In his study, Andrew poured a glass of scotch. His hands were shaking. The idea of a daughter was absurd. He had never cheated on Olivia in twenty-eight years. Even on long business trips, he’d stayed faithful. He had truly loved her.
But memory is a cruel thing. It dragged up a moment he had buried under layers of success and time. The summer of 1996. He was twenty-three, fresh out of college, starting his first real job. Olivia had gone to stay with her parents for the summer to help her mother after surgery, and he was alone in a small apartment in the city.
And there was that girl. The neighbor across the hall—quiet, blonde, with a permanent look of longing in her gray eyes. What was her name? Annie. A name he had scrubbed from his mind. One night of poor judgment, a mistake he swore never to revisit. And he hadn’t. He’d buried it so deep it almost ceased to exist.
What if it was true?
Andrew finished his drink and poured another. His fingers wouldn’t stop trembling. “Turning thirty soon,” the woman had said. Summer of ’96. Thirty years ago. If that girl had gotten pregnant that night… the child would be twenty-nine. Almost thirty.
The math was terrifyingly perfect.
— “This is insane,” he whispered to the empty room.
How could a woman at a cemetery know about a mistake from thirty years ago? Was it a scam? Blackmail? He expected a phone call tomorrow demanding a payout. But deep down, Andrew knew the woman’s eyes hadn’t been lying. She knew a truth that could dismantle his entire life.
— “Assisted living… Zelda Miller,” he muttered, opening his laptop.
There were three facilities in the area. One was high-end, downtown. One was state-run. And the third was a small, struggling place on the west side. He’d check them all tomorrow. For now, he sat in the dark, trying to remember the face of the girl from the summer of ’96. The girl who might have carried his child.
Outside, the storm raged. Lightning lit up the study, and thunder shook the heavy walls. Andrew Walker—a man who had everything—sat in the silence and felt, for the first time in his life, completely lost.
The next morning was gray and cold. After a sleepless night, Andrew felt ragged. He’d dreamed of Olivia—young, beautiful, her hair catching the light. She was standing by a river, looking at him with a silent question. “You knew,” her eyes seemed to say. “You always knew.”
By 8:00 AM, he was in the car. Steve looked surprised; usually, after a loss like this, the boss took a few days off. But Steve just waited for the destination.
— “Take me to ‘Sunset Manor’ on the west side,” Andrew ordered. — “Do you know it?”
