Page 77 of Nathan

“I found some more letters at the lockup after you all left.”

Declan’s eyebrows fly up his forehead. “You did?”

“In the sideboard.”

“That’s impossible,” Declan says. “I checked. Apart from a few miscellaneous items, the sideboard was empty.”

I shake my head. “One of the drawers had a false bottom.”

Ciaran hisses. “Whoa.”

I twist my lips. “Right? Mom really wanted to keep these letters secret. What I can’t figure out is why, when she took so much care to keep them from prying eyes, she carelessly left that one in a shoebox.”

Declan pulls a knee to his chest and rests his arm over it. “I doubt we’ll ever know. Did you learn anything new from the letters?”

I nod. “I know my dad’s name is Laurence.”

Declan’s eyes flare, and his head jerks back. “Laurence?”

“Yeah. Why? Does that name mean something to you?”

“It does, yeah,” he mutters. “But it can’t be…” He shakes his head, his eyes tightening at the corners. “Can I see the letters?”

I hand them over, trading confused glances with Callum and Ciaran.

“What—?”

“Shh,” Declan interrupts. “Let me take a look. I’m wrong. I must be wrong. It can’t be. It just can’t.”

I rub my forehead, catching Dex’s eye. She’s as bemused as we all are while Declan scans one after the other, setting each one aside after he’s finished. He’s almost through them all when he gasps.

“Oh, hell.”

“What?” My skin prickles as I take in my brother’s pale face and pinched expression. “Declan, what the fuck is going on?”

He pokes his tongue into the side of his cheek and dry washes his hands. “I think I know who your father is. I mean was.”

My eyes widen in shock as Dex stiffens beside me, her hand gripping my thigh. “You do? How?”

Declan passes over one of the letters and taps the paper. “Your father’s full name was Laurence Monroe. There’s a letter here from Dad threatening him to stay away from Mom and from you. I guess Laurence must have sent it to Mom at some point, maybe as leverage to persuade her to pick him over Dad. We’ll never know, I guess.”

I run my hands through my hair, still none the wiser. “Wait. Back up. So, his name was Laurence Monroe. So what?”

Declan bites his lip, his eyebrows squishing together. “Indie’s father’s name was Laurence Monroe.”

There’s a collective gasp around the room. My head spins. Jesus Christ, it all makes sense. All of it. A four-year-old mystery solved by finding old letters hidden away for twenty-eight years. The pieces of the puzzle slot so neatly in place.

I cover my nose and mouth with steepled hands and blow out a breath. “That’s fucked up.”

“I’m conjecturing, and we’ll never know for sure, but my guess is that Mom had it out with Dad over his threatening letter to Laurence—a letter Dad probably never intended her to see.”

“And that’s why Dad ruined Indie’s father financially.”

Declan nods. “And why Indie’s brother was so intent on getting revenge on this family.”

Dex looks completely lost, so I quickly get her up to speed on how Declan met Indie, and the whole mess with Indie’s brother.

“So, Indie’s your half-sister as well as your sister-in-law,” she says when I’ve finished.

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