"I'm your uncle, Elara."
The words hit me so hard I forget the hotel lobby exists. I just stare at Adrian and try to force his face into my life. It does not fit.
Julian steps closer to me. "No."
Adrian does not blink. "Victor is my father. Different mother. Same blood. He kept me overseas and told the board only what he had to."
I let out a dry laugh. "Of course he did."
"Why are you here?" I ask.
"Because Evelyn told me to reach you before Richard did," Adrian says. "And because Victor still thinks half the truth is safer than the whole thing."
That sounds too much like the man who calls me granddaughter. I hate that a stranger can say it so easily.
Julian folds his arms. His face goes cold. "You expect us to trust you because you appeared at four in the morning with a new family
