Shoving the papers back into the box, Evie snapped it shut and locked it again, her breath coming fast. She didn’t know what to do with what she’d just read. Her first thought was that Tommy needed to know.
Suddenly desperate to be anywhere but near Della, she shoved the key into her jeans pocket, grabbed the box, and all but bolted from the apartment.
The hour drive to the Tower was spent with Evie questioning everything.Why did Henry and Mary give her up? Why go through the pregnancy at all if they didn’t want another child? Why didn’t they want her and Tommy to know they were related?
Now that she knew, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it. Other than their eyes and the age gap, they could almost pass for twins.
She’d suspected for years that she wasn’t Della and Oscar’s biological child, besides her colouring being so different from theirs, and not looking like anyone on either side of the family, The colouring alone set her apart, her dark hair and blue eyes among a family of redheads, blondes and brown and green eyes, but so did the math. Della would have been forty-four when she had her. Not impossible, but rare enough that, combined with everything else, it made adoption the only explanation that ever made sense.
What she hadn’t considered was that Mary and Henry could be her actual parents. Mary would have been fifty, Henry sixty-seven, an age that made her birth almost miraculous.
And how did they hide a forty-week pregnancy from Tommy? Yes, he’d been away at boarding school, but since her birthday was May 8th, Tommy would have come home for Christmas and Spring Break. Christmas could have been explained as weight gain if Mary were even showing, but by Spring Break, a baby bump would have been impossible to explain away.
As the elevator whisked her up to Tommy’s penthouse, Evie could feel the beginnings of a panic attack creeping in. Her thoughts spun faster with every passing floor.
What if he thought she was telling him because she wanted a part ownership stake in Sloane Technologies? Or that she wanted her share of his inheritance? Or if she faked the documents? What if the idea of her being his sister was great in theory, but in reality, he didn’t want her to be his sister?
A small, rational voice reminded her that Tommy adored her, that he’d never think those things, but the doubts were louder. By the time the elevator neared the top floor, her eyes were burning and her hands shook. When the elevator doors finally opened, she walked off and right into Thorn's arms.
“Are you alright,Mališa?” he asked, his voice low with concern as he wrapped her in a steady embrace. “I saw you on the security cameras. Did something happen to your mother?”
Evie shook her head, pressing her face against his chest. “No. Mom’s… as fine as she usually is. Where’s Tommy?”
Thorn’s arms tightened around her briefly, almost enclosing her. “On a date with Nissa. Where else?” He rubbed slow circles on her back. “Do you want me to call him home?”
Evie hesitated. Over the last four years, Thorn had become her confidant, the person she trusted most besidesTommy. There were things she’d told him that she’d never breathe to anyone else.
“I need to show you something.”
She led the way into the kitchen, and they sat at the table. It was their spot, where they went when they wanted to talk to one another about things they had going on and needed support. She unlocked the box and pushed it over to him.
Thorn raised an eyebrow and began leafing through the papers. When he reached the legal agreement, his pace slowed. The tension in his shoulders eased slightly as he read.
“Well,” he said finally, laying the documents on the table. “This is much better than what I thought.” He glanced up at her, his expression softening. “But I imagine this is a shock.”
“You knew?” Evie’s voice caught. “How did you know? Does Tommy know?”
“As far as I know, Tommy has no idea.” Thorn shrugged lightly. “I just thought your mother and his father had an affair. You are clearly closely related.”
“Oh.” Evie blinked, surprised but not offended. It made sense; he was observant in ways few people were. “I guess that’s fair. But if you’d ever met Tommy’s parents, you’d know that was impossible. Henry only had eyes for his wife. And he didn’t exactly like my mother.”
“You were only nine when they died,” Thorn reminded her. “How could you tell?”
“I don’t know,” Evie admitted, shaking her head. “Just a feeling. He used to get this look when she spoke, like he was being polite, but not taking her seriously.”
Thorn smirked, picking the document back up and began rereading it. “I would imagine it was a lot like the look you have when she speaks.”
Despite everything, Evie huffed out a small laugh. “You might be right.”
“It is odd,” Thorn began after a moment of silence. “They set all these terms and conditions - preventing Henry and Mary from having any say in how you were raised, making it clear that you would have no stake in Sloane Technologies - and that makes sense, considering the friendship dynamic that existed.”
He tapped the paper lightly. “But they were very specific that the relationship between you and Tommy was not to be interfered with, and that it was to be allowed to develop naturally.” He looked up at her. “They had to know it would eventually come out that you were related.”
“What do you mean?” Evie leaned forward, reaching for the paper. “I thought it just meant they wanted our relationship to be whatever it was going to be, that they couldn’t force us to be friends or keep us apart.”
“It was added as an addendum four months after the original agreement,” Thorn explained, handing the papers back. “It mentions explicitly Tommy’s emotional attachment to you. Realistically, he was fourteen and very intelligent. It would have made more sense to limit your interactions.”
Evie reread the addendum and smiled sadly. “I think they didn’t want us to be alone when they passed. Technically, we were both only children with older parents who couldn’t have more kids.”
