Jim thought for a moment.
— We could buy the debt. Pay them off—they’ll disappear instantly.
— And if they won’t sell?
— They’ll sell. It’s all about the price. Agencies like that just want the cash.
— Do it. But make sure she never finds out. No paper trail leading back to me or the company.
Jim nodded and left. Andrew leaned back in his leather chair, staring at the ceiling. He knew he was breaking his promise to Hope. She’d told him not to use his money. But how could he sit by while his daughter was being hunted? This wasn’t a payoff, he told himself. This was protection. Any father would do the same. But a voice in his head whispered: “You’re not just any father. You’re no father at all. Not yet.”
Two days later, Jim reported back: the debt had been purchased. Apex Recovery had been paid in full with a “convenience fee” and had officially closed the file. Kate was free.
But Andrew didn’t feel relieved. He felt a hollow ache. He had solved a problem, but he wasn’t a single step closer to his daughter.
He went back to the hospital. He sat in his car, watching Kate leave after her shift. She looked exhausted, but she seemed calmer than before. She must have heard that the collectors had backed off. He wondered what she was thinking. Did she think they just gave up? Or did she suspect something was wrong?
Kate walked toward the bus stop. An old jacket, a worn bag, tired shoes. His daughter, the heir to a fortune, was riding a crowded bus and counting pennies. Andrew gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. It was so wrong… so incredibly unfair.
He started the car and slowly followed the bus. He wasn’t stalking her; he just wanted to see where she lived. Jim had given him the address, but seeing it on paper was different from seeing it in person.
The bus took her to a modest apartment complex on the edge of town. Andrew parked a distance away and watched her enter a plain brick building. Third floor, windows facing the street. A light came on almost immediately.
He sat there until dark. He watched that single lit window and thought about the life she could have had if he’d known. If he hadn’t walked away thirty years ago.
His phone rang. It was Dan.
— Andrew, where are you? Things are piling up here. That merger deal is on the verge of falling apart.
— You handle it, — Andrew said and hung up.
For the first time in twenty years, business felt unimportant. The numbers, the deals, the millions—it was all noise. Real life was up there, behind that window on the third floor.
On the fifth day of watching (he knew it was stalking now, and he was ashamed of it), something unexpected happened. Kate left her building earlier than usual, not in her scrubs. Jeans, a sweater, that same old jacket. She was in a hurry, looking over her shoulder.
Andrew was on alert. She got on a bus. He followed. The bus wound through the city and finally stopped near a familiar building: The Pines Assisted Living.
Andrew’s heart sank. Kate was visiting her grandmother. And if he showed up now… He stayed in the car, his mind racing. Hope knew who he was. If Kate mentioned the strange events of the last few days—like the disappearing debt—Hope might put it together and tell her everything.
The minutes dragged on. Andrew watched the entrance and waited. Kate came out an hour later. Even from a distance, he could tell she’d been crying; she was wiping her eyes and sniffing. Something was wrong. She pulled out her phone and made a call. Andrew couldn’t hear her, but he saw her shoulders shaking. She put the phone away, stood there for a minute looking at the gray sky, and then slowly walked toward the bus stop.
Andrew jumped out of the car before he could talk himself out of it.
— Kate!
She turned around. She recognized him—he saw it in her eyes. The strange man from the hospital who was looking for a specialist.
— You? — She frowned. — What are you doing here?
— I… — He stumbled. All his rehearsed lies vanished. — I wanted… you were crying. Is everything okay?
— Why do you care? — Her voice had a sharp edge. — Who are you? Why are you following me?
— I’m not following you.
— Don’t lie to me! — she almost shouted. — I’ve seen your car near my apartment. Three times this week. Do you think I’m blind?
Andrew was silent. He had no defense.
— If you’re with those people… — Kate lowered her voice, but it was filled with cold fury. — Tell your bosses the debt is paid. I don’t know how, but they got their money. So leave me alone. Forever.
— I’m not with the collectors, — Andrew said quietly.
— Then who are you? A creep?
He looked at her, at his daughter, at this grown woman with tear-stained eyes and clenched fists, and he knew the moment had come. Now or never.
— I have something to tell you, — he said firmly. — It’s about your mother. And about you. Can we talk? Not here, not on the street.
Kate stared at him for a long time. Suspicion fought with something else in her eyes—curiosity? Hope?
— You knew my mother?
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