"You don't seem surprised to see me here, son." Dad pointed out.

The man was standing right in front of me, giving me a challenging look as if I didn't have the authority to know what he was doing in his own house.

"Nothing you do surprises me anymore, father." I retorted. "I would ask what you were doing here but I see no point in asking questions that I already have answers to. What I'm curious to know is how you were able to live in the house under the ruse that you had packed and left."

Inside I was raging an inferno but just like him, I'd learned to hide my emotions well.

He'd deceived everyone and stayed in the mansion while letting people believe that he'd packed and left. What kind of father would let the media talk shit about his son conspiring to kill him off and never come out to clear that particular misunderstanding.

Right, mine would.

Jasper Lockhart was a conniving bastard, I'm pretty sure he was born that way only he never had someone to condition him the way I did. He was an illegitimate child of his father, his mother worked as a maid in the mansion. The actual heir of the Lockhart Enterprises was my dad's half-brother and my uncle Vincent. But since my grandfather had seen immense potential in my father, he'd decided to give him his name. Father had taken over the reins when he'd grown older. If Jasper Lockhart wasn't such a strategist, he wouldn't even be in this place. Uncle Vincent's son Maximus would have been the rightful heir now, not me.

"This part of the house directly connects to my master bedroom and the study. Morgan knew I was staying here and helped me live in the shadows." He explained calmly.

I noticed the few changes in him since the disappearance. His hair had grown a bit longer, there was a five o'clock shadow and if anything he looked healthier. Women would still throw themselves at him, seeing as he was still so fit. Age hadn't diminished his beauty and I mentally kicked myself because as much as I hated my father, I looked just like him. A mirror image.

I'd last met him a few years ago as I refused to come back home from London. Part of the reason why I managed the operations overseas was because I hated being in this mansion. He'd tried to get me to come home several times but I'd managed to subtly ignore him.

And he'd found another way. He'd played a dirty game.

I couldn't keep the anger out of my voice as I said, "For months you let us believe that you'd disappeared. You left clues for police to find and they questioned me. Half the fucking tabloids think I conspired to have you disappeared or worse get you killed and you've been hiding in this part of the house like a goddamn basement rat!"

Dad leveled me with a heated look that should have put me in my place. "Mind your fucking tongue, boy. I shouldn't remind you who you're talking to."

"So what was it for?" I asked. "To spy on me?"

"Your uncle and I had a bet. Vince said that you wouldn't be able to take over the operations if the responsibility was placed on your shoulders. I merely proved him wrong. My methods were different but I had to see for myself too."

"See what?" I seethed.

"To see if you were capable to take over the position after me. I came up with the plan to disappear for a while and to observe how you made decisions for the company and the way you handled things alone. I was interested to see how you managed everything--the employees, the house staff, the company, our family."

"And are you happy with the conclusion?" I gritting my teeth, trying my darn hardest not to spew more curses.

He gave me a nod, keeping his expressions stoic. "I'm impressed."

So turns out this was all staged. The disappearance, the packing, and leaving—in truth he'd never left the property except for that one time he went hiking and then wiped off his trail to make it seem like he'd disappeared.

It had all been a test to see if I was worthy of running the billion-dollar corporation.

My father was the biggest fucking troll on this planet.

"You left the hiking boots, what the hell was that for?"

"I left the boots for someone to find. I knew the media would blow this out of proportion and I was curious to see how you'd react to the entire situation. You took care of everything, as I said, surpassed my expectations."

"Fuck your curiosity." I snapped, "I knew you weren't dead and I knew you were hiding, just didn't think it was under the same roof I was sleeping in."

I started stepping out of the house. "On a brighter note, mom would be happy to see you, pissed but happy. I was trying to convince her to marry someone else, you know since you had gone AWOL. Would have been nice to have a normal father for a change."

He just continued to stare at me in the cold way of his. "Did you do it, Tyler?"

I halted midway and turned, my entire body locking down. "Do what?"

He looked at me like he could smell the bullshit. "The Crandall's. They had an accident on the highway, a car toppled and the couple died on impact. The accident was apparently, collateral damage. You've been sniffing around them for a while, and I know why. I just need to confirm if you had something to do with the accident."

I pinned him with a deadly look, "No. I had nothing to do with it. I might be a monster, but not the same as you."

He laughed, the arrogance was radiating off him. "So you say, but I have a reason to believe you're just like me, son. You just hide it better than I do."

If there was someone that successfully got under my skin and on my nerves, it was him because every time that I was around him, I had to constantly remind myself that I was better than he was.

I shut the door behind me violently and stormed back upstairs. Since he was back now, he would take care of everything. He had to have some story in order, something that the media would have no problem believing—a story that confirmed that he needed a break and had gone on a vacation on some remote island.

Since Dad was back to reclaim his seat, I had a chance to concentrate my mind on other things that desperately needed my attention.

Things like Vicky, and my future.

Despite the animosity in my relationship with Tyler when he'd returned, we were doing relatively better now. I hadn't exactly agreed to marry him, and I was playing a little hard to get but there was the playful banter and the constant flirting going on between us. We'd stayed apart for too long, and I knew I had to make a decision soon. I liked where we were right now.

I was meeting Tyler for lunch today. An official date. I choose to wear a new outfit that I ordered online. It was a cute off-shoulder white blouse over ripped black skinny jeans. Since it had been forever that I'd gone on a date, I decided to put some effort into how I looked today. I wore some mascara and applied my favorite chocolate brown lipstick that almost gave me a natural look. Hazel approved of my outfit and said Tyler wasn't going to resist after seeing me which was something because Hazel never had anything nice to say about me most of the time.

I drove to the restaurant which was situated on the outskirts of the town—it was a quaint place where we didn't need to worry about media folks or paparazzi's trailing Tyler. The fewer people the better, and that way we could have a good time without having to keep looking over our shoulders. Having a date in Cold-Bay would have been like throwing ourselves to the vultures because every single person there knew us and Tyler was nothing short of a celebrity in town.

I parked the car in the space and noticed a familiar white Range Rover parked there and knew it was Tyler's.

He was standing just outside the place, looking so freaking gorgeous and talking to the waitress who was blushing profusely. I noticed there was someone else with him. He had never mentioned that we were going to have company.

I walked towards Tyler, and he turned to greet me when I stopped short.

The little skinny girl saw me and quickly hid behind Tyler and I didn't even have a chance to see who it was.

"Hey." I greeted him with a huge grin on my face and tried to peek at the girl hiding behind Tyler. "And hello there...why are you hiding, sweetie?"

Tyler smiled at me and reached out to the girl hiding from view, and softly said to her, "That's your mommy, sweetheart. Say hello."

I thought I hadn't heard him right.

The girl hesitatingly stepped away from Tyler, her big eyes staring at me and I nearly fell to my knees from the shock, and a sob escaped my throat. "Oh my god...."

I thought my heart was going to stop beating.

Not older than ten years, she had the same silver-blonde hair in curls like mine and eyes so blue, like the ocean, they were Tyler's. I couldn't be dreaming about this!

My baby....

My Honor...

Was alive.