Chapter 16 - The Search
I didn't tell Clara right away. I spent the next forty-eight hours digging through public registry archives, private adoption databases, and unsealed state records using the encrypted software Arthur had shown me.
The pieces began to fall together with terrifying precision.
Brenda hadn't just adopted one baby; she had separated two newborn twins because her late husband had demanded a single male heir, paying the broker exorbitant sums to erase the second child completely.
And according to the updated state birth registries cross-referenced with modern genetic databases, that second twin—Marcus’s biological brother—was alive, living less than two hours away, and working as a senior investigative journalist for the city's largest daily newspaper.
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His name was Julian Hayes.
And looking at his professional headshot on the news site, the resemblance to Marcus was uncanny—except for one vital difference: Julian’s eyes held none of the hollow, weak compliance that had defined Marcus. They were sharp, analytical, and burning with a fierce, independent fire.
