Chapter 2 - The Ghost of the Past
Christopher blinked, his smug smile faltering. "Resemblance? What are you talking about, Mother? He looks like me. He’s my son."
"Your son?" Evelyn let out a harsh, bitter laugh that sounded more like a dry cough. She turned her gaze to Michelle, who had gone completely pale, clutching the baby girl so tightly her knuckles turned white. "Look at him, Michelle. Look me in the eye and tell me whose face you are holding."
"Evelyn, please, everyone is watching," Michelle stammered, casting a frantic look toward the aunts and cousins gathered in the doorway. "Let’s go inside, let’s sit down—"
"No!" Evelyn slammed her cane against the marble floor, the sharp crack ringing through the estate. "You walked into my house parading children you claim are the future of this family, but you forgot one crucial detail, Michelle. You forgot who raised the men of this family."
Christopher stepped between them, his face flushing with anger and confusion. "Mother, have you lost your mind? Victoria has been whispering lies to you! She’s bitter because she’s barren, and now she’s trying to poison you against my new family!"
"Victoria hasn't said a single word to me about this boy's face," Evelyn snapped, turning her furious eyes onto her son. "Victoria called to tell me you were coming, yes. But it was my memory, and a very uncomfortable truth, that brought me to the clinic records in Tucson a week ago."
The air in the foyer turned glacial. Michelle’s knees buckled slightly, and she had to lean against a mahogany console table to keep from falling.
"What clinic?" Christopher demanded, his voice rising in panic. "What are you talking about?"
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"The fertility clinic where you and Michelle supposedly conceived these miracles," Evelyn said, her voice dropping to a dangerous, icy whisper. "The clinic where your younger brother, Julian, spent six months volunteering and managing operations before he suddenly left the country three years ago."
Christopher froze. The name hung in the air like a curse. Julian—the black sheep of the family, the brother Christopher hated, the brother who possessed the exact same sharp jawline, the exact same ear shape, and the exact same crescent birthmark beneath his hairline.
