“Do you realize how insane that sounds?”
Julian finally snapped, taking me aback. “Because your father buried the truth first!”
Silence filled the office.
I turned slowly toward Dad.
“What truth?”
My dad suddenly looked exhausted.
“Claire contacted me years after she married Leonard.”
Julian stared at him coldly. “And you ignored her.”
Julian finally snapped, taking me aback.
Dad slammed his hand on the desk. “I had a wife and a child by then!”
“You still abandoned her!” Julian shouted.
“I was trying to protect my family.”
Neither man seemed to notice how deeply this was affecting me.
“Somebody explain this clearly,” I demanded.
Dad took a shaky breath.
“I was trying to protect my family.”
“When Claire married Leonard, I moved on. Years later, your mother and I had you.”
At the mention of my mother, my chest tightened.
I barely remembered her. Just flashes: dark hair, a soft voice, the smell of lavender.
Dad had always told me she left when I was little.
Then Julian quietly said, “Your mother didn’t leave willingly.”
I froze.
I barely remembered her.
“What?”
Dad closed his eyes.
Julian reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope filled with papers.
“My mother discovered illegal deals, fraud, and construction accidents tied to Leonard’s company.”
Dad looked genuinely nervous.
“There was a building collapse years ago,” he admitted. “Three workers died.”
Julian nodded slowly.
“My father blamed your mother for it.”
I stared at him in confusion. “Why my mother?”
“Because she managed the financial records tied to the project.”
My breath caught.
“My mother discovered illegal deals.”
“No,” I whispered.
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“Leonard needed someone to take the blame before investigators uncovered the fraud.”
Julian handed me a newspaper clipping.
WOMAN SUSPECTED IN DEVELOPMENT SCANDAL MISSING AFTER INVESTIGATION.
Underneath was my mother’s photo.
I felt physically sick.
“You told me she abandoned us.”
Dad looked shattered.
“That’s what everyone believed publicly.”
“And?”
I felt physically sick.
The answer came from Julian.
“My mother helped her disappear before Leonard could hand her over to the police.”
I stared at him.
“What happened to her?”
Neither answered immediately. The silence terrified me.
“Dad?!”
His eyes filled with tears.
“She died six years later.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Julian quickly grabbed my arm to steady me.
“What happened to her?”
“How?” I whispered.
“Car accident,” Dad said weakly.
Julian looked unconvinced but stayed quiet.
The room suddenly felt too small. Every truth I had grown up with felt fake. My mother hadn’t abandoned me. My dad had lied for decades. And the man I loved had entered my life because of my family.
I looked at Julian through tears.
“When were you going to tell me?”
“I wanted to. I just kept waiting for the right moment.”
“We were five minutes away from getting married.”
“I know.”
My dad had lied for decades.
I searched my fiancé’s face for some sign that our entire relationship had been fake.
But all I saw was grief and love.
That made it worse.
Dad stood slowly. “You need to stay away from her.”
Julian laughed bitterly. “You don’t get to protect her by lying anymore.”
The two of them stared at each other with decades of resentment between them.
Then Julian said something that changed everything again.
“My mother never stopped loving you.”
