Things I Shouldn't Know

I stood frozen in his office, trying to understand what he had just said.

“My father saved your life?” I repeated, my voice barely above a whisper.

Principal Blackwood—Adrian—nodded slowly. “Yes.”

The room suddenly felt colder. I took a step back, needing space, needing to breathe. “But I don’t even remember my father. Mom never talks about him.”

“She wouldn’t,” he said. “She was trying to protect you.”

“From what?”

He didn’t answer.

That silence said more than words ever could.

I shook my head. “You’re not making sense. None of this makes sense.”

Adrian’s eyes softened, and for the first time since I’d met him, he looked… almost human. Not the cold, perfect figure of authority he showed to everyone else. Just a man weighed down by something too heavy to carry.

“You were never supposed to get involved,” he murmured. “I promised him I’d stay away. But then you showed up at this school. And when I saw your name on the list…” He paused, looking directly at me. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep that promise.”

My throat tightened. “Why not?”

“Because you look just like him.”

The words hit harder than they should have. It was strange—painful, even—being told I resembled someone I had no memory of. Someone I should’ve known, someone I should’ve loved.

I looked down at the photograph again. My five-year-old self, smiling like she had no idea her life would be full of missing pieces.

“I want to know the truth,” I said. “All of it.”

He walked over to a cabinet, unlocked it, and pulled out a small file. He didn’t hand it to me—just held it like it might burn if I touched it.

“This file contains everything I know,” he said. “But once you read it, there’s no going back. Are you sure?”

Was I?

No.

But I nodded anyway.

He slowly extended it toward me. I took it with both hands.

“I shouldn’t be doing this,” he said under his breath. “But I can’t keep pretending you don’t exist.”

That made me pause. “What does that mean?”

Adrian looked at me—really looked at me—and said something that made my heart stop:

“You’re more than just his daughter, Leah.”

The file in my hands suddenly felt like a bomb. I clutched it tighter, afraid of what I might find inside. I didn’t ask what he meant. I couldn’t. Not yet.

My voice came out shakier than I wanted. “What if I don’t like what’s inside?”

“You won’t,” he said. “But you deserve to know.”

I turned and started to leave, my fingers trembling around the file.

“Leah,” he called out before I stepped out the door.

I glanced back.

His voice was low. “Don’t show that to anyone. Not yet. Not even your mother.”

I didn’t answer. I just walked away, the weight of his words sinking into my skin.

Whatever was in this file… it was something dangerous.

Something I was never supposed to see.

And somehow, it was all connected to him.

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