The signature looked like mine.
Almost.
But the wording didn’t sound like me at all.
And one phrase made my blood run cold.
The letter called Beth by a formal childhood nickname.
A nickname only Mark used when he wanted to annoy her.
I looked up.
“This is fake.”
Beth nodded.
“I know that now.”
Then she told me how Stefan had started becoming suspicious himself.
He had found an old hospital photograph.
In it, Mark was sitting in a chair holding two newborn babies wrapped in matching blankets.
Stefan asked him about it.
At first, Mark said one baby belonged to a cousin.
Later he changed the story.
Then he told Stefan that Cole had the same father but a different mother.
Stefan believed him because children believe the versions of truth adults give them.
That was why he kept trying to be near Cole.
He knew there was a connection.
