.
“Tell her what happened the night you said I died.””
She pressed her hands against her chest.
“You disappeared.””
“After you told me to leave.””
“Because you were threatening to take Avery away!””
“I was trying to protect her!””
“You were going to expose everything!””
Marcus closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them, his voice was quieter.
“I didn't leave because I stopped loving you. I left because someone threatened to make sure neither of us would ever see Avery again.””
Grant's face hardened.
“Who threatened you?””
Marcus looked directly at him.
“I was told you would destroy me if I came back.””
My father stiffened.
“By whom?””
Marcus reached into his jacket and removed a second photograph.
This one showed a younger Grant standing beside a man in a dark suit outside an office building.
Grant stared at it.
“Where did you get that?””
“It was inside the envelope hidden in Avery's car.””
Grant took the photograph through the open doorway.
He examined it, then turned it over.
A date was written on the back.
Six years before he married Denise.
“That man is Robert Vance,” Grant said.
“He handled legal matters for my company.””
Marcus nodded.
“He handled matters for me, too.””
Leonard stepped closer to the doorway.
“Robert Vance was involved in the original trust agreement?””
“He drafted it,” Marcus replied.
“He also told me that Grant was preparing legal action to claim my business assets.””
Grant looked offended.
“I never did that.””
“Maybe not,” Marcus said.
“But someone used your name to make me believe you had.””
I watched my father stare at the photograph.
For the first time, it seemed possible that Denise hadn't been the only person hiding something.
“Why would someone want you gone?”” I asked Marcus.
His expression changed.
“Because of the money.””
“The trust?””
“Partly. But there was something else. Before you were born, I discovered that someone had been moving money out of a business account without authorization. I kept copies of the records.””
Leonard looked toward the documents on the coffee table.
“The records hidden in the car.””
“Some of them,” Marcus said.
“The rest disappeared.””
Grant folded his arms.
“And you believe Denise was involved?””
Marcus looked at her.
“I believe she knows who was.””
Denise began shaking her head.
“Don't listen to him, Avery. He's trying to manipulate you.””
I turned to her.
“Then why did you tell everyone he was dead?””
Her face crumpled.
“I thought he was.””
Marcus's expression softened, but only slightly.
“You received my letter.””
Denise froze.
“What letter?””
“The one I sent after I learned where you were living. The one that came back unopened.””
She looked genuinely confused.
“I never received anything.””
Marcus reached into his jacket and removed a folded sheet of paper.
“This was attached to the envelope when it was returned. Someone had written that you refused delivery.””
Grant took the paper.
The handwriting was unfamiliar to me, but the words were clear.
*DELIVERY REFUSED BY RECIPIENT.*
Leonard examined the date.
“That was sent eleven years ago.””
Marcus nodded.
“Eleven years ago, I tried to find Avery. I didn't know whether Denise had remarried or where she lived. I hired someone to locate her.””
“Who?”” I asked.
Marcus hesitated.
Then he looked at Grant.
“Robert Vance.””
My father went completely still.
“You hired my former attorney to find Denise?””
“I didn't know he was your attorney at the time.””
“And he never told me.””
“Apparently not.””
A sudden vibration interrupted us.
Grant looked at his phone.
An unknown number had sent him a photograph.
He opened it.
His face changed so dramatically that I immediately reached for the device.
“Dad, what is it?””
He turned the screen toward me.
It showed the inside of a car trunk, with the lining removed and an empty compartment beneath it.
A message appeared underneath.
You found Marcus. Now ask him what happened to the money that never made it into Avery's trust.
Marcus stared at the screen.
“That isn't my message.””
Leonard leaned over Grant's shoulder.
“Who sent it?””
Grant checked the number.
Then another message arrived.
And ask Grant what he signed six years ago.
My father stopped breathing for a moment.
Denise looked at him.
I saw recognition in her eyes.
Not confusion.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
“Dad,” I whispered, “what did you sign six years ago?””
He didn't answer.
Marcus slowly lowered the old photograph.
May you like
And I realized that bringing my biological father back into my life hadn't uncovered the truth.
It had only revealed how many people had been lying to me.
