“I’ve heard that name before.”
“From where?”
He hesitated.
And that hesitation told me everything.
“Julian.”
He sat down slowly.
“When I was younger, my father used to talk about a woman named Evelyn.”
I felt a chill.
“What did he say?”
Julian rubbed his forehead.
“I don’t know. It was years ago.”
“Try.”
He closed his eyes.
“My father said some people spend their whole lives running from the truth.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“What else?”
“He said if anyone ever came asking questions about the past…”
Julian stopped.
“About the past?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Julian looked at me.
And for the first time since I met him, I saw genuine fear in his eyes.
“He said we should never answer.”
Neither of us spoke.
The room was silent.
Because suddenly, this was no longer just my family’s secret.
Somehow…
Somehow Julian’s family was connected.
