The article was already three days old by the time Kitty finally worked up the nerve to show it to her.Elena was at her desk, going through sponsor emails she'd been putting off for a week, when Kitty set her tablet down gently in front of her and stepped back, the way she always did when she thought bad news needed a running start."You should see this," Kitty said.Elena glanced at the screen. It was a business outlet, the kind with a stiff, formal masthead. A photo of Jerry Black, older than she remembered him looking in the papers years ago, standing beside a younger man she recognized immediately, even in a suit that fit him better than anything she'd ever seen him wear.[Black Family Confirms Long-Lost Heir: Tyler Raymond Identified as Grandson of Jerry Black.]She read the headline twice. Then the first paragraph. Then she stopped reading and just stared at the photo."It's real," Kitty said quietly. "DNA confirmed, apparently a while ago. There's a quote from the family's leg

Walter Finch lived in a small house at the edge of a quiet suburb, a neighborhood with mowed lawns and wind chimes on the porches, nothing at all like the sprawling estate Tyler had grown used to visiting. He pulled up outside a modest blue house with a sagging gutter and sat in the car for a moment, oddly nervous in a way the Black family dinners hadn't managed to make him.This felt different. More personal, somehow.Walter answered the door himself, a thin, stooped man in his eighties with sharp, watchful eyes that hadn't dulled with age. He studied Tyler for a long moment before stepping back to let him in, something shifting in his expression that Tyler couldn't quite name."You've got his jaw," Walter said finally, closing the door behind them. "Charles's, I mean. Same stubborn set to it.""People keep telling me that," Tyler smiled. "I never got to see it myself.""No," Walter muttered quietly. "I suppose you wouldn't have."He led Tyler into a cramped but tidy living room, pho

Tyler pulled into Riverside Motor Lodge a little after nine, still turning many things over in his mind. He just knew his head was too full, too tangled with Charles and Walter and Elaine's warning, and he wanted nothing more than a quiet night to let it all settle.What he found instead was a scene playing out in the middle of the lobby that stopped him in the doorway.Fae stood near the front desk, arms crossed tightly over her chest, looking exhausted in a way Tyler hadn't seen from her before, not even during the chaos of her own family drama. Across from her stood a man in a rumpled suit that had clearly once been expensive, down on one knee on the lobby's cheap tile floor, a small velvet box held out in front of him like he was presenting evidence in a trial."Fae, please," the man was saying, his voice thick with desperation. "You know we were good together. You know this. Just say yes, and we can fix everything. I'll change, I swear it. Just give me one more chance.""Get up,

By the time the fire crews had the blaze contained enough to let bystanders disperse, the crowd outside the restaurant had thinned considerably, most people either giving statements to the responding officers or simply heading home, shaken but grateful. Tyler kept his arm around Fae a while longer than strictly necessary, neither of them in a rush to let go.It was Fae who finally pulled back first, patting her jacket pockets down with growing confusion. "Where'd I leave my keys?""In your hand, probably, knowing you," Tyler said."I don't have them." She frowned, glancing around at the scattered crowd, then toward the curb where she'd parked earlier. Her frown deepened considerably. "Tyler. Where's my car?"Tyler followed her gaze to the empty stretch of curb where the little red car had definitely been parked when they'd arrived. "You're sure this is where you left it?""I'm very sure. I remember specifically thinking the spot was lucky, because parking around here is a nightmare."

"Can you walk?" Fae asked, her voice shaking as she looped Tyler's arm over her shoulders, bracing herself against his weight. "Tyler, I need you to try to walk, okay? The motel's close, I can't carry you.""I can walk," Tyler said, though the words came out strained, his free hand pressed hard against the wound at his side, blood seeping steadily between his fingers despite the pressure.It was slow going, Tyler's steps unsteady, leaning heavily on Fae as they made their way the final stretch toward the motel's glowing sign. By the time they staggered through the lobby doors, the night clerk shot up from behind the desk, eyes widening in alarm."Oh my god, what happened—""Call an ambulance," Fae snapped, already guiding Tyler toward the nearest chair. "Now. Hurry."The clerk fumbled for the phone, hands trembling, while two other staff members who'd been passing through the lobby rushed over, one grabbing towels from behind the desk, pressing them carefully against Tyler's side unde