I took a job bathing a paralyzed billionaire because my children were starving and I had no other choice. I told myself it was only work, only a…
One evening, while stretching his left hand, I asked, “Why did you fire the other caregivers?”
“One stole medication.”
I paused.
“Another took pictures of me while I slept.”
I looked up.
“And the third?”
“She cried every time she bathed me.”
I winced.
“I would have fired her too.”
He looked surprised.
“Really?”
“Being paralyzed doesn’t mean you want someone mourning over your shampoo.”
Christopher laughed.
A real laugh.
It transformed his face.
For a moment, he looked younger.
Then the locket shifted against his chest.
And the mystery returned.
Two days later, everything changed.
Mrs. Alvarez was downstairs when I entered Christopher’s study carrying coffee.
He was on the phone.
“No,” he said sharply. “Rachel doesn’t know.”
I froze.
A man’s voice answered through the speaker.
I couldn’t make out every word.
Then I heard one sentence clearly.
“If she finds the file, she’ll know what happened to Ryan.”
My blood turned cold.
Christopher saw me.
His face changed.
He ended the call.
“What file?”
“Rachel—”
“What file?”
He looked toward the door.
“Close it.”
I set down the coffee.
“No.”
“Close the door.”
“Tell me.”
His jaw tightened.
“Please.”
That word stopped me.
Christopher Bennett did not say please.
I closed the door.
He turned toward the desk.
“Bottom drawer.”
“What?”
“Open it.”
I moved around the desk.
The drawer was locked.
He gave me the key from around his wrist.
Inside was a black folder.
My hands shook as I opened it.
The first page contained a photograph.
Ryan.
Alive.
Older.
The picture had been taken in 2013.
Three years after his supposed death.
I couldn’t breathe.
“No.”
I touched his face in the photograph.
Ryan stood beside Christopher outside a building in New York.
He looked thinner.
Harder.
But unmistakably alive.
Tears blurred everything.
“You knew.”
Christopher said nothing.
“You knew he was alive.”
“Yes.”
I slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Mrs. Alvarez appeared in the doorway.
