The Silence Between Us: A Vow to Return novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Seat He Gave Up

Nathan did not tap the microphone or clear his throat.

He put both hands on the sides of the podium and looked at the eleven hundred people who worked for his father.

"I'm Harold Mercer's son," he said. "Most of you know me as the COO. Some of you have watched me do a bad job of something this month, and I want to tell you what it was."

The atrium went quiet enough to hear the air handlers.

"Kendra Shaw is my sister."

He let that sit.

"She is my father's daughter and my half-sister, and she is entitled to every bit of the name she was introduced under this morning."

Behind him, Kendra stood very straight with her eyes on his back.

"I have known for nine months," Nathan said. "My father told me in March and asked me to keep it. I kept it from the firm, and from my mother, and from my wife."

A hum went through the crowd.

"I kept it from my wife because I was afraid of what it would cost me, and I told myself I was protecting her."

He turned his head, and he found me in the lane between the people.

"Hannah," he said. "I was wrong. You never needed protecting from the truth. You needed to be trusted with it."

I held very still.

Beside me, Molly said under her breath, "Oh, my God."

"I'm saying this in front of everyone I work with," Nathan said, "because that's where I hid it."

Someone near the back started to clap and stopped.

"I also heard what was said here this morning," he said, "about my wife. Hannah isn't struggling. She walked out because her husband lied to her, and she walked back in to ask a reporter a question, because she's braver than anyone on this stage."

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