*R.G.*

“He was paying you,” I said to the phone.

“Two thousand dollars a month,” Rose said.

“For eighteen years?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “To keep me away from Claire. To keep me quiet.”

“But why?” I cried out, my voice cracking. “If the adoption was just irregular, why would he pay you all this money?”

“Because he threatened to take her away forever if I didn’t agree,” Rose said.

“But you’re her mother,” I said. “You had rights.”

“I didn’t have money, Evelyn,” Rose said. “He had everything. He told me he would ruin me.”

I turned to the next page of the bank statements.

There was a wire transfer from five years ago for fifty thousand dollars.

The memo line read: *Final Settlement – R.G.*

“What was the fifty thousand dollars for?” I asked.

“That was when I wanted to see her,” Rose said. “When she turned thirteen. I came to the town. I stood outside her school.”

I remembered that year.

Richard had suddenly become extremely protective of Claire.

He had insisted on driving her to school every day, even though it was only three blocks away.