I stepped into the hallway.
“Why do you want it so badly?”
“Because it’s private!”
“Then why did Dad keep it?”
“Give me that. Now, Zoe!”
She stared at me.
I went upstairs and shut my bedroom door.
I messaged Aunt Ria immediately.
“The box arrived. What’s this letter?”
She’d found the envelope among Dad’s belongings after he died and kept it because it was marked private.
Dad had once mentioned working through a disagreement with Vanessa about my future.
She stared at me.
After reading my messages, Ria remembered that conversation and wondered if the letter was connected.
She thought I deserved to know what Dad had kept.
I turned the envelope over.
The flap had been opened years earlier.
Inside was one sheet of paper.
She thought I deserved to know.
Vanessa’s handwriting.
“Nathaniel,
I know Zoe is your daughter, and I understand how much you love her.
