Chapter 2: The Name on the Envelope
I stood frozen in the hallway, hand pressed flat against the wall to keep myself upright.
Joshua was still talking.
"I know I should have told her from the beginning," he choked out.
"But she would have said no.
She would have walked away and those boys would have had nobody."
My throat tightened.
He wasn't finished.
"They're his sons," he whispered.
"My brother's sons.
And if I don't get them out of that system before the hearing, the state places them permanently and Daniel loses all rights forever."
I hadn't heard Joshua mention his brother Daniel in three years.
Not since the falling out neither of them would explain to me.
My legs carried me two steps back before I could think.
Then I heard a name I didn't recognize.
A woman's name.
Joshua said it quietly, almost like a prayer.
"Does she know you're involved?" the voice on the phone asked.
Joshua went silent for a long moment.
"No," he finally said.
"And she can't find out.
Not yet."
I looked down.
My hands were shaking.
On the floor outside his office, half-hidden under the door, was an envelope I hadn't noticed before.
I picked it up.
It had already been opened.
The return address was a family court.
And there was a second name on it.
Not mine.
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What Joshua was hiding is bigger than anyone expected — and it involves people she's never even met.
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