Chapter 10 - The Name Evelyn Hid
Charlotte had grown up believing her father died before she was born.
His name, according to the family, was Michael Carter.
A photographer.
A brief relationship.
A tragic accident.
Evelyn rarely spoke about him.
Helena told a different story.
“There was no Michael Carter.”
Charlotte felt the room tilt.
Sebastian sat beside her after arriving at the airport.
He looked genuinely confused.
“Evelyn told me the same thing.”
Helena opened the red ledger.
“She paid a private laboratory before Charlotte was born.”
Daniel frowned.
“For DNA testing?”
Helena nodded.
Charlotte’s mouth went dry.
“Whose DNA?”
Helena looked at Sebastian.
“Someone in this family.”
Sebastian went still.
Charlotte almost stood.
“What does that mean?”
Helena reached inside the suitcase and removed a sealed photocopy of an old laboratory invoice.
The client name was Evelyn Valle.
The second name had been partially blacked out.
Only the initials remained.
A.V.
Sebastian whispered, “Adrian.”
Charlotte looked at him.
“Who is Adrian?”
“My younger son.”
Nathaniel’s brother.
Charlotte had never heard of him.
Sebastian explained.
Adrian Valle had been brilliant, reckless, and constantly fighting with the family.
He left New York thirty-three years earlier.
Two years later, Sebastian was told Adrian died while sailing near Greece.
Charlotte’s voice trembled.
“How old would I have been?”
“Three.”
Charlotte stared at Helena.
“You’re saying Adrian Valle might have been my father?”
Helena nodded.
“Evelyn believed so.”
Sebastian looked devastated.
“That would make Charlotte…”
“My granddaughter twice over?” Charlotte said bitterly.
“No.”
Sebastian shook his head.
“It would mean Evelyn and Adrian…”
He stopped.
Charlotte suddenly understood.
Evelyn was Sebastian’s daughter.
Adrian was Sebastian’s son.
Impossible.
Helena quickly corrected him.
“Adrian was not your biological son.”
Sebastian stared at her.
Helena explained that Adrian had been adopted privately as an infant.
The records were sealed.
Evelyn discovered the truth as an adult.
She and Adrian began a relationship years later.
Sebastian had never known.
Charlotte sat in stunned silence.
Then Helena said something even stranger.
“Evelyn didn’t believe Adrian died.”
Sebastian stared.
“What?”
“She believed Margaret helped him disappear.”
Charlotte looked toward the airport windows.
Eight years of her life had already been rewritten in forty-eight hours.
Now even her father’s death might have been another lie.
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
A customs alert had been issued on Nathaniel’s passport.
It had just been scanned.
Not in Europe.
Not in Canada.
At a private marina in New Jersey.
Charlotte stood.
Nathaniel was trying to leave by boat.
And the vessel registered at the dock had one owner.
May you like
Adrian Valle.
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