Chapter 7 - Walter’s Old Testimony
Julian placed the transcript in front of Walter.
His father did not touch it.
“You remember saying that?”
“Yes.”
“You meant it?”
“At the time.”
Julian stared.
“At the time?”
Walter looked toward the fire.
“I was fighting people who wanted to take my inheritance.”
“So family counted when your money was threatened.”
Walter’s face hardened.
“That is unfair.”
“Is it?”
“You don’t understand the pressure.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Julian pushed the page closer.
“You said blood had nothing to do with whether you belonged.”
Walter’s fingers tightened around his cane.
“I was legally adopted.”
“Alex is weeks away from being legally adopted.”
“That does not mean I have to feel the same.”
Julian stopped.
Finally.
Something honest.
Not financial.
Not legal.
Feeling.
“Why don’t you?”
Walter remained silent.
Julian waited.
At last:
“Because when you have a biological child, everything changes.”
“Who says we’re having one?”
“You’re thirty-seven.”
“So?”
“You think Nora doesn’t want another?”
“That is between us.”
Walter laughed bitterly.
“I built this family so there would be something to pass on.”
“Thomas built it.”
Walter looked as though Julian had struck him.
There it was.
The wound beneath the wound.
Thomas built it.
Walter inherited it.
Walter had spent his entire life afraid someone would say he was merely the adopted custodian of another man’s legacy.
He needed Julian’s biological child to create something he could call unquestionably his.
Not Thomas’s blood.
His own.
“You wanted me to produce proof that you belonged,” Julian said quietly.
Walter stared.
“What?”
“A biological grandchild.”
“Don’t be absurd.”
“You couldn’t give Thomas his bloodline.”
Walter stood so quickly the cane fell.
Julian did not move.
“So you needed me to give you yours.”
“Get out.”
“Dad—”
“GET OUT!”
Julian picked up the cane.
Walter snatched it from him.
For a moment father and son stood inches apart.
Then Walter’s shoulders dropped.
“You think this is all insecurity.”
“No.”
Julian’s voice softened.
“I think insecurity explains some of it.”
“It explains nothing.”
“It explains why Alex scares you even without the audit.”
Walter looked away.
Julian left.
Nora waited in the car.
“Well?”
“He admitted nothing.”
“That means you found the real thing.”
Julian almost smiled.
She knew him.
Then her expression became serious.
“We have a problem.”
“What now?”
She handed him her phone.
Ryan had received another message.
Not an offer this time.
A warning.
If he did not cooperate, information about old unpaid child support would be used against him.
Ryan’s attorney believed the threat was legally weak.
But someone had escalated.
Julian called Walter immediately.
“Did you threaten Ryan?”
“No.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
Walter paused.
“I don’t know.”
For once, Julian believed him.
Because Walter sounded genuinely confused.
They traced the message.
The sender was not Hensley.
It came from a private investigator.
Hired by—
Evelyn.
Julian drove back.
She admitted it.
Walter looked shocked.
“You hired someone?”
“You weren’t getting results.”
Walter stared at his wife.
“You told me my offer was too far.”
“It was.”
“And threatening him isn’t?”
Evelyn looked sick.
“I wanted it stopped.”
“What exactly?”
“The adoption.”
Julian asked:
“Why?”
Her eyes moved toward him.
“For the audit?”
A pause.
“Partly.”
“For blood?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
Julian waited.
Evelyn sat down.
“When you married Nora, I thought Alex would be temporary.”
Nora’s face went cold.
Evelyn continued before she could respond.
“I thought you would help raise him and then you and Nora would have your own child.”
“His own child?” Nora repeated.
Evelyn winced.
“You know what I mean.”
“No. Say it.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“A biological child.”
Nora looked at Alex’s photograph on Julian’s phone.
“He learned to say Dad by calling Julian.”
Evelyn whispered:
“I know.”
“He runs to Julian when he has nightmares.”
“I know.”
“Julian was there for his first steps.”
“I know.”
“And you decided all of that was temporary.”
Evelyn began crying.
“Yes.”
Walter stared at his wife.
For the first time, even he looked disturbed.
Perhaps he had shared the prejudice.
But Evelyn had taken action beyond what he knew.
Bribery attempt.
Private investigator.
Trash bin.
Julian realized something else.
His parents had not been one united machine.
May you like
They had been reinforcing each other’s worst fears until neither knew where the other would stop.
And that made them more dangerous, not less.
