I felt the world collapse.
"Mom, describe him."
She struggled to speak.
"Tall. Gray hair. A scar beside his mouth."
Nigel staggered backward.
I turned toward him.
"Who is it?"
His lips trembled.
Then he whispered:
"My father."
The room went silent.
Nigel's father.
The man who had arranged the accident that began my blindness.
The man who had overseen the procedure that damaged both my eyes.
The man who had supposedly been dead for twelve years.
He had taken my daughter.
Then my phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Lily sat in a hospital bed.
She looked frightened.
A white medical band circled her wrist.
Beside her stood an elderly man in a white coat.
He smiled directly at the camera.
Underneath the photograph was a message.
"Twenty years ago, your father gave us permission to begin."
My hands shook so violently that I could barely hold the phone.
