Chapter 12

Adrian POV

The hospital smelled like disinfectant and I hated it the moment we walked through the doors, hated the fluorescent lights and the beeping machines and the nurses who looked at us with sympathy like they already knew how this was going to end.

Charlotte met us in the hallway outside my father's room and her face was red from crying. "You're here."

"How is he?"

"Worse, he's asking for you, wants to talk to you alone." She looked at Elena. "Just family right now."

"I'll wait out here," Elena said and sat down in one of the plastic chairs lining the wall. "Take your time."

I nodded and followed Charlotte into the room where my father was lying in bed hooked up to more machines than I could count, his skin gray and his breathing labored, and James was standing by the window with his arms crossed looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"Adrian's here," Charlotte said softly.

My father's eyes opened and he looked at me and for a second I saw recognition there before it faded. "Alone, I need to talk to him alone."

"Dad, we're all here, whatever you need to say—" James started.

"Alone." My father's voice was weak but firm. "Now."

Charlotte and James exchanged glances but they left the room and closed the door behind them and I was alone with my dying father for the first time in months.

"Sit down," he said.

I pulled a chair close to the bed and sat. "What do you need to tell me?"

"Something I should have told you days ago but I was selfish and I thought I had more time." He coughed and it sounded painful. "About Elena."

"What about her?"

"I chose her specifically, not randomly like you thought, I found her and I made sure you'd meet her." His breathing was getting worse. "I need you to understand why."

My stomach dropped. "What do you mean you chose her?"

"I mean I hired someone to find girls who looked like Sophia and needed money, girls who were desperate enough to sign a contract without asking too many questions." He grabbed my hand with surprising strength. "Elena was perfect, looked exactly like Sophia and her parents had just died leaving her with debt she couldn't pay."

"You set this up, you manipulated both of us."

"Yes because I needed you married to someone real, someone who could make you feel something again instead of just going through the motions." He coughed again and blood flecked his lips. "But there's more."

"What more could there possibly be?"

"Her mother, I knew her, knew her twenty years ago before you were born." His grip on my hand tightened. "We had an affair."

The room tilted. "What?"

"Her name was Sarah and she worked as a nurse at one of the company's medical facilities and we had an affair that lasted about six months." He was struggling to breathe now. "Your mother never knew, Sarah's husband never knew, it ended and we both moved on with our lives."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because when I saw Elena's file and saw her mother's name was Sarah, I had to check, had to make sure it wasn't the same Sarah." He closed his eyes. "It was."

I pulled my hand away from his. "You're saying what exactly?"

"I'm saying I'm your real father, Adrain

." He opened his eyes and looked at me. "Which means Elena might be your sister."

The words didn't make sense at first and I just sat there staring at him trying to process what he'd just said. "That's not possible."

"It's very possible, the timeline matches, Sarah got pregnant around the time we were having the affair and nine months later Elena was born." He was gasping for air now. "I never knew for sure because Sarah never told me and I never asked but when I saw Elena's picture it all came back."

"You're lying." I told him trying not to let the words register on my brain.

"Why would I lie about this now, I'm dying, what do I have to gain?" He grabbed my hand again. "I'm telling you because you need to know before you do something you can't take back with that girl."

"We're already married.".

"Marriage can be annulled but if you sleep with her and she's your sister—" He couldn't finish the sentence.

I stood up so fast the chair fell over. "This is insane, you're telling me you manipulated me into marrying someone who might be my sister?"

"I didn't know for sure when I set it up, I suspected but I didn't know, and I thought if I told you before you'd refuse to marry her and I needed you married." Blood was coming out of his mouth now. "I'm sorry, Adrian, I thought I'd have time to tell you before anything happened but I'm running out of time."

"How do we know for sure?"

"DNA test, get one done as soon as possible, but until you know for certain you need to stay away from her." His breathing was getting shallower. "Promise me you'll stay away from her until you know."

"I can't promise that, we're married, we live together."

"Then don't touch her, don't kiss her, don't do anything that could make this worse than it already is." He was fading now and I could see it. "Promise me, Adrian."

"I promise." The words felt like ash in my mouth.

"Good." His eyes closed. "Get the test done, find out the truth, and if she is your sister then annul the marriage and find someone else."

"And if she's not?"

"Then you can decide what to do but either way you need to know." He opened his eyes one more time. "I'm sorry I did this to you, I'm sorry I manipulated everything, but I thought I was helping."

"Helping? You potentially made me marry my own sister and you think that's helping?"

"I thought I was giving you a chance to feel something real for someone, I didn't think about the consequences." He grabbed my hand one last time. "Get the test, find out the truth, and forgive me if you can."

His hand went limp in mine and the machines started beeping louder and nurses rushed in and I was pushed out of the room while they tried to save him.

I stood in the hallway and Elena looked up at me from her chair. "What happened?"

"He told me something." My voice didn't sound like my own. "Something about you."

"About me? What about me?"

Charlotte and James came running down the hall. "What's going on, why are there so many nurses in there?"

"He's dying." I looked at Elena and thought about what my father had just told me and felt sick. "He's dying and he just told me that your mother, he knew your mother."

Elena stood up. "What do you mean he knew my mother?"

"He said they had an affair twenty years ago and that there's a chance—" I couldn't say it out loud because saying it would make it real.

"A chance what?"

The door to my father's room opened and a doctor came out looking grim. "I'm sorry, he's gone."

Charlotte started crying and James put his arm around her and I just stood there staring at the doctor because my father was dead and the last thing he'd done was tell me I might have married my own sister.

I looked at her and saw Sophia's face and my father's eyes and I didn't know if I was looking at my wife or my sister and not knowing was going to destroy me.

"let's go" I told her because I found it hard to tell her the truth