Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
He continues, “You turned twenty-six yesterday. Happy belated birthday. I asked to meet you because your mother left instructions for me to pass on a letter to you when you turned twenty-six.”
His words hit me.
Hard.
My mother? I don’t understand. She’s dead.
He begins reading…
My little Lissie,
I’m not feeling well, and I’m sorry for that. I have made bad decisions in this life, but there was one that I never did wrong. And that was you. Gosh, how perfect you are. I’m sorry everything had to end like this. I’m sorry for everything. But you see, sometimes when someone is sick, nothing can help them.
I wanted your twenty-sixth birthday to be special because mine was. It was when I found out I was pregnant with you. The day before, your father left me and went back to his wife. He told me he would leave her, but he never did. I was hanging on by a string when I took that test. You saved me, Lissie, but in the end, I was just too broken.
Please take this money; it’s all the payments from your father. I kept every cent for you. I love you so much. Please always remember that.
Love,
Mom.
When he’s finished, he slides the letter over to me. I take it. I see it’s her handwriting, and attached is a photo of her and me when I was one.
I have no photos of her.
How have I not realized that before?
I pick it up and wipe away the tears that have started to fall. I can’t stop them.
“Elizabeth.” I look up to the lawyer. “Here is the check.”
He hands it to me, and I look down at it, wiping my eyes, as Letti breathes out the words, “Holy fucking shit.”
I gasp. No. Fucking. Way.
“It seems your father was rich and willing to keep you a secret,” the lawyer adds.
“Do you know anything about him?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, no.” He pauses. “But I do know a good private investigator,” he says with a smile.
Letti gets all the information as I sign some forms, and soon, I’m walking out holding a check worth a lot of money—seven figures.
I can leave.
I can finally leave.
I went straight to the bank.
No stops.
And now Letti is sitting in front of me, opening a bottle of wine.
“Do you think the investigator will find anything?” I ask, reaching for the glass.
“I hope so. It would be good for you to know who he is, you know?” She shrugs. “But even if he comes up with nothing, you’ll still have me.” Her smile is so warm and tender that I wish I would have become friends with her sooner. I wish I had people like her around when I needed them, and not Cody.
My phone rings, and we both look at it. The screen shows a private number.
“Answer it,” she says.
“It could be Cody,” I reply, biting my bottom lip.
“Or, it could be another check.” She wiggles her dark brows.
Picking it up, I press accept, and the detective’s voice comes through. “Lissie?” I nod, then realize he can’t see me. “Yes, here, sorry.”
“I found him. He didn’t do a good job of hiding, so that task was straightforward.” He starts to rattle off information, and I realize he only lives six hours away. I look to Letti, who is grinning.
“Did you talk to him?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says. “He would like to meet with you.”
“Meet?” I squawk. “Okay…”
The detective tells me my father’s information and that he would like to meet in a week if I can. I thank him and hang up the phone.
“So, we need a plan,” Letti announces.
“Letti.” I sigh. She already has a pen and paper out, ready to start.
“Yeah?”
“I think I’m going to leave,” I whisper, not believing the words that leave my mouth.
“Leave? Like a break?”
“No, like I think I want to leave town. Actually, I know I do. Nothing is holding me here anymore. I think I want to just go, and I have the money to do so now. I have never been in a position to do that before. What money I did have, I either gave to Cody, or he took it,” I say in a rush.
“It’s not that I don’t plan to come back one day. I would still want to see you. I think you are probably the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”
She holds up her hand to stop me from talking. “Don’t explain yourself to me, Lissie. I’ll be sad to see you go, of course. But I’ve watched you over the years. You have been a shell of a person, and to get to know the real you… well, it’s been amazing. Wherever you end up, I’ll be visiting,” she says with a smile.
“Thank you.”
“Now, who’s going to tell Milo?” Just as she says his name, a knock sounds on the door, and Letti walks over to open it.