Walter's fingers trembled slightly as he held the envelope. His voice remained steady, but a deep sadness had entered his eyes.
“Your mother and I kept a promise for a very long time. When your father passed away, I believed the truth would finally be allowed to come out.”
Damon slowly took the envelope.
On the front, written in unmistakable handwriting, were the words:
FOR DAMON. OPEN ONLY WHEN YOU ARE READY TO KNOW THE TRUTH.
Damon recognized the handwriting immediately.
His father's.
He tore open the envelope.
Inside lay a folded letter and a small photograph.
The photograph showed a much younger Walter standing beside Damon's father outside an old brick building. Between them stood a little boy wearing a blue sweater.
Damon stared at the child.
Then he looked at Walter.
“Who is this?”
Walter's eyes filled with tears.
“That's you.”
Damon shook his head.
“No. I've seen pictures of myself as a child. This isn't—”
“Look at the date on the back.”
Damon turned the photograph over.
His hands began to shake.
The date was from thirty-five years earlier, long before Damon had been told that his father first met Walter.
He unfolded the letter.
The first sentence stopped him cold.
Damon, if you're reading this, then Walter has finally found the courage to tell you what I never could.
Damon's lips parted.
The woman in yellow suddenly rushed toward him.
“Give me that letter!”
Damon pulled it against his chest.
“Why?”
She reached for it again, panic overtaking her face.
“Because you don't understand what it says!”
Damon stared at her.
“You've read this before?”
She said nothing.
Evelyn stepped forward.
“How do you know what's in that letter?”
The woman backed away.
Walter's expression hardened for the first time.
“Because she has been trying to find it for months.”
Damon looked down at the paper again.
The next lines were short, but each seemed to strike harder than the last.
The man you have been taught to fear is the man who saved your life.
The man you have been taught to trust may have built his entire future on a lie.