Chapter 5 - THE MESSAGES THAT DESTROYED US
Ryan stared at Dr. Michael Reeves’s name.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You told me Michael was a research consultant.”
“He was.”
“Those messages were from him.”
“Yes.”
Ryan stood.
For a moment, the old anger returned.
“You met him secretly.”
“I met him twice.”
“You lied about it.”
“I signed a confidentiality agreement.”
“For what?”
I looked directly at him.
“For you.”
Ryan stopped.
“Michael contacted me because he found irregularities in your executive health records.”
“What irregularities?”
“He believed someone had been tracking your genetic profile since childhood.”
Ryan stared at Project Orion.
“You knew?”
“I knew something was wrong.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“No, you didn’t.”
The old argument was back.
But this time I would not retreat.
“The night you found those messages, I asked you to sit down.”
“I told you there was an explanation.”
“You threw my phone against the wall.”
Ryan flinched.
“I was angry.”
“You called me a liar.”
“I thought you were having an affair.”
“You had already decided that before you asked me a single question.”
He looked away.
I continued.
“Michael’s text that said, ‘He can never know until we have proof’ was about Project Orion.”
“The message about meeting at the hotel was because a medical conference was happening there.”
“The message saying, ‘If Charles finds out, everything changes,’ was exactly what it sounded like.”
Ryan sat down slowly.
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“He was the secret.”
“Yes.”
For five years, I had imagined how I would feel when Ryan finally understood.
I expected triumph.
Instead, I felt tired.
He covered his face.
“I ruined our marriage.”
“Your father helped.”
“But I finished the job.”
That answer surprised me.
Before I could respond, footsteps sounded upstairs.
Noah appeared in the hallway wearing dinosaur pajamas.
“Mom?”
Ryan immediately stood.
Noah saw him.
“Oh.”
I went to my son.
“What happened?”
“I had the thunder dream.”
Chicago storms had frightened him since he was three.
I hugged him.
Ryan watched.
Then Noah looked at him.
“Are you staying?”
Ryan seemed unable to answer.
I did.
“No.”
Noah nodded.
Then he studied Ryan again.
“Do you have kids?”
Ryan’s face broke.
He knelt so they were eye level.
“I think I do.”
Noah frowned.
“You think?”
Ryan glanced at me.
I gave the smallest nod.
He looked back at Noah.
“I’m your father.”
Silence.
Noah blinked.
Then asked the question I had feared for years.
“Where were you?”
Ryan had billions of dollars.
Thousands of employees.
An answer for every boardroom.
But kneeling in front of his four-year-old son, he had nothing.
Finally he whispered,
“I didn’t know about you.”
Noah considered this.
Then he asked,
“Why?”
Ryan looked at me.
May you like
And this time, he did not blame anyone else.
“Because I made a terrible mistake.”
