“Swipe over,” he says softly.
I take a breath and drag my finger across. Memories flash in my head. I was so focused on how I was in pain. “That’s not mydad…” I say quietly. I replay the scene in my head over and over again, trying to figure out why I was calling him Daddy.
“Oh God…” I say quietly. “Oh my God…”
“What is it?” Grayson asks, lifting my face to look at him.
“That’s not my Dad… I can see his body… There was blood… Fuck, why did I think it was him?” I ask.
“What are you talking about?” Adam asks.
“Dad… he was playing dolls with me. I wasn’t home alone,” I say. “Someone came in and got mad. He shot Dad. I don’t know where, but he was on the floor bleeding. I was screaming for my Daddy, and I thought I was saying it to the one kicking me… but I wanted him to help me… Mom came in and yelled my name, but then she was yelling at Dad. I thought it was… but then this man put the gun in his mouth… I don’t remember who that is… but Dad never hurt me. He was playing dolls… He always played dolls with me…”
“Do you want to see him?” Adam asks.
“Right now?”
“Yeah,” he tells me.
“Is he safe?” Grayson asks. “Greg took her to him for her arm.”
“I don’t think Greg would have known. His nurses do everything, and he just does the surgeries,” he says. “He would obviously know she is alive, but I don’t know why he’s stayed hidden.”
“I want to see him,” I say.
“Let’s go then,” Grayson says.
“I’ll call and say Milly needs stitches or something. I am positive he will show,” Adam says.
Chapter Twelve
Milly
We are sitting inan exam room waiting for Dad to get here. We convinced the nurse to not sedate me. We learned that it’s required, which means it’s possible no one knows that it’s Dad. Adam only knows because he’s met him before. It doesn’t seem like many people actually know who owns this practice because it’s not public information.
“I’m nervous,” I say, breaking the silence. “Like… I’m losing my mind. I’ve wrongfully blamed him… Mom has… She never corrected me when I said that Dad killed himself.”
“We can ask him about her when he gets in,” Adam suggests.
“Yeah,” I say with a sigh. “Maybe I do need to be sedated. I’m…”
I stop talking when the door opens, and a man walks in. I just stare at him, and he is frozen too. “Shut the door and sit with us, Tom,” Adam says.
“She can’t be here,” Dad says. “Adam, she can’t be here. It’s not safe.”
I look at Grayson because he looks more panicked than I do. “Why is she not safe?” Grayson asks. “I am Milly’s husband, recognized by The Society. Adam is by addition. She lives with us now.”
“You don’t live with…”
“Mom and Greg?” I ask. “No.”
“She has been under the assumption that you were the one who got her pregnant at ten and shot her before shooting yourself,” Adam says.
“I’m crazy,” I say. Adam and Grayson sigh heavily, and I laugh. Dad smiles, and I can tell he is a bit more relaxed. “Look… I have a dissociative disorder. I spent the last fourteen years imagining that Greg was raping someone else, but it was me. I only just figured out it was all in my head. I’m just remembering when I was shot, but more details are coming through. I guess I just ignored the giant scar on my belly. I don’t know if I even have long-term damage from it. I know nothing. But I did tell Mom today that Greg had been raping me. I also remembered that you were shot by someone else. That person is the one who got me pregnant. He is who shot me and then himself. I don’t know whothat is. I remember Mom coming in and yelling at me, then you. I don’t know what she said, but that guy blew his brains out.”
“That was Walter,” Dad says. “He was my older brother. He was staying with us for a while and was in the basement. I was there with you that day because you were throwing up… Walter came in and shot me, but then started kicking you. I gathered that you were pregnant and he was spiraling. He heard your mother come in, so he shot you, then himself.”
“Why did Mom let me believe you were the one who got me pregnant?” I ask.