Anonymous caller reported location. Caller’s voice, female, mid-30s. Possibly educated.
Refused to give a name. Said, «She’s safer without me.» Robert stepped back as if struck.
Catherine sat down slowly on the edge of Jader’s couch. She wasn’t blinking. She was whispering.
«Oh my God, it was you.» Chase looked between them, confused. «Wait, what do you mean, Mom? What’s going on?» Catherine didn’t answer.
Her eyes were locked on the folder in her lap, as if it had dragged a ghost out of her chest. Jader stood frozen, one hand gripping the side of her desk. «You recognize this, don’t you?» Robert asked quietly.
He wasn’t looking at Jader. He was staring at his wife. Catherine finally spoke, her voice low and cracking.
«That necklace, it’s not just similar. It’s the same. I had one just like it made.»
«Years ago. Before.» She stopped.
«Before what?» Chase asked, now rising, panic rising in his throat. Robert’s voice was barely a whisper. «Before the baby.»
Jader’s lips parted, stunned. «What baby?» Catherine stood up too fast. «This isn’t the time.»
«This isn’t the place.» Jader stepped back, her voice shaking. «I think I have the right to know.»
Catherine turned to her son. «Chase, she may be your sister.» Silence.
Heavy. Unforgiving. «No,» Jader whispered, stepping back like she’d been slapped.
«That’s not possible.» But Catherine wasn’t denying it. Robert sat down, burying his face in his hands.
Chase just stood there, everything tilting out from under him. «No,» Chase said again, louder this time. «No, that can’t be right.»
«That’s insane.» Jader had stepped into the corner of the room, arms crossed tight over her chest like she was holding herself together by force. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she refused to let them fall.
Catherine stayed silent, but her face said everything. She looked like she had aged a decade in five minutes. «I was 20,» she said finally.
«I was in college. I wasn’t married yet. I wasn’t ready.»..
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