“Tell me the truth.”
“His real name is Adrian,” he admitted. “He used his middle name with you.”
My stomach twisted.
“I knew his family years ago. Before you were born, I was engaged to a woman named Claire. Later, she married Leonard—the wealthy developer. Together they had a son with a distinctive facial birthmark.”
Julian had a large red birthmark stretching across one side of his face.
“Claire was the first woman I ever loved,” Dad continued quietly. “But Leonard drew her into his world. Their marriage became ugly after a while. Around that same time, the construction company I worked for collapsed. Leonard helped hide financial fraud connected to it.”
“And Adrian came back because of that?”
Dad glanced uneasily toward the door.
“No. I think he came back because of Claire.”
At that moment, Elise opened the office door.
