Chapter 2 - Julian read the message three times.The words remained unchanged.
AND THAT BABY IS NOT WHO YOU THINK HE IS.
His eyes moved slowly toward Noah.
The baby was still resting peacefully against Mara.
That alone made no sense.
Noah had cried whenever Julian handed him to unfamiliar people.
Once, during a charity event, he had screamed for twenty minutes when a photographer tried to hold him.
Yet with Mara, he was perfectly calm.
As though he had been waiting for her.
Julian looked toward the restaurant entrance.
Two men in dark coats were standing outside.
They had not entered.
They weren't talking.
They were watching him.
His pulse quickened.
“Mara,” he said quietly.
She looked at him.
“Do you know who sent this?”
“No.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
One of the men outside lifted his phone.
Julian's instinct screamed.
“Give me the baby.”
Mara hesitated.
Then Noah suddenly opened his eyes.
He began crying.
Julian froze.
The men outside started moving.
Toward the door.
Mara held Noah tighter.
“What's happening?”
Julian grabbed his coat.
“We're leaving.”
“But—”
“Now.”
They moved toward the kitchen exit.
The restaurant manager tried to stop them.
“Mr. Mercer, your bill—”
“Put it on my account.”
Julian pushed through the kitchen door.
Mara followed.
Noah screamed the entire time.
The moment they stepped into the alley, the baby stopped.
Julian glanced back.
The two men were entering through the front doors.
“They followed us.”
Mara stared.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
They reached Julian's car.
He unlocked it.
Then stopped.
A small black device had been attached beneath the driver's door.
Tracking beacon.
Julian's stomach dropped.
Someone had been watching him.
For how long?
He grabbed Mara's wrist.
“Come with me.”
“To where?”
“My house.”
She stared at him.
“You just met me.”
“I know.”
“And you want to take me to your house?”
Julian looked at Noah.
“No. I want to keep you alive.”
That shut her up.
They drove through the city for twenty minutes before Julian noticed a black SUV behind them.
It followed every turn.
He took three unexpected exits.
The SUV followed.
Mara looked in the rearview mirror.
“Are they after us?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know yet.”
“You said my sister might be involved.”
“I said nothing about your sister.”
“You said she was your wife.”
Julian tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
“My wife died nine months ago.”
Mara looked at him.
“And you think I knew her?”
“I think someone wants me to believe you did.”
Noah began crying again.
Mara reached forward from the passenger seat.
“Can I hold him?”
Julian nearly refused.
But then he remembered the restaurant.
He pulled over.
Mara took Noah.
The crying stopped.
Again.
Julian stared.
There was something biological happening.
Something instinctive.
Mara rocked the baby gently.
A strange expression crossed her face.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Nothing.”
“What is it?”
“I've had dreams.”
Julian's entire body went still.
“What kind of dreams?”
Mara stared down at Noah.
“A baby.”
He said nothing.
“Every night,” she continued. “For almost a year.”
Julian's breath caught.
“In the dream, I'm holding him.”
“Your baby?”
“I don't know.”
She looked up.
“Sometimes I hear him crying. Sometimes I can't find him. Sometimes a woman keeps telling me, ‘He's gone. You have to forget him.’”
Julian felt something cold crawl through his chest.
“Who is the woman?”
Mara closed her eyes.
“I don't know.”
“What does she look like?”
Mara hesitated.
“Like your wife.”
Julian looked at her.
Then at Noah.
“Why did you say your sister died?”
“My mother told me.”
“When?”
“When I was seventeen.”
“Did you believe her?”
“I had no reason not to.”
“And your mother?”
“Dead.”
“Father?”
“Never knew him.”
Julian stared through the windshield.
This was getting worse.
He called his private security chief.
“Victor, I need a complete background check on a woman.”
“What woman?”
“Mara Ellis.”
“Anything else?”
Julian glanced at her.
“Find out whether she has any connection to Evelyn.”
A pause.
Then Victor said something that made Julian's blood run cold.
“We already have her file.”
Julian frowned.
“What?”
“The reason I know the name is because someone searched it through your security system three months ago.”
“Who?”
Victor hesitated.
“Your wife's medical foundation.”
Julian's heart stopped.
“Evelyn's foundation was closed after her death.”
“I know.”
“Then who accessed it?”
“Your wife's assistant.”
“She's dead.”
Victor was silent.
Then:
“No, Julian.”
He lowered his voice.
“She died last night.”
Julian looked at Mara.
Mara's face had gone pale.
She was staring at Noah.
Something small had fallen from the baby's blanket.
A hospital bracelet.
Julian picked it up.
His fingers trembled.
The name printed on it was:
BABY BOY MERCER
But underneath the name was a date.
A date six months before Evelyn's documented pregnancy began.
Julian looked at Mara.
She was staring at the bracelet like she had seen it before.
Then she whispered:
“I remember that hospital.”
Julian swallowed.
“How?”
May you like
Mara's eyes filled with terror.
“Because that's where they told me my baby died.”
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