One Wild Night

Inside Harry's office, Lucy looked from Aaron to Harry and then back again, not knowing where to start.

Aaron gave her an encouraging nod, "Go on," Aaron said and Lucy sighed as she took out her phone from her handbag.

"I recorded the conversation. So I think it's best you listen to it. I will answer whatever questions you have afterward," Lucy said, and they both gave her a nod.

Just as she wanted to tap the play icon on the recording she hesitated, "Before we go ahead, I would like you to know that until yesterday I knew nothing about any of this," Lucy said, making both Aaron and Harry frown in confusion as they wondered what she was talking about and why she was saying that when it was a known fact that Aaron had told her everything just the previous day.

"We know. Let's hear it," Harry said, and this time Lucy gave him a nod before tapping on the play icon and setting the phone on the table.

She folded both hands together on her thighs, and her heart was beating fast as she listened to the recording along with them. She silently prayed that Tom would join them before it was time for her to explain the part of the recording that involved Aaron's missing daughter.

"Hold on," Harry said with a slight frown as soon as he heard Sara's voice, and Lucy paused the recording.

"You said you haven't seen her in twenty-eight years, since she left, right?" Harry asked, and Aaron gave him a nod.

"Yes. Yesterday was the first time I've seen her since she left," Aaron said, and Harry felt his blood boil.

"Yet that was her opening statement? It's good to see you again? No apology? Or did she apologize to you before now?" Harry asked, and Aaron sighed as he shook his head, not knowing what to say.

Lucy on the other hand was pleased with Harry's reaction. If Harry was already feeling annoyed by this, she didn't want to imagine how angry he was going to be when he eventually listened till the end and found out just how despicable Sara truly was.

"I don't think you should get upset yet. You're going to hear more upsetting things, so you have to brace yourself," Lucy advised, and then turned to Aaron.

"You too, Aaron," Lucy said as she reached for both Aaron's and Harry's hands and squeezed them gently, making both Aaron and Harry look at her curiously as they wondered just what she was talking about.

What else could Aaron possibly need to brace himself for? What could be worse than what Sara had done to them already by leaving the way she did? They both mused.

"Are you ready?" Lucy asked, and they both gave her a nod.

Lucy sighed as she let go of their hands and resumed the recording, while Harry tried to listen quietly without interrupting it, but after some seconds he couldn't hold back and he looked at Lucy.

"Dad?" He asked, wondering why Lucy had referred to his father as Dad.

Aaron also turned questioning eyes to Lucy since he also did not understand why Lucy had done that even though he had played along.

Lucy paused the recording. Although she had been expecting the question, she was not prepared to answer the question. "You will find out by the end of the conversation. So please try to be patient."

After saying that, she resumed playing the recording without waiting for either Harry or Aaron to say anything, and they both remained silent until they heard Lucy mention how Sara stole her father's money and ran away from home claiming to be an orphan, and before either of them could ask her any question she paused the recording once again.

Harry and Aaron looked at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion since they could not understand what she was talking about.

"As I said earlier, I didn't know anything until yesterday," Lucy clarified as she focused on Aaron this time.

"When you showed me the picture, she sort of looked familiar but I wasn't sure..."

"You know Sara?" Aaron asked with a deep frown.

"Yes, I do. That was one of the reasons why I decided to go with you," Lucy admitted with a sigh, and Aaron merely looked at her not knowing what to say.

"I would have told you about it yesterday, but I didn't know what to say or where to start. And I didn't want to upset you more than you already were," Lucy explained, while Harry watched her with a confused frown, still not understanding what she was trying to say.

"How do you know her?" Harry asked curiously.

Lucy folded both hands together on her thigh as she looked at Aaron while avoiding Harry's gaze, "She is my aunt. My mother's twin sister," Sara said, and both Harry and Aaron looked at her with wide eyes.

"What?" They asked in unison, their astonishment evident in their expressions as they looked at each other and then at Lucy.

"Yes. Although I never met her until yesterday. And like you, my mom has not seen her in the last thirty years until yesterday," Lucy explained, and Aaron frowned.

"You mean she really is not an orphan, and you are her niece?" Aaron asked, and Lucy gave him a nod before going ahead to explain what her mother had told her and Lucas about Sara and how her single action had ruined their family.

"She did that? That means she stole from home before coming to me?" Aaron asked with a deep frown, unable to believe he had been so gullible to have fallen for her false naivety.

Harry on the other hand couldn't believe that a person like that was his mother. He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that of all the women in the world who could have possibly birthed him, he just happened to come from such a she-devil.

