Frederick was reviewing research documents when Sandra called him with information that would change everything about how he understood his own life. She told him that she had discovered records indicating that his father, Charles Ashford, had a child before he married Frederick's mother. This child had been given up for adoption and removed from all family records.
Frederick felt a strange sensation in his chest, a mixture of confusion and something deeper that he could not quite name. He had always known that his father had been a complicated man, a brilliant doctor and researcher who had also been distant and cold. But he had never known about a hidden child.
"Do you have a name?" Frederick asked.
"Victoria Sterling," Sandra said quietly. "She was given up for adoption when she was t
