“Yes,” he said after a painful silence.

“At first I did.”

I looked away.

The monitor beside the bed marked the passing seconds with little soft sounds.

“When Evelyn told me she was expecting a child, I promised to leave my family’s business,” Warren continued.

“A week later, she vanished.

There was a letter supposedly from her saying she’d changed her mind, that she wanted nothing to do with me, and that I must never attempt to contact the child.”

“Supposedly?”