Chapter 2: The Envelope With His Name On It
Grant didn't go back upstairs.
He stood near the service station doorway, heart pounding, watching Tessa move between tables.
She hadn't seen him yet.
Miles tugged his sleeve.
"Do you know our mom?"
Grant crouched down slowly.
"We knew each other a long time ago."
Miles studied him with those gray eyes — Grant's eyes — and said nothing more.
Then Tessa turned.
She saw him.
The tray in her hand tilted.
A water glass slid to the edge.
She caught it just in time, but the color had already drained from her face.
Grant crossed the room.
"Tessa."
She took a small step back.
"You shouldn't be here."
"Those boys—"
"Please." Her voice dropped to almost nothing.
"Not here.
Not tonight."
"Are they mine?"
She looked at the floor.
Her jaw tightened.
That silence was the only answer he needed.
Grant's chest felt hollow.
"Six years," he said.
"I thought you left me."
Her eyes finally came up.
And what he saw there wasn't guilt.
It was fear.
"Grant." Her voice was barely a whisper.
"I didn't leave you.
I was told you didn't want us."
The room seemed to tilt.
"Who told you that?"
She reached into her apron pocket and placed a folded envelope on the table between them.
His name was written on the front.
In his mother's handwriting.
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What's inside that envelope — and what did his mother tell Tessa six years ago?
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The full truth is darker than you think.
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