"Your mom must be upset too," Aaron said, and Lucy gave him a nod.

"There is no picture of her in the photo albums, and her name is forbidden in my family. I was only able to recognize her because of her close resemblance with my mom, and because I once stumbled on a photo of her when I was a kid," Lucy explained, and both Harry and Aaron sighed.

"Is that all? Or are there more surprises?" Harry asked, jerking his head towards her phone. His head was beginning to ache, and he really wanted to be alone to think.

He wasn't even sure yet what he wanted to think about, but he wanted to be alone. He was beginning to feel sick.

Without answering his question, Lucy resumed the recording once again, and just when Aaron and Harry thought they couldn't be shocked anymore, Lucy dropped another bomb, and both Aaron and Harry stood from their seats.

The statement they had heard that evoked such a reaction from them was, "I am the daughter you sold. Harry's twin sister, who was raised by your own twin sister."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked the same question which was on Aaron's mind as they both stared at Lucy's phone as though it had suddenly turned into a dangerous animal.

Lucy paused the recording as she looked at them apologetically, and just then Harry's office door opened and Tom walked in.

His gaze first went to Lucy, and then it moved from her to Aaron and then to Harry, "You don't mind if I stay, do you?" He asked, but neither Harry nor Aaron looked at him.

Their gaze was focused on Lucy, and they didn't care about anything else as they waited for Lucy to answer their question.

Lucy's gaze moved to Tom, and he gave her a nod before shutting the door behind him and approaching them.

Seeing Tom, Lucy took a deep breath before returning her attention to them, "I didn't think the story made sense. From all I've heard about her, I couldn't believe that she would do anything without a purpose. She couldn't have just decided to change her hospital on a whim at the last minute and not inform Aaron without a reason. It didn't make sense either that she claimed to bury the dead baby before Aaron arrived. So I said that to see if she was hiding something," Lucy explained, and Aaron closed his eyes against the sudden onslaught of headache that hit him as tears pooled in his eyes.

Although he didn't want to believe it, he knew where this was going. He could guess what was going to happen next since he knew Lucy well enough that she wouldn't let him listen to any of this and subject him to another round of emotional torture if she hadn't already confirmed her suspicion.

"Please tell me that you are wrong. Lucy, please tell me that she was right and my daughter died. Please, Lucy. Don't tell me that I believed her and abandoned my daughter without even knowing. Please, don't. Please," Aaron cried, his heart beating very fast as he looked at Lucy, not wanting to believe what he could already see in her eyes.

He didn't want to believe that Sara had done something as atrocious as that to him. He didn't want to believe that she had sold their daughter or given her away. He could stand her abandoning him and Harry and carting away with all his money. He could even forgive her for it. But he wasn't sure he would be able to stand it if he had lived all these years thinking his daughter was dead whereas she was alive somewhere else. He wasn't sure that was something he would be able to forgive.

"I'm sorry, Aaron. Maybe if you listen to the rest..."

"No. Not anymore. I can't. I don't want to," Aaron said with a shake of his head as he shut his eyes tightly. Unable to stand anymore, Aaron let himself fall to his knees and he covered his face with his hands as he cried like a baby.

Harry just stood there in stunned silence unable to think, speak, or do anything as he watched his father cry.

Tom sighed as he watched the scene before him not knowing what to say or do. Although he was there to give moral support to every one of them in the office, he couldn't even bring himself to say a word.

The atmosphere in the office was thick with tension, and pain. Raw pain. Every one of them in the office was hurting in different ways.

Tears were running down Lucy's cheeks as she stood from her seat to meet Aaron, who despite the fact that his eyes were shut, tears were running down his cheeks as he beat his chest, while Harry watched his father with a pained expression.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Lucy cried as she knelt in front of him and embraced him tightly as she cried with him.

Tom stood from his seat and went to Harry. Even though Harry wasn't crying, his face was red with emotion, and the veins on his temple stood out.

Before Tom could place a hand on his shoulder, Harry turned around and headed for the door. He didn't know where he was going, but he needed space. Watching his father that way and knowing he couldn't even bring himself to console him or do anything to help him at that moment, made him feel suffocated. He couldn't breathe.

"Harry..." Before Tom could call out to him to stop him, Lucy cried out.

"Aaron! Aaron, what is wrong with you?" Lucy cried in alarm, and Harry who had gotten to the door turned around and found his father slumped in Lucy's arms as he gasped for breath while holding on to his chest tightly.

Immediately, Harry rushed down to where they were and knelt beside his father as he grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"Dad? Dad, what's wrong?"