Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
..
Emergency lights flickered on thirty seconds later.
Julian immediately turned toward the staircase.
“Clara, stay behind me.”
Evelyn remained on the balcony.
She seemed almost disappointed that the darkness hadn't lasted longer.
Julian helped Clara sit on the nearest chair.
Then he looked back at his mother.
“You're going to explain everything.”
Evelyn laughed softly.
“You sound like your father.”
“I'll take that as a compliment.”
“It wasn't.”
Julian climbed the stairs.
Evelyn didn't retreat.
Instead, she handed him the photograph.
The edges were yellow with age.
On the back, someone had written a date.
Twenty-seven years earlier.
Julian stared at his father's face.
“Who was this woman?”
“Her name was Margaret.”
Clara whispered from below.
“My mother's name was Margaret.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Your mother worked at the hospital where your father received treatment.”
Julian's eyes narrowed.
“Received treatment for what?”
“Heart disease.”
“That doesn't explain why she was with him.”
Evelyn looked toward Clara.
“Because Margaret discovered something.”
“What?”
“She discovered that your father's medical records had been altered.”
Julian froze.
His father had died suddenly when Julian was fourteen.
The official story had always been simple.
A massive heart attack.
Nothing suspicious.
Nothing complicated.
But now his mother was telling him something entirely different.
“Who altered them?”
Evelyn said nothing.
Julian stepped closer.
“Mother.”
Finally, she answered.
“I did.”
Clara covered her mouth.
Julian stared at her.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father was going to destroy this family.”
“What family?”
Evelyn's eyes hardened.
“The family business.”
She explained that Julian's father had discovered millions of dollars missing from a private family trust.
Margaret had found the evidence.
She intended to expose it.
But before she could, Julian's father died.
Margaret disappeared soon afterward.
Everyone assumed she had fled.
Clara slowly stood.
“My mother didn't abandon me.”
“No,” Evelyn said.
“She was running.”
“From you?”
Evelyn looked away.
“From people much worse than me.”
Julian's blood ran cold.
“Who?”
Evelyn didn't answer.
Instead, she pointed toward the envelope.
“Read the report.”
Julian opened it.
The first page contained Clara's name.
The second contained prenatal test results.
The third page made Julian stop breathing.
There was a notation beside the pregnancy.
PATERNITY EXCLUSION — ADDITIONAL REVIEW REQUIRED.
Clara looked at his face.
“What does it say?”
Julian couldn't answer.
Then he noticed another handwritten note beneath the report.
Three words.
May you like
ASK ABOUT TWINS.
---
