Julian never married you for love.
I looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
My father did not answer immediately.
That silence frightened me more than anything Julian had done.
Finally, Evelyn closed the study door behind me.
“Clarissa,” she said carefully, “there is something your father never told you about the night Julian first met you.”
My heart began to pound.
My father turned away from the window.
Outside, the first thin line of sunrise appeared over the trees.
And just as the light touched the room, my old phone rang again.
This time, the caller ID showed a name I had not seen in three years.
Julian Cross.
But when I answered, it was not Julian’s voice on the line.
It was a woman’s whisper.
“Mrs. Cross… please don’t let him know I called. I work in his private office. I found the file.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
