Chapter 2 - The Envelope Serena Said He Rejected
Julian took the envelope with both hands.
The paper had softened at the folds from being handled too many times.
His name was written across the front in Elena’s handwriting.
Julian Vance.
Private.
He looked at Serena.
“You saw this?”
Serena’s face was rigid.
“I don’t remember.”
Elena laughed once.
“You remember.”
“Elena, you were hysterical that day.”
“I was pregnant.”
“You were shouting at the receptionist.”
“Because you wouldn’t let me upstairs.”
“I didn’t control building security.”
“You were Julian’s executive assistant. Everyone listened when you said I wasn’t allowed through.”
Julian looked between them.
“Stop.”
Both women fell silent.
He opened the envelope.
Inside was an ultrasound image from a Chicago obstetrics clinic dated five years and seven months earlier.
Below it was a handwritten note.
Julian,
I know everything between us is broken, but before we sign the last papers you need to know this. I am pregnant. I have not decided what happens next, but you deserve to know before the court makes us strangers.
Please call me yourself.
Elena.
Julian read it twice.
Then a third time.
“I never saw this.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“I know that now.”
Serena stepped closer.
“Julian, she can’t prove—”
He lifted one hand.
“Don’t.”
The force in his voice silenced her.
Julian turned to Elena.
“What happened after you left the envelope?”
“You called me that evening.”
“I did?”
Elena nodded.
“You told me never to use pregnancy to manipulate you.”
Julian stared at her.
“I never said that.”
“You said the baby might not even be yours.”
His face twisted.
“I never said that either.”
Elena looked confused now.
Not angry.
Confused.
“You called from your private number.”
Julian pulled out his phone, though of course five-year-old call logs were long gone.
“My private number was company-issued then.”
Serena’s eyes shifted.
Julian saw it.
“Who had access?”
No answer.
“Serena.”
She swallowed.
“You did. I did. IT did.”
Elena leaned against the wall.
Julian’s mind moved backward through memory.
At the end of the marriage, he had received screenshots supposedly showing Elena meeting another man at a hotel restaurant.
Serena had brought them.
Elena had received printouts suggesting Julian and Serena had booked adjoining hotel rooms during a conference.
She had never told him where those came from.
Everything had become suspicion.
Every question sounded like accusation.
Then Serena had become the person Julian spoke to when Elena stopped speaking.
And after the divorce, Serena had become much more.
Julian looked at Elena.
“Why didn’t you contact me again after Ethan was born?”
Her expression changed.
“I did.”
“How?”
“Letters. Email. Through your attorney.”
“I received nothing.”
Elena stared at him.
Then she reached into the same pocket and removed a second item.
A photocopy of an email.
To: Julian Vance
Subject: Ethan
Message:
He was born healthy. Seven pounds, two ounces. I am not asking for money. I am asking if you want to know your son.
Beneath it was a reply.
From Julian’s old email account.
Do not contact me again. I have no interest in raising another man’s child.
Julian’s stomach turned.
“That isn’t mine.”
“I believed it was.”
Serena spoke.
“You were furious at the time. You said plenty of things.”
Julian turned slowly toward her.
“How do you know what I supposedly said to Elena after the divorce?”
Serena froze.
He stepped closer.
“I never showed you my messages with her.”
Serena’s lips parted.
No answer.
Then Elena said quietly:
“She showed me one too.”
Julian looked back.
“What?”
“A message supposedly from you to Serena.”
Elena pulled out another old printout.
The text was short.
Once the divorce is final, we don’t have to pretend anymore.
Julian stared at it.
“I didn’t write this.”
Serena’s face had gone pale.
The yacht’s engine hummed beneath them.
Then a small voice sounded from around the corner.
“Mommy?”
Ethan appeared at the corridor entrance holding his toy jet.
Elena immediately wiped her face and knelt.
“I’m here.”
He looked at Julian.
Then at Serena.
His little brow furrowed.
“Is everybody mad?”
Julian crouched several feet away.
“No. None of this is your fault.”
Ethan studied him carefully.
Then said something that made Serena stop breathing.
“Aunt Serena told Mommy that too.”
Julian stared.
“Aunt Serena?”
Elena’s head snapped toward her son.
Serena whispered:
“Ethan, no.”
Julian rose.
May you like
“How does my son know Serena?”
Cliffhanger: Ethan had just called Serena “Aunt Serena,” proving that the woman Julian believed had not seen Elena in five years had been in contact with his ex-wife—and possibly his son—without telling him.
