Chapter 7 - THE CHILD JULIAN HID
I thought Mia meant she was pregnant.
She shook her head.
“The child is six.”
“His name is Noah.”
Julian had met the boy’s mother before Mia.
Her name was Cassandra Reed.
Dr. Malcolm Reed’s daughter.
Cassandra worked as a marketing consultant for one of Julian’s former companies.
Their affair lasted more than a year.
When she became pregnant, Beatrice arranged payments.
The money came from a joint account funded primarily by my business distributions.
I had unknowingly supported Julian’s secret child.
“Where is Noah now?”
“With Cassandra in Arizona.”
“How do you know?”
“Julian visited them three months ago.”
Mia found photographs on his laptop.
One showed Julian holding a dark-haired boy beside a swimming pool.
Another showed Beatrice kneeling beside the child with a birthday cake.
She had called me that weekend and claimed she was visiting a sick cousin.
My anger shifted.
The child was innocent.
Cassandra may not have been.
Mia explained that Dr. Reed joined the incapacity scheme because Julian promised to increase payments to Noah.
If the company sale succeeded, Cassandra would receive a house.
The conspiracy had not been created only to enrich Julian.
It was designed to support a second family.
I asked Mia why Julian chose her after Cassandra.
She looked ashamed.
“He said Cassandra became difficult.”
“What did that mean?”
“She started asking for her name to be included in the trust.”
Julian preferred women who depended on him.
Cassandra wanted legal protection.
Mia wanted rescue.
I had wanted love.
He gave each of us the story that kept us useful.
Rachel and I traveled to Arizona.
Cassandra lived in a modest home outside Scottsdale.
She opened the door and knew immediately who I was.
Noah played with toy cars behind her.
His eyes looked exactly like Julian’s.
Cassandra tried to close the door.
“I am not here to hurt your son.”
“He does not know who you are.”
“I barely know who his father is.”
She allowed us inside.
At first, she defended Julian.
Then Rachel showed her the incapacity documents.
Cassandra’s face changed.
“He said you wanted the sale.”
“He said you were retiring.”
“He lies professionally.”
I asked about the pills.
Cassandra looked toward Noah.
“My father said they were mild sedatives.”
“Did you know they were given to me?”
“I knew Julian wanted you to look unstable.”
She began crying.
“I told him it was wrong.”
“Did you stop taking the money?”
“No.”
Her honesty was brutal.
Cassandra gave us bank records.
Beatrice had transferred more than four hundred thousand dollars over six years.
Peter structured the payments as consulting fees.
Dr. Reed falsified treatment notes describing me as anxious and paranoid.
The medical plan existed before Mia entered my home.
Mia had not created the betrayal.
She had become the latest employee in it.
Before we left, Noah approached me.
“Are you my dad’s friend?”
Cassandra’s face collapsed.
I crouched.
“I knew him a long time.”
“Is he coming for my birthday?”
I looked at the child.
Julian’s deception had created a life he still refused to acknowledge publicly.
“I don’t know.”
Noah nodded as though disappointment was familiar.
Outside, Cassandra followed me to the car.
“There is something else.”
She handed me a flash drive.
“Julian asked my father to prepare a stronger dose.”
“For what?”
“For your anniversary night.”
May you like
The pills found in his jacket were not meant only to disorient me.
According to Dr. Reed’s instructions, they could have stopped my breathing when combined with wine.
