PART 1
“Your father died a year ago, Finnley, and this house isn’t yours anymore,” Reagan said without even looking at me. “So don’t make a scene and just get out.”
I had just been released from Oakwood Prison after serving three years for a robbery I did not commit. My hands trembled around the straps of an old backpack, and the clothes on my body had been borrowed from someone else. At last, I was standing outside the house where I had grown up.
For 1,095 nights, I had imagined my father answering that door. In every version, he was sitting in his worn leather chair, looking at me and saying, “Hang in there, son. The truth always finds a way out.” I had needed to believe Camden Dennis was still alive.
But the moment I entered the Silver Lake neighborhood, nothing felt familiar.
The house had been repainted an expensive shade of gray, and my father’s beloved rose bushes had been ripped out. A large white luxury SUV and a polished red car occupied the driveway. Even the entrance had changed. The old door was gone, replaced by a glossy black one fitted with a digital lock. The structure was still recognizable, but every trace of warmth had disappeared.
I pounded on the door.
Not like a visitor.
Like a son coming home.
Reagan answered in a green dress and pearl earrings. My stepmother examined me as if I were dirt tracked across her new flooring.
“You got out earlier than I expected,” she said flatly.
“Where is my dad?” I asked.
She released a slow sigh.
“He died a year ago, Finnley. Cancer. It was fast and painful. It’s over now.”
The ground seemed to tilt beneath me.
“And nobody told me? Nobody asked the prison to let me see him?”
A small, cruel smile touched Reagan’s mouth.
“Finnley, you went to jail for stealing from your own father’s business. Do you really think he wanted you showing up and ruining his funeral?”
“I didn’t steal anything from him.”
“That’s what you kept saying at the trial, but nobody believed you.”
I tried to see past her into the hallway. Every family photograph had vanished. My mother’s portrait was gone. So was Dad’s old hat. The rooms were filled with costly new furniture and the artificial scent of cheap air freshener.
“Let me in,” I pleaded. “I just want to see his room.”
“His room is gone, Finnley. I remodeled the whole thing.”
At that moment, Carter appeared at the top of the stairs and began walking down.
My stepbrother had spent years buried beneath gambling debts, yet he smiled as though he had waited his entire life for this moment.
“Well, look who it is,” Carter sneered. “The convict came back looking for his money.”
I attempted to move forward, but Reagan immediately blocked the entrance.
“If you ever step foot on this property again, I’m calling the police,” she warned. “With your record, you don’t want to mess around.”
The door slammed in my face, followed by the sharp click of the lock.
I did not shout.
I did not beg.
I turned around and walked all the way to Pinecrest Cemetery.
Dad had always said he wanted to be buried beside my mother. I needed to see his name carved into the stone before I could accept that he was truly gone.
Near a cluster of large trees, an elderly gardener stopped me.
“Who are you looking for, young man?” he asked.
“Camden Dennis,” I replied. “His wife told me he’s buried here.”
The old man studied me with sadness in his eyes.
“You’re Finnley, aren’t you?”
Cold spread through my chest.
“How do you know my name?”
The gardener glanced toward the main gate before lowering his voice.
“Because your dad asked me to give you this if you ever came looking for him.”
He reached inside his jacket and removed a yellow envelope.
It contained a letter and a small key stamped with the words STORAGE UNIT 108.
“But where is my dad buried?” I asked.
The gardener swallowed.
“Not here, son. And if you want to know the real story, don’t go back to that woman yet.”
I opened the letter immediately.
The first sentence read: Son, if you are reading this, it means Reagan has already started lying to you.
That was when I understood that my father’s death was not the end of the nightmare.
It was the beginning of something far worse.
