Chapter 2 - Shadows in the Hallway
Julian did not step into the room immediately. He remained frozen on the threshold, a man suspended between the life he had carefully constructed and the ghost that had just been named.
"Clara," Julian said, his voice flat, stripped of warmth. "What are you doing here?"
"I was running," she replied softly, her gaze steady despite the tears brimming at the edge of her eyelashes. "I was running from the truth, Julian. But the road brought me back to the only place that had answers."
Eleanor stepped forward, her heels clicking sharply against the linoleum. "Dr. Sterling, I suggest you re-evaluate whatever test you just ran. Clara left this family two years ago under circumstances that were... definitive. My son owes her nothing, and this child cannot possibly be a Vance."
"The DNA doesn't lie, Eleanor," Dr. Sterling said, turning the baby slightly so the light caught the tiny features. "And neither does the medical history attached to the registry. The child carries the Bombay blood phenotype—1 in a million. Julian, you carry it. Your late father carried it."
May you like
Julian’s breath hitched. He stepped closer, his eyes locked on the tiny, swaddled form. The anger that had sustained him for two years began to crack, revealing a profound, hollow grief beneath.
"He’s yours, Julian," Clara murmured. "I never lied to you about that. I only left because staying meant watching your mother destroy everything you worked for."
