“Because discovering you were stolen from your parents, that your entire childhood was a lie engineered by people who murdered your mother and father to protect a Ponzi scheme… that’s not a conversation you spring on someone. I needed to be sure I could catch her when it shattered her.” Julian’s eyes were wet. “I thought I lost my brother, my sister-in-law, and my only niece in one night. Finding out she’s been living twenty miles away this whole time… it’s a miracle I don’t deserve.”
Ethan stared at the childhood photos of the little girl who grew up to be the woman sharing his bed, his life, his future. “Who took her?” he asked, voice raw.
“That’s the part we’re still unraveling. But the fire wasn’t an accident. Elias had uncovered fraud at the private-equity firm where he worked. He was days away from going to the authorities. Someone decided the whole family was a liability.”
Julian leaned forward. “I’m not here to take her from you, Ethan. I’m here to give her back what was stolen. And I think the only way she survives hearing this is if you’re holding her hand when she does.”