Chapter 2 - ROWAN'S WARNING
The emergency lights came on ten seconds later.
Rowan stood in the foyer.
Her coat was soaked from the rain.
She looked nothing like the confident woman who had once smiled at me across our wedding reception.
Tonight, she looked terrified.
Aleric stepped between us.
“You can't be here.”
Rowan ignored him.
She looked directly at me.
“You found the record.”
I nodded.
“Then you know Julian isn't who they told you he was.”
Eleanor rushed downstairs.
“Rowan, leave.”
“No.”
Rowan's voice cracked.
“I'm done protecting you.”
Aleric grabbed her arm.
I immediately stepped forward.
“Take your hand off her.”
He released her.
For a moment, everyone stood frozen.
Then Rowan pulled a sealed envelope from her purse.
“This is why I came.”
She handed it to me.
Inside was a photograph.
A hospital nursery.
Two newborn babies lay in neighboring bassinets.
One wore a blue identification bracelet.
The other wore pink.
But beneath the photograph was a handwritten note.
SWITCH THEM BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
I stared at Eleanor.
“Who wrote this?”
She couldn't answer.
Rowan did.
“Your father-in-law.”
My stomach dropped.
Aleric closed his eyes.
“No.”
Rowan continued.
“Eleanor had twins.”
I looked at her.
“Twins?”
“One was Julian.”
“And the other?”
Rowan's expression broke.
“She was told the second baby died.”
Eleanor began crying.
“But that wasn't true,” I whispered.
Rowan shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at Julian.
“The other child survived.”
Aleric stared at his mother.
“Where?”
Eleanor said nothing.
I understood before anyone spoke.
“Who has that child?”
Rowan looked toward me.
“The person who has been blackmailing your family for years.”
Aleric's face hardened.
“Who?”
Rowan reached into her purse again.
This time she pulled out an old newspaper clipping.
The headline read:
STERLING HEIR DIES IN TRAGIC HOSPITAL COMPLICATION.
Below it was a photograph of Eleanor holding a newborn.
But someone had circled one detail.
The baby's wristband.
It carried a different name.
CASSIAN VALE.
Aleric stared.
“Who is Cassian?”
Rowan whispered:
“Your brother.”
May you like
The house fell silent.
And upstairs, Julian began crying again.
