Within the Shadows by J.D MCG (book recommendations .TXT) 📗

this bitch and her plans. I want my life back the way it was, before all of this.' He started to cry.

Ally moved him outside, back to his car and comforted him. 'I don't know what you're going through right now, and I'm not going to pretend to know, but I'm here if you need to talk,' she hugged him. 'You need someone to lean on, always know, I'm here.'

'Thanks, Ally.'

Jacob got into his car and began his journey home. He wiped the tears from his face, knowing he was not alone in all of this. Ally was a great woman and felt strong feelings towards him, and he wanted to act on his, but couldn't. He needed to trust again before he could get into another relationship.

Chapter 7

10.17 am the next morning, Jacob and Adam were trawling through their father’s house. They were trying to organise all of John and Maria's possessions, ready to sell the house. Jacob couldn't bear to enter his father’s office, but it needed to be done. The letter his father left him sat firmly inside his jacket pocket, still waiting to be read.

'I'm just nipping out to get breakfast. Do you want anything?' Adam offered.

'No, thank you. I don't think I can stomach any food right now.'

'Okay. I'll be back soon.'

Adam left Jacob all alone in the house. Now was a better time than any, he thought while removing the letter from his jacket pocket, and his eyes began to feast upon the words written.

"My son.

If you're reading this, then you know I'm gone. You have made me the proudest father in the world along with your brother and sister. There are parts of my life that I have kept secret from you all of these years. You and Adam, my 2 boys. Since your mother died, I am so proud of how you two adapted to carrying the weight of my depression, and helping me and Maria when your little sister arrived. The 3 of you are the best children a father could ask for.

My secret life I tried to keep well hidden from you, but I fear you will soon learn the truth. Barnes will fill you in. He's 1 of the only people I truly trust.

I love all 3 of you very much.

Dad."

Jacob didn't know what to think. His father had a secret life, one he'd kept hidden from his family, one that could have been partially responsible for his mother’s death. Jacob continued to sit on the sofa, re-reading his father’s letter, before finding the courage to burst into his father’s office.

The carpet was still stained beneath him. He felt incredibly sick just staring at it. The office was a mess with paperwork and files all over the place. Jacob needed answers and this would be the only place he'd get some until they found Barnes.

Jacob rummaged through John’s desk drawers, looking for anything that would explain what his father had written in the letter. He came to a locked drawer that required a key, but there was no sign of any key within the messy room.

'You've got to be kidding me,' he yelled and sighed loudly before placing his head in his hands.

He rummaged some more until he came across a file with receipts from a storage locker his father had been renting. The payments had been made yearly.

Why yearly instalments? he pondered. This must have something to do with his secret life. He looked down and analysed the receipts and noticed the address of the storage locker. The same place Lily had her lock up. This better be a coincidence.

Jacob stood still, processing all the information he had discovered in the last few minutes before his brother entered the house with his hands full of food.

'Jacob, I'm back,' he yelled out to him.

Jacob left the office shutting the door quietly behind him, making sure Adam couldn't see that he'd been in there.

'Surely you're not going to eat all of that?' Jacob said with a look of shock upon his face.

'No, I thought you could do with some food even though you said you weren't hungry.'

'Well, I think you made the right decision. I think my appetite has suddenly come back,' he replied, before ushering his brother towards the kitchen.

Once they demolished the food, it was back to sorting out their father’s things. Adam moved upstairs, giving Jacob time to slip back inside the office. He had so many unanswered questions that were eating away at him, and he thought maybe they were hiding in the locked drawer.

Jacob searched again for the key but came up short and figured the only thing left he could do was break it. He crept into the hallway, opened the cupboard under the stairs, and searched through the toolbox for a screwdriver.

A look of delight swept across his face and he quickly tip-toed back into the office, closing the door quietly behind him. It took him no longer than five minutes to break into the drawer. He pulled the drawer out of the desk and dropped it to the floor.

He didn't understand why his father would have wanted the contents locked away. No valuables, just full of letters addressed to Maria. What have they been hiding? And why lock it away? Jacob opened the envelope, removed the letter and drew his eyes over it. He couldn't believe what he'd just read.

Jacob heard Adam moving up above him and then his stamping footsteps coming down the stairs. It was too late for Jacob to bolt out of the room, but he was beyond caring now. He couldn't care less if Adam caught him. They had promised to go through this room together, but Jacob's curiosity got the better of him like it always did.

'What are you doing in here?' he asked