desk, the photograph in his hand, his pulse hammering in a rhythm that felt foreign and wrong. He was a man who prided himself on control

e was written in the same handwriting h

anything that might anchor the image to a timeline that made sense. Noth

he hadn't known existed until tonight. Inside, there were more photographs. More documents. A birth certificate with a name he didn't recognize. A hos

think first, to process what he was seeing before

ure of someone who'd been trained to deceive. She claimed she didn't know about the photograph. She claimed she was only looking

n instinct, and dialed a number he knew by hea

esslike. "And her daughter, Anne. Start with Wisconsin. Late nineties. I want medical reco

sk questions. Then he turned back to the file, his

mother, her face soft with a love that seemed to radiate from the image itself. But it was the eyes that held Jerry's attention dark and

ther's

n. The same ability to look at a person and see their weaknesses laid bare. But he'd never seen his father's eyes on anyone els

il

in his chest, something ugly and possessive that he didn't want to examine too closely. But the timeline didn't add up. A

as wrong. Unless his father had lie

really was, why she'd infiltrated his home, and what her mother had meant to his father. But more than that, he needed to understand why his father had hidd

to turn around to know who it was. Jefferson had a way o

His voice was carefully neutral, but Jerry could hear the accus

r twenty-f

ink she'll

rson was leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest, his dark eyes missing nothing.

" Jerry said. "She

s boots heavy on the Persian rug. "She wants revenge. You saw the way she looked at us. She b

eed to find out what she k

h his eyes. "And what about you, brother? You

ent of the past that refused to stay buried. And for the first time in years, Jerry felt somethin

lt af

at those secrets might mean for everything he thoug

ened the file and pulled out the birth certificate, slidin

furrowing as he read. Then his expression w

000," he said slowly. "The mother is listed as El

e baby'

ting Jerry's with a question that

Del

e muffled laughter of guests who had no idea what was happening in the study above them. He cou

e same year as Jerry and Jefferson

scarding each one as quickly as it formed. A coincidence. A clerical error. A lie. But the do

fferson asked, his voice ro

t's far bigger than an affair. I'm saying that Anne Delaware might not be who she cl

tly. Then he looked up, his dark eyes blazing with something that was part anger,

"And when I do, she's go

y proven she's smarter than she looks. She's been planning this for y

or in it. "She's already playing us, brother. Th

ng down, the music fading, the guests beginning to leave. Soon, the mansion would be q

there, somewhere in the city,

ice, that the next twenty-four hours would determine not just the

his thumb over the inscription one last time. E.D. 1999. The

pocket and looked at his brother,

"And send someone to watch her apartm

she does

en she comes back. And this time, we won't let h

e. But before he left, he paused at the door,

ly, "there's a possibilit

t's

file on the desk, toward the photograp

ally doesn't know what our father was to her mot

ility he hadn't allowed himself to consider the one

man searching for answers about a mother she barely remembe

game they didn't understand, then they were abo

the truth

ved, it would ch