Chapter 4: Everything Daniel Didn't Say
The question hung in the air between them.
Daniel came down three more steps and stopped, his hand on the banister.
"What?"
"My biological father.
When I told you I wanted to find him — how much did you tell Kyle?"
Daniel's expression moved through several things quickly.
Confusion first.
Then something that looked like it was trying to become confusion again but couldn't quite get there.
"I mentioned it to him.
Just in passing.
Why?"
"In passing," Emma repeated.
"Em, what's going on?
Where's Richard?"
"He left.
He's not paying for the wedding." She held up her phone.
"Three months ago, someone started texting me pretending to be my biological father.
That number belongs to Kyle."
Daniel went very still on the stairs.
"That's — no.
That doesn't make sense.
Why would Kyle—"
"I just called the venue.
Kyle paid the outstanding balance last Tuesday.
He also changed the catering order and updated the guest list.
Without telling me.
Without telling you, apparently."
Daniel sat down on the step.
Just sat down, right there on the staircase, like the information had taken the strength out of his legs.
"He never said anything to me," he said.
"I swear to you."
"What exactly did you tell him?
About my father.
About what I wanted."
Daniel rubbed his face with both hands.
"I told him you were thinking about reaching out.
That you felt like something was missing.
That you might want a relationship with him someday." He looked up.
"I thought I was just talking to my brother."
"And three days later, someone who had my number — which Kyle would have had from the family group chat — started texting me as my father."
Daniel stood back up.
His jaw had set into something harder now.
"I need to call him."
"Daniel—"
But he already had his phone out.
He dialed.
It rang once.
Twice.
Kyle picked up on the third ring.
"Hey, big day.
You nervous?"
"Were you texting Emma pretending to be her father?"
A beat of silence.
Just one.
But it was the wrong kind of silence — not surprised, not confused.
Calculating.
"That's a strange question for your wedding morning."
"Answer it."
"I don't know what she's told you, but—"
"Kyle." Daniel's voice dropped to something Emma had never heard from him before.
"Yes or no."
Another pause.
Then: "I was trying to help her.
She wanted a connection with her father.
I thought if she felt that, she'd feel more complete going into the marriage.
I did it for her."
Emma stepped forward and took the phone from Daniel's hand.
She put it on speaker.
"You did it for me," she said.
"Emma." Kyle's voice shifted — warmer now, practiced.
"You have to understand.
I've watched you for a year.
You carry this sadness about your father and it affects everything.
I wanted you to feel whole before the wedding."
"So you pretended to be him.
For three months."
"I was going to tell you eventually.
After the wedding, when things settled down.
I had a whole plan—"
"You told me he loved me," Emma said.
Her voice was completely level.
"You told me he thought about me every day.
You told me he was proud of who I'd become."
Silence.
"You let me cry over those messages.
You let me read them to Daniel.
You let me build an entire story in my head about who my father was and what he felt for me." She paused.
"And none of it was real."
"Emma, I—"
"And then you paid the venue.
Why?"
The silence this time was longer.
"Because I knew Richard might pull out," Kyle said finally.
"I wanted to make sure the wedding still happened."
"How did you know Richard might pull out?"
Daniel turned to look at her.
She kept her eyes on the phone.
"Kyle," she said.
"How did you know what Richard was going to do this morning?"
The line went quiet.
And in that quiet, something cold and specific settled into the room.
May you like
"He didn't just know," Daniel said slowly.
"He planned it."
