Julian turned away from the young girl and stepped directly into the space of his elderly mother. Dressed in his formal tuxedo, his chest heaved with overwhelming grief and sudden, righteous anger. What have you been hiding from me?! Julian demanded in a booming, heavy voice that echoed off the high vaulted ceilings of the estate. The matriarch clutched the silver bracelet to her chest, her face draining of all color as she realized her twenty-year-old web of lies and forced separations had finally collapsed in front of the entire city's high society, leaving her powerless to stop her son from claiming the granddaughter she had tried so hard to erase.