Chapter 3 - The Secret Inside the Recording
Claire replayed the recording three times.
The voice was unmistakably Adrian's.
But the sentence made no sense.
The first child?
She and Adrian had only ever discussed one pregnancy.
Then the recording crackled, and another voice emerged.
Daniel Seo.
“She doesn't know?”
Adrian's recorded voice answered.
“She must never know until we understand what happened.”
Claire stopped the playback.
Her hands were shaking.
She remembered the pregnancy.
The hospital visits.
The ultrasound appointment Adrian had missed because his father had suffered a stroke.
She remembered losing contact with him during those terrible weeks.
But there had been no first child.
There had only been Ethan and Emma.
Hadn't there?
A knock at the bakery's back door startled her.
It was almost midnight.
She checked the security camera.
Daniel stood outside.
Claire's stomach dropped.
She didn't open the door.
“What do you want?” she called through it.
“I believe we should talk.”
“There's nothing to discuss.”
“Your children are involved now. That changes things.”
Claire grabbed her phone.
“I'm calling the police.”
Daniel sighed.
“Please don't make this more difficult than it needs to be.”
She looked at the recording device on the counter.
“Why did you tell me Adrian wanted me gone?”
“I gave you an opportunity to build a life without the complications of the Park family.”
“You lied.”
“I made a decision I believed was necessary.”
“Necessary for whom?”
He didn't answer.
Then his expression changed.
“Have you shown Adrian that recording?”
Claire froze.
He knew.
Daniel stepped closer to the glass.
“Listen carefully. Some things are better left buried.”
Claire called the police.
By the time officers arrived, Daniel was gone.
The next morning, Adrian arrived at the bakery exactly at ten.
He brought no security inside.
He carried two paper bags and a small stuffed bear.
Ethan ran toward him.
“You came back!”
Adrian crouched.
“I said I would.”
Ethan hugged him.
Emma remained near the counter.
“Why didn't you come before?”
The question was quiet.
Adrian looked at her.
“Because I didn't know where you were.”
“Mom said you were far away.”
“I was.”
“Why?”
Adrian glanced at Claire.
“That's something I should explain when you're older.”
Emma studied him for a moment.
Then she held up her sketchbook.
“I drew you again.”
This time, the drawing showed Adrian standing beside Claire, Ethan, and Emma.
But there was another figure behind them.
A woman with long dark hair.
“Who's that?” Adrian asked.
Emma shrugged.
“She's in the photograph.”
Claire went cold.
“What photograph?”
“The one in your room. The one you hide.”
Adrian looked at Claire.
She had kept one photograph from their San Francisco apartment.
It showed the two of them standing outside a hospital.
There had been a nurse in the background.
Her name was Evelyn.
Adrian recognized her immediately.
“Where did you see that?”
Emma pointed toward Claire's purse.
“Yesterday. The picture fell out.”
Adrian's face changed.
“Claire, we need to talk.”
They moved into the office.
Adrian explained that Evelyn Shaw had been his father's private nurse. She had disappeared shortly before his father's death.
“She was pregnant,” he said.
Claire stared at him.
“With whose baby?”
“My father's.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Adrian continued.
“My father had an affair years before he married my mother. Evelyn was his daughter’s mother. I never knew the child existed until after his funeral.”
“Why does that matter now?”
“Because Daniel controlled my father's personal records. And because I recently discovered that someone has been accessing a private trust account established before my father's death.”
Claire felt a terrible suspicion forming.
“What does that have to do with my children?”
Adrian hesitated.
“The trust was established for any undisclosed heirs of the Park family.”
“Ethan and Emma?”
“Possibly.”
Before Claire could respond, the front bell rang.
A woman entered.
She wore a cream-colored coat and carried a leather folder.
Adrian recognized her.
“Victoria.”
Victoria Park was his older sister.
She looked at Claire, then at the twins.
Her expression was unreadable.
“So it's true,” she said.
Adrian stood.
“Victoria, this isn't a good time.”
“Actually, it's exactly the time.”
She placed the folder on the counter.
Inside was a photograph of a baby.
A hospital bracelet.
And a birth certificate.
Claire stared at the name printed across the top.
The child had been born five years earlier.
The mother was Evelyn Shaw.
The father was listed as Adrian Park.
Victoria looked directly at her brother.
“There's something you need to know about your father.”
May you like
Then she turned toward Claire.
“And something Daniel did to your family before you ever met him.”
