“No,” I said, my voice breaking. “That’s impossible.”
“It’s not. Just look at me. Daniel’s nose. Clara’s eyes. I’m done keeping secrets.”
“Clara would never… and Daniel—no.”
“Your husband had an affair with my mom. When she got pregnant, he forced her to leave.”
I felt sick.
“So you buried her here to expose everything?”
Liam shook his head.
“She’s not buried here. This is just to make you listen. You’re the only one who can help her.”
“Help who?”
“My mom. She’s alive—but she’s very sick. This guilt has been eating her alive. She wrote that letter last week and made me promise to give it to you after she died.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “You ambush me in a cemetery and expect me to sympathize with my husband’s mistress?”
“That’s not what this is,” he said, his voice shaking. “She spent twenty years living by his rules. He made her believe she had to disappear to protect you.”
“I never asked to be lied to.”
“He told her if she stayed, he’d ruin her life. He used her fear and guilt to control her.”
I looked at Daniel’s grave.
“If you want someone to blame,” Liam said, pointing at it, “he’s right there.”
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