Page 112 of Landon & Shay: Part One

It was clear she hadn’t known about all of his dark, dark secrets. “Shay, he has another daughter.”

“That’s ridiculous. My father is a lot of terrible things, but he’s not…he doesn’t have…” her words faded. “I’m his only…” She sniffled a bit and stood straighter. “What’s the punchline, Landon? What’s the joke?”

“It’s not a joke. He used to deal to me, Shay. He always talked a lot about his family. About his two daughters…”

“No,” she spat out. “No. I’m his only child.”

“Shay…”

“Stop it, Landon. This isn’t funny anymore,” she scolded, her eyes watering over.

“I’m not trying to be funny, Shay. He has another daughter.”

“Stop,” she snapped, shutting her eyes. “Stop it right now. I don’t know why you’re doing this.”

“I’m doing this because you deserve to have someone who tells you the truth. No lies, only truths, remember?”

She parted her mouth, but nothing came out. She took steps away from me and she stared my way as if I were a complete stranger. Someone she didn’t know. Someone she couldn’t trust.

I was doing the right thing. I was being real with her and I was telling her the truth.

“I can’t do this right now,” she said, walking away from me.

“Shay, wait!” I called after her, but she didn’t turn around. She didn’t look back. She broke out into a run, and not once did she look back at me.

I didn’t even get to tell her that I loved her, too.

27

Shay

My heart hadn’t stopped beating erraticallysince I had left Landon standing alone in the theater. His words replayed over and over again in my mind, like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.

Another daughter.

A whole other person.

A human being that held part of my DNA.

How could that have been? How could he have hidden something so massive?

When I walked into my house, my parents were sitting on the couch as if they were a completely normal pairing. As if our house wasn’t swarming with lies upon lies. They were laughing as they watched some show together, cuddled up as if they were made from the same heartbeats.

It made me sick.

I stepped right in front of the television, blocking their view and halting their laughter.

Mom sat up first. “Shay? What are you doing?”

“Is it true?” I barked, crossing my arms as my stare pierced into my father.

“Is what true?” Mom asked.

Dad tensed up as he sat up straighter. He clasped his hands together and released a weighted sigh.

Oh my gosh. It’s true.

The swirling in my gut intensified as I stumbled backward. “You’re a monster.”

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