Chapter 4 Secrets Don't Stay Buried

The sky was overcast when Emily got home, the kind of gray that matched the storm inside her chest.

She didn't go straight inside. Instead, she sat in her car for what felt like hours, staring at the house she'd grown up in a house that suddenly felt unfamiliar. Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel as she thought about what Jason had told her.

His dad. Her father's company. The scandal. The silence.

And her mother's voice in the hallway"He's back. After all these years."

But Jason's father was dead. So who was she talking about?

Emily slammed her car door shut and marched toward the front steps. She wasn't going to run from this. Not anymore.

Inside, the house was too quiet. The ticking of the clock on the wall was the only sound. Her mother wasn't in the kitchen. Her father wasn't in his study. For a moment, she wondered if they had gone out but their cars were still in the driveway.

Then she heard it voices. Coming from the basement.

The basement was strictly off-limits. Her father used it for storage and "important files," and he always said it was no place for children. Even when she got older, it remained locked. Now the door was cracked open.

Emily crept closer, heart thudding.

"...I told you this would happen if we kept hiding it," her mother hissed.

"We protected her. You think she would've lived normally knowing what he did?"

"She was bound to find out eventually!"

"Then let her hear it from us not from him."

Emily took a step back, her stomach churning. Him? Jason?

Or someone else?

She pushed the door open just a little more-and the old wooden stair creaked beneath her.

Silence.

Her father appeared in the doorway like a ghost, his eyes narrowing.

"What are you doing down here?" he asked.

"I heard you talking," Emily said, her voice sharp. "I want the truth."

Behind him, her mother appeared, looking pale and shaken. "Emily, sweetheart-"

"No," she snapped. "No more lies. I talked to Jason. I know everything about his father. About Carter Financial. About what you did to his family."

Her mother flinched. Her father's jaw tightened.

"I want the truth. Right now," Emily said. "Because if you don't tell me I'll find someone who will."

Her parents exchanged a glance then her father stepped aside.

"Come down," he said. "You want answers? Fine."

Emily descended slowly, her body trembling. The basement smelled of old paper, dust, and something else-something sharp, like regret.

Stacks of file boxes lined the walls. In the corner, a heavy safe stood open.

"We never meant for you to get involved," her mother said, wringing her hands. "But you wouldn't let it go."

"What did you do to Jason's dad?"

Her father looked straight at her. "He was my business partner. We started Carter Financial together. But he got greedy."

"That's not what he told Jason."

"Because he was a liar."

"Or maybe you're the liar," Emily said, her voice cracking.

"He stole from our clients. Hundreds of thousands. I gave him a chance to confess. He disappeared instead."

Her mother stepped in. "It wasn't that simple. There was more to it."

"What more?"

Her father hesitated but her mother didn't.

"He was blackmailing us."

Emily froze. "What?"

Her mother's voice shook. "He found out something about your father. Something that could've destroyed our family. He used it to leverage power in the company. When your father found out, he tried to buy him out quietly. But he wouldn't leave. So your father gave the files to the board. The company pressed charges."

Emily stared at her father. "Is that true?"

He didn't answer.

Then her mother said, quietly, "Emily... he wasn't just blackmailing your father about the business."

Emily's blood turned cold. "What else?"

Her mother hesitated then stepped forward and pulled a small wooden box from one of the shelves. Inside it were letters, worn and yellowed with time.

"Don't," her father said sharply.

But her mother handed the letters to Emily anyway.

With shaking hands, Emily unfolded the first one.

Evelyn,

I can't keep living like this. You said it meant something. You said we'd figure it out together. But now you're pretending it never happened. How can I walk away from my own child?

Emily's vision blurred.

Child?

She looked at her mother. "What is this?"

Her mother was crying now. "It was before I married your father. I didn't know I was pregnant. I thought the relationship was over. But when he came back into our lives, he knew. He always knew."

"No," Emily whispered.

"He threatened to expose it. So we made a deal. We'd cover up the embezzlement, give him money to start over. But he refused. He said he wanted a relationship with you. That he'd tell the world."

Her father stepped in. "So we gave the company what they needed. They pressed charges. And he disappeared before it went to court."

Emily dropped the letters.

"So... Jason's dad was my-?"

"No," her mother said quickly. "Not Jason's. His half-brother. From a previous marriage. But they were raised together."

Emily staggered back, breathless. "So Jason's dad is... my biological father?"

Silence.

"Yes," her mother said finally.

The room spun. Emily backed away. "You kept this from me my whole life."

"We were trying to protect you," her father said.

Emily turned and fled upstairs.

Outside, the wind had picked up, bending the trees and swirling leaves across the yard. Emily didn't know where she was going, only that she needed to breathe.

She drove aimlessly for an hour before ending up at the edge of town, near the old auto shop Jason sometimes worked out of. It was closed. But his car was parked outside.

She found him inside, leaning against the hood of an old Mustang, looking like he hadn't moved since she left him.

"You came back," he said quietly.

"I found out the truth."

Jason's eyes searched hers. "And?"

"It's worse than I imagined."

He waited.

Emily walked toward him slowly. "My mom and your dad had an affair. Before she married Daniel. She got pregnant. That child was me."

Jason didn't move.

"And your dad tried to come back. Be a father. But they framed him. Drove him away."

Jason let out a long breath. "I always wondered why he was so bitter. Why he drank himself into silence. He never told me who. Just said the people he trusted most had betrayed him."

Emily looked up at him, eyes burning. "You and I we're not related. But we share a bloodline that was torn apart by lies."

Jason stepped forward. "Emily, whatever happened back then it doesn't define us."

"No," she said. "But it explains why our parents hate this. Why they're so desperate to keep us apart."

Jason reached for her hand. "Then maybe we're exactly what they were afraid of."

She smiled through the tears. "Maybe we're what they deserve."

He pulled her into a hug. And for a moment, the weight of generations-the secrets, the shame, the silence lifted.

But deep down, they both knew this wasn't over.

Later that night, a black SUV pulled into the Carter driveway. A man stepped out, gray-haired, with sharp eyes and a quiet anger about him.

Daniel Carter opened the door, startled.

"You shouldn't be here," Daniel said.

The man handed him a manila envelope.

"She knows now," the man said. "And if you don't tell her the rest I will."

And with that, he walked away, disappearing into the dark.