The One He Never Held novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Double Game

Damian's POV

I walked along the lake until the sky went grey.

I did not decide where I was going. I only knew I could not be in that kitchen, and I could not be at home.

At five in the morning I was standing at the Sorensen gate.

The guard looked at my face and opened it without a word.

The study light was on.

Lionel was in a dark robe on his knees in front of the open wall safe, and he did not hear me come in.

Every drawer of his desk was pulled out. The papers lay on the carpet.

I had known that man for thirty years. I had never once seen him on the floor.

"Lionel."

He stood up slowly. His knees cracked.

By the time he turned around, his face had settled back into the one I knew.

"Damian. Forgive the mess." He smiled. "Hailey climbed out of a window last night, and she took something of mine with her."

"What did she take?"

"A keepsake. Nothing a child should be carrying." He looked at me closely. "Do you know where she is?"

"No."

It was the first lie I had ever told him to his face.

It came out smooth, and that frightened me more than anything else that night.

"No," Lionel said, and gave a slow, knowing nod. "You were with your wife, I suppose."

"I was."

"And what does your wife have to say?"

I had rehearsed this on the lake road, one step at a time.

"She says her father was innocent," I said. "She has said it for four years, in her sleep and in that notebook. She married me to clear his name."

Keep reading free with an account. Start The One He Never Held from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.