Richard's face crumbled.
“You’re right,” he whispered. You're right about everything.
He opened the box slowly.
His hands started shaking.
Inside was a heavy silver reliquary.
This belonged to my wife. It's worth a lot... of money. That's why Carl stole it. When I realized that maybe I could get it back, I was too afraid to ask, just in case you just saw the economic value."
"Did you think we'd sell it?"
He nodded.
"I'm sorry. Fear made me cruel."
Richard shuddered.
"You found a young man who trusted you. You knew his father had abandoned him. You made him believe you cared and then you used everything he told you to get what you wanted."
For weeks, I had lived in terror at the thought that this man could give Tyler what I hadn’t managed to give him.
Looking at Richard now, I finally saw the truth.
