The weight of this revelation settled over Angela as she tried to process what Duncan was saying—her birth mother had willingly relinquished custody of Annie while keeping Julian. The implication made her chest tighten.
She'd been missing from her family's life, but Annie had experienced a different kind of absence—a mother who couldn't bear to look at her. Both losses were painful in their own way.
"I don't understand," she said quietly. "How could a mother choose one child over another?"
Julian shifted in his seat. "It wasn't that simple."
"It seemed pretty simple to Annie," Benji interjected, earning a sharp look from his father.
Duncan cleared his throat. "Jill was… struggling after your disappearance. The grief affected her deeply. She couldn't look at Annie without seeing you, and it became too painful for her."
Angela absently traced the rim of her teacup with her fingertip. "So she abandoned her."
"She made choices that hurt people," Duncan said carefully. "People she should have protected."
Julian set his glass down with more force than necessary. "Look, Mom's not perfect. She knows that. But she's been trying to reconnect with Annie for years now."
"Annie doesn't want anything to do with her," Benji said. "And I don't blame her."
Angela's mind whirled with questions. What would it be like to meet this woman who gave birth to her but rejected her sister? Would she see herself in Jill's face? Would Jill look at her and see only the daughter she lost, or would she see Angela as she truly was now?
Before she could ask any further questions, there was movement at the entrance to the living room. Her gaze landed on Jude, and immediately, her heart clenched.
They’d spent time together over the past several days as they’d continued with the self-defense training, but he’d kept all interactions professional.
She hated how much it bothered her, because it wasn’t like he’d ever led her to believe she was anything other than an assignment to him.
“Cole!” Benji jumped up from his chair and went to greet the tall man standing with Jude. She hadn’t even noticed him. “We didn’t know you were coming.”
Cole rested a hand on Benji’s shoulder. “Nope. I wanted to surprise Annie.”
“Oh, nice! I’ll go get her.” Benji disappeared before anyone could say anything to him.
“It’s good to see you again,” Duncan said as he approached him with his hand out.
Cole smiled as he gave it a shake. “I hope it’s okay that I showed up unannounced.”
“It’s perfectly fine,” Duncan assured him. “Though you should have let me know to send the plane.”
“I appreciate that,” Cole said. “But I don’t want to take advantage.”
Duncan gave him a nod, then turned to the rest of the room. “Come meet Angela and her sister.”
The tall, handsome man followed Duncan further into the room to where the women were seated. Cole gave Julian and Elizabeth a smile, then turned his attention to her and Kiara.
“Cole, this is Angela and Kiara,” Duncan said. “Ladies, this is Cole Halverson.”
Angela waited for some sort of reaction from Cole to the fact that she was his girlfriend’s identical twin. His eyes widened briefly, but that was it.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, holding his hand out first to Kiara, who stood closer to him, then to Angela.
“This is amazing,” Kiara said, before proceeding to gush a little.
Before Cole could respond, there was a gasp from the doorway. “Cole?”
Angela looked over to see Annie standing in the doorway with Benji and her dog, Nyla. She would have expected Annie to be thrilled to see her boyfriend, but instead, she just stood there.
No smile. Only a strained expression as she looked from Cole to her, almost like she was afraid of how Cole would react to her twin.
