Looking down at his phone, Jude found himself looking at a familiar—and yet completely unknown—face. “Oh, wow.”
“Yeah…” Duncan’s voice trailed away. “Wow.”
The picture looked like a selfie. One taken to use as a profile picture on social media. There was no denying that the woman in the photo was Annie’s twin. However, there were subtle differences.
Annie’s hair was long and straight, while Angela’s was shorter and had some curl to it. Annie had a ready smile and a confidence to her that it seemed like the woman in the photo lacked.
Even though it was a selfie, Angela looked uncertain, almost shy, her shoulders slightly hunched. The photo radiated awkwardness, which made Jude even more curious about her.
Jude studied her face more carefully. The resemblance to Annie was uncanny—same delicate bone structure, same blue-green eyes—but there was a wariness in Angela's expression that Annie had never shown.
"It's her," Duncan said, his voice thick with emotion. "After all these years…"
Jude nodded. "The resemblance is undeniable."
"What do you make of her?" Duncan asked, gesturing at his monitor.
Jude considered the question carefully. Reading people was part of his job, and even from a photograph, he could see aspects of the woman’s personality.
"She looks… cautious. Wary," he observed. "Which isn’t exactly the expression of someone planning to exploit a connection to your family."
Duncan rubbed his jaw, eyes never leaving his screen. "Unless that's exactly what she wants us to think."
"Possibly," Jude conceded. "But my gut says otherwise."
He scrolled through the additional photos that had been sent. These included another woman, and Angela looked more relaxed in those.
Jude lingered the longest on the one that had the two women sitting with their heads pressed close together, smiling at the camera. From the angle of the picture, he assumed that the other woman had taken the snap, which may have explained why Angela looked more relaxed.
“The team gave another update, along with the photos,” Jude said, scrolling through the rest of the email. “According to this, Angela lives with someone named Kiara in an apartment in Briar Hollow. Both work minimum-wage jobs. It seems neither have a license and there are no vehicles registered to either of them. I’m sure we’ll know much more in another twenty-four hours.”
“The money I pay to have the best computer specialists working for me has been worth every penny,” Duncan murmured.
“So where do we go from here?”
“I want you to go to Kentucky and meet with them.”
Jude wasn’t surprised to hear that that was Duncan’s plan. The man trusted him to be discreet and to make sure that Angelawas safe. He’d played a role in the safety of Duncan’s family for most of his adult life, and that wouldn’t be changing anytime soon.
He opened the attachments again and swept through them, pausing on the selfie photo once more. Something shifted within him as he studied the woman.
Her world was going to be turned upside down. Going from a minimum-wage existence to life with one of the richest men in the world was going to be shocking.
How would she handle that?
And how would everyone handle her return?
Jude was well-versed in human physiology to know that this wasn’t going to be an easy process. Each person would have a different struggle with Angela’s reappearance in their lives.
But at the end of the day, Duncan would have his daughter back. Annalisa and Julian would have their sister back. And Elizabeth and Benji would meet Angela for the first time.
Jude’s role in everything would be the same as it had always been. He’d protect Duncan and his family in any way he could.
CHAPTER THREE
Angela dumped the dough out onto the stainless steel work surface in the back of the bakery, then hefted the large metal bowl back to the mixer standing next to the wall.
Returning to the table, she used a dough scraper to portion out the dough, weighing each piece on the scale. It was work she did six days a week now and had done for many years before that but on a smaller scale. The familiar movement was calming.
