Sweet Liar (Candy #2)(19)

It was hard to imagine him living in any other house but our own. The more I thought about it, the more I understood why he’d chosen Lorraine. Her appearance was brash, but she seemed to genuinely care about my father. That much was obvious. She’d also been through something traumatic and she was missing her son, even though she’d chosen to leave him the same way my father chose to leave me by allowing my aunt to take me. They had that in common.

When Lorraine returned, her arms were weighed down by a small safe. My eyes widened at the sight of it, watching as she set it down on the table with a thump and placed a scrap of paper beside it. It was the same safe that had once sat in my father’s closet. At least, it looked exactly the same. Everything inside me stilled and then sped up again.

“That’s the combination,” she explained. “Sebastian said I should give you both if you ever came here to find me.” Then she laughed. “It took all my willpower not to open that thing myself.”

I looked from the safe to her. Obviously, it held something important. It seemed so long ago when I’d first found it, and so much had happened since. Was this what Victor was looking for in our house? How ironic that my father had hidden it with Victor’s very own wife.

Sitting down, Lorraine eyed me expectantly. “Would you like me to leave while you open it?”

I was about to tell her yes, but it seemed rude to send her away. Besides, my father trusted her, and I was so tired of secrets.

Swallowing my growing nerves, I shook my head as I picked up the paper and looked at the three numbers written there in my father’s neat handwriting. The numbers represented a date I knew all too well, and my hand was less than steady as I turned the combination while Lorraine watched me intently.

When the lock released, I pressed down on the handle and pulled open the small square door. What we saw inside was underwhelming at first, only a stack of papers, some of which were in manila folders like the one my father had put the house papers in.

Lorraine and I exchanged a curious look as I opened the top folder and tried to read the document inside. Parts of it appeared to be written in Chinese, literally. At least, it looked like Chinese characters.

I handed the paper to Lorraine and kept looking. Deeper in the pile, I found what appeared to be medical forms, and they had my mother’s name on them. They were from her oncologist’s office, listing her diagnosis, and her X-rays accompanied them.

I paused there, staring at the images as an odd feeling came over me. I’d never seen pictures of my mother’s cancer before, of the tiny tumors growing inside her, and it seemed surreal to actually see what had taken her from me.

Lorraine’s gaze stayed on me, but she was silent, waiting. Eventually, I passed those over to her too, and then moved on to the other documents, which were all related to my mother’s illness.

“I don’t understand,” I muttered, squinting to read the tiny print. In the middle of the page, I saw the words clinical trial.

The next few forms were all written in both Chinese and English, with my father’s signature at the bottom.

Lorraine reached around me and pulled some papers from the pile. She shuffled through them, and the pace of her breathing sped up.

“Do you understand what this is, Candy?” she asked.

“I think so,” I replied, although I didn’t understand it all.

“Your mother was accepted into a clinical trial funded by the Chinese government. They rejected her at first, but then changed their minds once Sebastian came to some kind of agreement with them.”

Lorraine grabbed the rest of the folders from me and rifled through them quickly.

“Candy,” she said, pointing to the sheet in front of her. “This says your mother lived two more years after her own doctors told her there was nothing more they could do. The Chinese doctors attributed this to the treatment she received. I don’t understand why your father would keep all this locked in a safe.”

An agreement. Lorraine’s image blurred as my eyes filled with tears and it all fell into place.

“He did it,” I said with conviction. “He did what they’re accusing him of. He’s guilty, and this is why.”

“Did what?”

“He traded secrets to the Chinese government to get my mother into this clinical trial. That was the agreement he made.”

This was what my father had gotten in return, not money or anything else. He betrayed his country so my mother could live a little longer. He risked everything for her.

Lorraine held a hand to her mouth as she looked down at the documents. They proved my father committed treason, but they also showed how far he was willing to go for the woman he loved.

“We have to do something with these,” I said, staring down at the papers scattered across Lorraine’s kitchen table. When I looked at her, she shook her head sadly.

“This information can only hurt him. But I think he wanted you to know why he did it. That’s why he saved it all, to explain himself to you. We have to make sure no one else sees it.”

“But it proves he didn’t do it for selfish reasons. Maybe there’s something in here that can help him.”

Lorraine wasn’t persuaded, but my thoughts raced, searching for answers.

“Did my father ever mention someone named Hoyt to you? Tom Hoyt? He works for the organization too. I used to be friends with his son, Drew.”