Chapter 8 - JULIAN WAS A LIAR, BUT NOT THE ONLY ONE
This was the moment Julian tried to become innocent.
I stopped him immediately.
“Don’t.”
He looked at me.
“I didn’t open those accounts.”
“Fine.”
“I didn’t move Eleanor’s money.”
“Maybe.”
“Then you understand—”
“No.”
I leaned closer.
“Marcus committing fraud does not erase three years of abandonment.”
He stopped.
Good.
“You still lied about Canada.”
“Yes.”
“You still had an affair.”
“Yes.”
“You still forged emails pretending to be me.”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“You still came home with another woman’s baby and offered me ten thousand dollars.”
His face changed.
“Yes.”
“Then we can investigate what Marcus did without rewriting what you did.”
Chloe watched.
That distinction mattered to her too.
Then Patricia explained Marcus’s identity scheme.
He had access to Julian’s documents because he handled cross-border accounting.
He opened credit lines.
Investment accounts.
Possibly one crypto wallet.
Some transactions Julian denied might genuinely be false.
Others were clearly his.
The forensic work would separate them.
Then Julian asked:
“Why?”
Money.
Probably.
But Marcus also owned ten percent of Cayman Harbor.
If he inflated company activity, he increased apparent value.
Then he used Julian’s identity to move money without revealing his own exposure.
Classic fraud.
Then one question.
Did Marcus manipulate Chloe too?
She looked down.
“He helped me after Julian and I fought.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
Marcus comforted her.
Then affair.
Then baby uncertainty.
Then the DNA test.
Marcus may have wanted paternity ambiguity because if the child were his, Julian’s emotional investment could collapse.
Maybe Marcus hoped Chloe would leave Julian.
Maybe he loved her.
Maybe wanted leverage.
Then the investigators found something worse.
Marcus had purchased a life-insurance policy on Julian.
Not directly.
Key-person insurance through Cayman Harbor.
$3 million.
Beneficiary:
The company.
As ten percent owner, Marcus could indirectly benefit.
Not murder proof.
Not even suspicious by itself if legitimate business.
Except Julian never authorized it.
Signature forged.
Again.
Then Julian whispered:
“Did Marcus ever threaten me?”
Chloe looked away.
He noticed.
“What?”
She finally admitted.
During an argument, Marcus once said:
“Julian won’t be a problem forever.”
The room went still.
I hated where this could go.
No instant murder plot.
Evidence first.
Patricia agreed.
“Do not infer more than we know.”
Good.
Then NYPD financial-crimes investigators, already reviewing elder exploitation, contacted Marcus through counsel.
He agreed to come in.
Not arrested.
Yet.
Then Chloe asked:
“What about the baby?”
No one answered.
Because the entire family could spend months auditing money while a child lived inside uncertainty.
I said:
“Do the test.”
Julian looked at me.
Not my decision.
I corrected:
“If you both want certainty.”
Chloe nodded.
Julian hesitated.
Then:
“Yes.”
Independent accredited lab.
Fresh samples.
Chain of custody.
No Marcus-controlled accounts.
No secret cancellations.
Results in three days.
Then Chloe asked Julian:
“If he isn’t yours, what happens?”
He stared at the baby.
For the first time since JFK, his expression softened completely.
“I don’t know.”
Honest.
Then the baby reached toward his tie.
Julian let him grab it.
And I realized biology might expose another lie.
May you like
But it would not decide the only question that mattered.
What kind of man Julian chose to become after the truth arrived.
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