Chapter 13 - The Son Who Was Chosen
Sienna confronted Julian inside a federal interview room.
She placed the photograph in front of him.
He stared at it.
His face changed.
"You remember."
Julian closed his eyes.
"My father took me to a meeting."
"With whom?"
"Margaret."
"She was dead by then."
Julian shook his head.
"Not Margaret."
He pointed to the unidentified woman standing beside Thomas in the photograph.
"Her."
"Who is she?"
Julian hesitated.
"She called herself Evelyn Shaw."
Kira searched the name.
Nothing meaningful appeared.
Julian continued.
"She told me our families had been connected for generations."
"What did she want?"
"She said someday I'd meet you."
Sienna went completely still.
Julian looked ashamed.
"I didn't believe her."
"You were eighteen."
"Yes."
"And she predicted we'd meet?"
"Not predicted."
Julian looked at her.
"Planned."
The word cut through the room.
Sienna stepped backward.
Their meeting in the Richardson lobby.
The dropped papers.
The coffee.
The relationship.
Had none of it been accidental?
Julian leaned forward.
"I forgot about Meridian for years. Then David contacted me after we started dating."
"You lied to me every day."
"Yes."
"Did you ever love me?"
Julian looked at her for a long time.
"That wasn't part of the plan."
Sienna's expression hardened.
"That isn't an answer."
"No."
His voice broke slightly.
"It wasn't part of the plan."
Sienna understood what he meant.
Perhaps the relationship began as manipulation.
Perhaps something real emerged afterward.
It no longer mattered.
Trust could not survive endless retroactive explanations.
She turned toward the door.
Julian called after her.
"Sienna."
She stopped.
"Evelyn told me one other thing."
"What?"
"Meridian needs two family signatures to transfer permanent control."
"Carter and Richardson."
He nodded.
Sienna thought of the document Kira had discovered on the yacht.
Julian's signature.
One signature.
"Who has the Carter signature?"
Julian looked frightened.
"That's why David disappeared."
Sienna turned.
May you like
"What do you mean?"
"Because he discovered someone forged yours."
