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“He is one of the most hard-working reapers I’ve ever met.”
“Attorney Joyce Parker is thirty years old, correct?” How am I relevant to this in any shape or form? He does not need to go around announcing my age for goodness sake.
I slam a hand on the desk then point to Chris. “Objection! This is beyond irrelevant!”
Instead of looking at the judge, Chris looks me in the eyes. “You honor. My next question will show the relevancy.”
The judge waves his hand. “Objection overruled.” I lean back in my chair. Aiden taps my leg and I glance at him. He points to my hand where I am gripping my pen so tightly you could see the veins in my hand. I let go and take a deep breath. It just annoys me that Chris continues to get away with sneaky attacks.
Chris continues. “I’ll repeat my previous question. Attorney Joyce Parker is thirty years old, correct?”
Taevian hesitates. “Yes.” I narrow my eyes on him. Why would he hesitate?
“Were you married thirty years ago to Erin Jackson?”
With saddened eyes, he replies, “Yes.”
“And she was pregnant when you died? With a baby girl, correct?”
Taevian’s face slackens. “Yes.”
“And that baby grew up to be Joyce Parker. The daughter who you manipulated the system for to prevent her from going to Hell and disguised it with Aiden’s case, correct?”
I hear the courtroom gasp as I roll my eyes. Chris needs to double check this information. The number one rule for being an attorney is to always ask questions you already know the answer to and the answer to this question is an obvious ‘no’.
I laugh and turn to Aiden to share this moment of Chris embarrassing himself. But he’s not laughing. His face is carefully blank. I turn forward. The courtroom is quiet as they await an answer.
Taevian looks at me. “Yes. She is my daughter.”
What the fuck.
No.
That doesn’t even make any sense. Why wouldn’t he tell me? No, this is a sick joke.
I look at Aiden. “Is this true? Did you know about this?” He does not say anything, but his eyes reveal the truth for him. My breathing begins to turn labored as I struggle to make sense of what is going on.
“You knew,” I whisper. “This whole time…you knew.” I sit back in my chair, a million thoughts racing through my head. I think back to every moment I spent with Taevian.
Aiden reaches to grab my hand, but I aggressively rise from my chair causing it to fall backwards. Refusing to believe it, I walk around the table, past Chris and directly to the witness stand. I slam my hand on the stand and point to Taevian. I feel tears run down my face, the wetness infuriates me even more. I hate appearing weak in front of people—especially those who would lie to my face. I aggressively swipe at them as I reach for a strength deep inside myself.
My voice is full of steel when I finally speak. “Are you my father?”
“Yes,” he whispers, his voice tortured. We stare at each other.
I break the silence. “Fuck you.”
Then, I walk out of the courtroom.
22
THE REASON THE UNIVERSE EXISTS
“Joyce! Open up the door!”
Aiden has been pounding on my door for the past five minutes. I’ve been on the floor in the middle of my living room staring at my ceiling, rethinking through all my interactions with Taevian. Trying to figure out how I felt. I feel an anger in the depths of my chest, clawing its way up. This feels like such a betrayal. How dare they toy with me this way? But, I also feel so much pain. I was alone my whole life, with no family, and they didn’t think to tell me who Taevian was?
From the moment I met Taevian, I felt…comfortable. He felt like someone I’ve known my whole life, so I thought he was just one of those people who form instant connections with people. He is very charismatic, and I appreciate that about him. On multiple occasions, he asked to spend time with me. Again, I chalked it up to his personality. But now I know it was because I was his daughter. I’ve been here for weeks and he didn’t tell me. More importantly, Aiden didn’t tell me. I bared my soul to him and he just kept it to himself.
