Alani gasped, as her heart seized in her chest. He donated the money for me to bury them, she thought. He didn’t even know me that well then. Why would he…

She found strength in her legs and walked toward the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen. The sight of Ethic and Bella cooking together would have normally warmed her heart, but she was too full of confusion to appreciate his fatherhood.

“W…what is this?” she asked, as she held up the funeral program and the note.

Ethic turned to Bella. “Bella, can you go upstairs and get dressed? I think we’ll go out to eat this morning.”

It took all Alani’s will to wait until she heard Bella’s footsteps go up all the stairs. “Why do you have this? You’re the one who paid for the funerals?” she asked. “Is this what you were trying to tell me last night?”

Ethic wanted to receive her appreciation. He wanted to be the good guy who did good things, for good reasons; but the truth was, his guilt had urged him to cover the burials. He had always been taught to clean up his mess, and the death of her loved ones was his mess. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he couldn’t look her in the eyes and lie. He couldn’t let her praise her daughter’s murderer.

He sat in one of the chairs at the table and pulled one out for her. “Alani, please sit,” he said.

She was shaking. Finding her daughter’s picture had unnerved her.

“Ethic, you have to say something,” she whispered. “Please, just tell me what’s going on.”

He grit his teeth, his temple throbbing, as he placed his elbows on his knees. His palms met each other in prayer, as his eyes burned. Ethic could count the times on one hand that he had cried in his life. He pinched the tip of his nose, his face contorting, as he lost control. He was a man who was about to destroy the woman it had taken him 34 years to find.

“What do you feel for me, Lenika? Could you see yourself loving me?” he asked.

“Ethic…I…”

“Please, just answer because I’m about to hurt you, Alani. I’m about to erase any chance that we have. I just want to know what it would have been like,” Ethic stated, as he took a deep breath, taking his mind to a place of selflessness and strength. He wanted to be selfish and tell her falsehoods. He wanted to make up something that would explain the things she found and still allow him to keep her, but he couldn’t. He respected her too much to not answer her truthfully. Light always uncovered darkness, and one day she would find out about what he had done. He wanted her to hear it from him.