Chapter 7 - The Question Claire Feared
Claire refused to believe the message.
Maya looked like Julian.
She had his dark eyes and the same small dimple in her chin.
Julian was present at her birth.
He signed the certificate.
But Rachel warned her that physical resemblance proved nothing.
“Rebecca may have written it to confuse him,” Claire said.
“Or she knew something.”
Detective Ortiz searched Evelyn’s property.
They found medical restraints, sedatives, and food containers in the locked room.
Evelyn claimed the room belonged to a former nurse.
She denied knowing Rebecca was alive.
Julian appeared with three attorneys and accused Claire of planting evidence.
Judge Brooks ordered DNA testing for Maya, Claire, and Julian.
Julian objected.
That frightened Claire more than the message.
“If you’re her father,” Claire asked outside court, “why are you fighting the test?”
“This is about protecting Maya from your obsession.”
“You filed for custody.”
“Because you’re falling apart.”
Claire stepped closer.
“You said that about Rebecca too.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“Rebecca was sick.”
“Rebecca was imprisoned.”
“You have no idea what she did.”
“What did she do?”
Julian leaned down.
“She discovered something she should have ignored.”
Before Claire could ask more, he walked away.
The DNA samples were collected under court supervision.
Results would take several days.
That night, Maya had a nightmare.
Claire held her until she calmed down.
“Daddy said I had to call him Daddy even when the other man came.”
Claire went still.
“What other man?”
“The man with the brown coat.”
Maya described a tall man who visited Julian while Claire was traveling for work years earlier.
The man cried when he saw Maya.
Julian forced him to leave.
Claire showed Maya several photographs.
She pointed to one of Claire’s former colleagues.
Ethan Shaw.
Rebecca’s younger brother.
Claire had not seen him since shortly before Maya was born.
Ethan had helped her during a difficult period in the marriage.
They had shared one drunken kiss after Julian disappeared for weeks.
Nothing more.
At least that was what Claire remembered.
Then a text arrived from an unknown number.
May you like
Rebecca is alive. Do not trust Ethan. Ask him what happened the night Maya was conceived.
👉 The DNA test could destroy Julian’s custody case, but it might also expose a secret Claire herself did not remember.
