“You knew, Julian,” Marcus said, his voice carrying clearly down the carpeted hall.

“You knew who I was, and you chose Eleanor’s lies because they came with a trust fund.”

Julian’s eyes darted to the floor nurse and the two bail officers standing by the elevators.

“Shut your mouth, Dad,” Julian snapped, the word slipping off his tongue before his mind could pull it back.

The legal assistant beside him froze with her ballpoint pen hovering two inches above her pad.

Julian took a step back, twisting the heavy silver band of his watch around his wrist twice in quick, agitated movements.