Chapter 6 - The Truth Hidden Behind My Name
I stared at the message on Nathan’s phone.
“Ask Allison who she really is.”
Five words.
That was all.
But those five words felt heavier than every lie I had discovered that day.
I looked at Nathan.
Then at Claire.
Neither of them moved.
Nobody wanted to be the first person to speak.
Because whoever spoke first would have to admit there was another secret.
Another layer.
Another truth I had never been allowed to see.
I slowly lowered the phone.
“What does that mean?”
Nathan looked away.
“Don’t listen to that message.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because whoever sent it is trying to hurt you.”
I almost laughed.
“Hurt me?”
I held up the phone.
“Nathan, I walked into my own beach house and found another woman wearing your shirt.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
“I found documents showing you tried to use my property as collateral.”
“I know.”
“I found a letter from a woman who knew my name before we met.”
He swallowed.
“And now someone is telling me to ask who I really am.”
I stepped closer.
“So tell me.”
Silence.
“Who am I?”
Nathan looked at me.
And for a moment, I saw something I had never seen before.
Fear.
Not fear of losing his marriage.
Not fear of losing the house.
Fear that the truth had finally caught up with him.
Claire crossed her arms.
“You can’t protect her forever.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Stay out of this.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Her voice was calm.
“You dragged all of us into this years ago.”
I looked between them.
“All of us?”
Claire nodded.
“Yes.”
My heart sank.
“What does that mean?”
She walked toward the table and placed her hands on the documents.
“Your life with Nathan didn’t begin when you met him.”
I frowned.
“What are you saying?”
She looked at me.
“I’m saying someone chose you long before Nathan did.”
The words made no sense.
But somehow, they felt familiar.
Like a memory I couldn’t reach.
I looked at Nathan.
“Explain.”
He sat down slowly.
“I need to tell you something about your father.”
My expression changed.
“My father?”
I hated how quickly that name affected me.
Because my father had been gone for years.
He wasn’t part of Nathan’s world.
He wasn’t part of these secrets.
Or at least I thought he wasn’t.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Nathan took a deep breath.
“Your father worked with my father.”
I froze.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible.”
“He never told you.”
I shook my head.
“My father worked in construction.”
Nathan nodded.
“He did.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
“He also helped manage financial records for my grandfather’s company.”
I stared at him.
My father.
The man who taught me honesty.
The man who always told me that money revealed people’s true character.
The man who died leaving almost nothing behind.
“You’re saying my father knew your family?”
Nathan nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Nobody answered.
That was when I understood.
Because there was a reason.
A reason bigger than my marriage.
Bigger than the affair.
I looked at Claire.
“You knew?”
She nodded.
“I found out later.”
“Found out what?”
She hesitated.
“That your father was the person who discovered the fraud.”
The room became completely silent.
“What fraud?”
Nathan looked down.
“My father was moving company money.”
I felt my stomach twist.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“And my father found out?”
Nathan nodded.
“He tried to expose him.”
I looked at the beach house around me.
The expensive furniture.
The ocean view.
The beautiful place that was supposed to represent family.
All of it suddenly felt different.
“How did my father die?”
Nathan didn’t answer.
I stared at him.
“How did he die?”
His eyes filled with guilt.
“I don’t know everything.”
That answer made my blood run cold.
“You don’t know?”
“I was young.”
“You were old enough to know.”
Nathan looked away.
“I was twenty-two.”
I stepped back.
“You knew something happened.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than another lie.
Because it meant he had spent years carrying this secret while building a life with me.
“You met me because of my father.”
Nathan looked up.
“Yes.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“All those years ago at the hospital…”
“Yes.”
“You weren’t just visiting your father.”
“No.”
My voice became quiet.
“You were looking for me.”
Nathan didn’t deny it.
“I wanted to know if you were safe.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
He looked at the floor.
“Because your father left something behind.”
My breathing slowed.
“What?”
Nathan reached into his bag.
He pulled out a small black notebook.
Old.
Worn.
The edges were damaged.
My hands immediately went cold.
I recognized it.
Not because I had seen that exact notebook.
Because I had seen pictures.
My father kept one like that.
A notebook he never let anyone touch.
A notebook he always carried.
“Where did you get that?”
Nathan looked at me.
“Your father gave it to my father before everything happened.”
I stepped closer.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Your father wanted someone to protect it.”
I stared at the notebook.
“Why would he give it to your family?”
Nathan’s face changed.
“He didn’t.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He gave it to someone else.”
“Who?”
Nathan looked toward Claire.
She slowly looked down.
And suddenly I knew.
The answer was connected to every person standing in that room.
“Claire?”
She nodded.
“My father knew your father.”
I stared at her.
“How?”
Her voice became quiet.
“Because my father was the person who helped him uncover the truth.”
I felt dizzy.
Everything was connected.
The company.
The money.
The beach house.
Nathan.
Claire.
My father.
All of it.
But one question remained.
“Why me?”
Nobody answered.
I looked at Nathan.
“Why did my father’s notebook have my name?”
His expression changed.
Like he had been waiting for this moment.
“Because your father knew someone would come after you.”
The words made my skin crawl.
“Come after me?”
Nathan nodded.
“He knew the truth would eventually come back.”
I looked at the notebook.
“What truth?”
Nathan didn’t answer.
Instead, he opened it.
Inside were pages filled with handwriting.
Numbers.
Names.
Dates.
And one sentence circled in red ink.
I leaned closer.
Then I saw the name written underneath.
My name.
But not the name I had used my entire life.
A different one.
A name I had never heard before.
Nathan whispered:
“Allison…”
I looked at him.
“What?”
His face turned pale.
“Your father wasn’t protecting you from my family.”
I held my breath.
“He was protecting my family from you.”
The notebook slipped slightly in my hands.
I looked down at the final page.
There was a photograph attached.
A photograph of my father.
Nathan’s father.
And one more person standing between them.
Someone I recognized.
Someone who was supposed to have been gone for twenty years.
May you like
I turned the page.
And the name written beneath the photograph was my mother’s.
