Everything I thought was real is false. My life, all the things I thought were true.

Morality. Goodness. Fidelity.

I knew my father wasn’t a loving man, but I thought he was a real one. I thought he was aloof because his head was filled with moral questions. He wasn’t affectionate or even knowable, but he was virtuous.

It was all a lie. A big lie I believed in, just like I believed in James.

How can he be here? How can he be here with her?

I run through the crowd, my dress flying behind me. Suddenly I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed that I created this beautiful gathering and poured my heart into it. I hate every blossoming flower, every flicker of candlelight.

Tears fall in terrified droplets from my eyes. I want to escape who I am. I want a safe place to breathe as my world falls apart.

I need Bram. I need the protection of his arms. Panic flooding my veins, I run to our table. The chair at the head is empty. I scan the room for him, but he’s gone.

From out of the sea of laughing faces, I see my father again. He’s half a table-length away, his eyes like fire. Frozen in fear, I watch him walk toward me. I see no repentance in his face. Only the anger I once tried to convince myself was love.

I turn and rush toward the arched doorway. Just as I get to the empty hall, an iron fist closes around my arm. In a brief moment of surrender, my muscles relax. I know that grip so well. It slapped my face and squeezed countless bruises into my skin when I was a child.

He backs me against a wall and glares into my face. As our eyes connect, my heart stops. So do my tears.

“Why are you here?” I ask in an even voice.

“Why do you think?” he says. “I’m looking for my daughter.”

I force myself to hold his gaze. “How did you find me?”

“A police officer told me you came into the station with Bram Russell. Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

“I don’t care,” I say. “I’m proud to be here.”

His frown is deep and angry. “With the man who killed James? Do you hate yourself that much?”

“It isn’t hate that led me here. It’s love.”

He laughs his hard, staccato laugh. Forcing the quaver out of my voice, I square my shoulders. “Why did you bring Destiny, Daddy?”

His burning eyes feel like an assault. “She offered to help look for you.”

“Is that all?”

He looks at me like I’m insane. “All? I don’t know what you mean.”

He seems so sure of himself. I didn’t imagine the connection between them. I couldn’t have.

“Do you know anything about her? Did she tell you she was with James that night?”

“Smearing her won’t help you,” he says.

I lean forward into his face. “There’s video, Daddy. She was in the car. She saw him get shot. She ran.”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“It doesn’t matter that she lied?”

He looks disappointed in me. Disappointed, and tired. “Lying is so important to you, is it? Because if there’s video, then Bram lied, too.”

I pause. He doesn’t understand. “But he thought – he did it to protect me.”

“To protect you. Okay, Grace.” His grip is so tight my shoulder aches. “I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. You’re going to take off that whore costume and put on respectable clothes. You’ll pack whatever possessions you have and come home with me. And when you get there, you’ll beg God and your mother for forgiveness.”

“I’m not going anywhere but back to my party.”

His face is ruthless. “You’re coming home where you belong. Right now.”

“No.”

“No?” The air is so tense I feel sick. “You know, I’ve been following the merger story quite closely,” he says. “I’m sure the people at Signet would be interested to know that Bram Russell kidnapped my daughter.”

My body goes cold with horror. “No. You can’t.”

“And imagine, Grace. What will the police say when they find out about the video? You know, the one Bram swore didn’t exist. I think that’s perjury, isn’t it?”

I can’t even breathe. “Daddy, please…”

“Before you say no again, think about the position you’ve put him in.” His eyes are pitch black. There’s no feeling in them, just dead rage.

I feel myself dissolving under his fury. I was so strong this morning. I was sure I’d never feel fragile again. But I do. I’m the old me, and weaker than ever.

“Why did you adopt me?” I have no fight left, just sad curiosity. Who is this man? How did my life end up in his heartless hands?

He drops my arm with a look of disgust. “Go get your things. We’re leaving.”

He turns, but I grab his shoulder. “Really, Daddy, why? Because you’ve never loved me. You never wanted me.”

His gaze swivels back to me. The rage has turned to a deep, jagged pain. “Your mother did.”

“What?”

His face sags. Suddenly he looks old and broken. “Haven’t you figured it out by now? The reason she’s so sad?”

I know I should feel something – dread or fear. But I’m numb to the root of my soul. “No.”

His voice sounds distant, as if I’m hearing it through a fog. “We had a son.”

I stare at him, hands balled over my heart. A son. The words are nonsense in my ears.

His face is harder than ever. “He died of cancer when he was three. We tried for two years to have another child.”

The past burns to the ground before my eyes. I had a brother. A little boy. He died, and I took his place.

I couldn’t take their pain away. I couldn’t be him. I never had a chance. All this time I was trying to make up for something bitter and unfixable, and I had no idea.

“What was his name?”

“Michael.”

Tears grip my throat. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you know how you are. Our love was never enough. Your mother thought you’d compare yourself.” He pauses. “You might even hate him. See him as competition.”

My face crumples. “No! Never!”

“You see now? Why it broke your mother’s heart when you left?”

“But she said…the dynamic in the house when I’m there –”

He silences me with a look. “You and I, we have our differences. But you’re all she has. She needs you to come home.”

My courage is in shreds. I don’t know what’s right or wrong anymore. “I won’t live with Isaac.”

“All right.”

My heart strains under a new burden of pain and hope. “Tomorrow,” I say.

But my father isn’t listening anymore. He’s looking past my shoulder, his eyes bitter.

I turn to see Bram in the doorway behind me. I’m so relieved to see him, my heart nearly bursts.

“He knew,” my father barks.

I frown. “About what?”

“About Michael.”

Mouth open, I stare at Bram. “Is that true?”

He stares back at me. He doesn’t move a muscle. “Yes. Your mother called me. She was afraid my lawyers would find out.”

The party disappears. My father is gone. There’s nothing in the world but Bram standing there saying he knew.

“Please, Grace,” he says. “I couldn’t tell you. You’d been through enough.”

I feel like throwing up. My heart has never beat faster. “Why would it hurt me to know the truth?”

My father’s voice is like a blunt knife in my ear. “This doesn’t concern him. We’ll talk at home. Get dressed.”

Suddenly I’m crying and I don’t know what for. The little boy who was my brother, Bram, my mother. This perfect, ruined night.

I feel Bram’s hand on my shoulder. I want to turn and dissolve into his arms, but I can’t.

“I have to go,” I say. “My mother needs me.”

“Grace,” Bram says.

“Get your hands off her,” my father says. “She’s coming home with me.”

I look up at Bram. His face is like stone. “That’s her decision.”

“And she’s made it.”

Bram stares at me. “I can’t stay,” I say. “I told him about the video, and he said…” I’m babbling about perjury and kidnapping when Bram breaks in.

“I don’t give a fuck. He can do what he likes.”

“I’m right here!” my father shouts. “Talk to me like a man!”

People are starting to gather in the doorway and hall. I see Destiny among the gaping eyes. I’m mortified, so ashamed I want to die.

Bram sticks his phone in my father’s face. “Call the police, ruin my name. Let’s do this right now.”

I grab his sleeve. “No!” I cry. “You can’t! I won’t let you!”

His voice is deep and soothing. “Go upstairs. Let me handle this.”

“Get in the car, Grace,” my father says. “You’re coming home.”

I feel ripped in half. A sob bursts from my mouth. Bram grabs my hand.

“It’s okay,” he says. “He can’t hurt me.”

I rip my hand from his. “Yes, he can! Let me go. It’s not worth it!”

“It’s fucking worth everything,” he says. “You’re worth everything.”

“Outside, Grace,” my father orders. “Now.”

I turn away. I have a vision of my mother alone in our house. I think of her dead son, and her broken heart. I think of Bram’s years of hard work, and how much he tried to protect me. I think of both of them, and I know what I have to do.

Suddenly Fritz is standing next to Bram, and shouts are ringing off the walls. I shrink away toward the stairs.

“Grace?” Coral calls after me.

“It’s okay!” I say over my shoulder. “I just…I have to go home.”

Fritz’s voice booms over all the others. He’s threatening my father with trespassing charges. Coral’s telling him to calm down.

“Grace!” Bram yells.

My heart and soul yearn for him. Turning on the stairs, I look back. Destiny and my father are right behind me.

“I need to say goodbye,” I say. “Please…”

“No, you don’t,” my father snarls, grabbing my arm. “Keep walking. You don’t live here anymore.”

.