“My mother never told me.”
“She left before she knew she was pregnant. At least, that is what I believed for a long time.”
“What happened?”
A shadow crossed his features. “My family happened. Her family. Money. Fear. Pride. A dozen things that matter terribly to young people until they destroy what actually mattered.”
I stared at him, trying to fit this man into the empty spaces my mother had left behind. She had been gentle but guarded, always careful when I asked about my father. She told me he was gone. Not dead. Not cruel. Just gone.
Had I signed it? Had there been another page beneath the first? Had he forged it completely?
A thin, cold thread of realization slid through me.
Victor had not snapped on that mountain.
He had planned.
The room tilted.
Adrian stood and reached for the call button, but I caught his sleeve with my good hand.
