Chapter 5 - The Ghost from the Past
The name on the birth certificate hit Julian like a physical impact. Maya. She was the woman he had spent three agonizing years trying to forget, the one who had supposedly packed her bags and vanished to Europe without a trace after their catastrophic business bankruptcy.
"Maya..." Julian whispered, the name tasting like ash in his mouth.
Clara stepped closer, her eyes scanning the official papers over Julian’s shoulder. The anger in her posture had shifted into something much more dangerous: terrifying clarity. "So, your ex-fiancée didn't just disappear to Europe, did she? You knew she was pregnant. You knew she had your child."
"No!" Julian protested, his voice cracking with desperation. "Clara, I swear to God, Maya told me she lost the pregnancy during the third month. That was why we broke up! The stress, the financial ruin—she said the trauma killed our future. I never knew Lily existed."
Lily whimpered, burying her face into Julian’s tuxedo jacket, the scent of expensive cologne mixing with the familiar smell of baby formula. "Mommy was sick," the little girl mumbled into his chest. "She told me daddy was a prince who lived in a big castle, and one day he would come find us."
The brutal irony of the statement made Julian’s eyes burn with hot, frustrated tears. A prince in a castle. Instead, he was a fraud standing amidst the ruins of his own wedding, holding a child he never knew he fathered, while his bride looked at him like he was a stranger.
Clara reached out and pulled a second document from the manila envelope. Her eyes widened as she read the legal text. "Julian... this isn't just a birth certificate. This is a court order issued three days ago. Maya is..." Clara’s voice caught in her throat. "Maya is missing."
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Julian snatched the paper from her hands. His eyes raced across the legal jargon until they hit the terrifying conclusion: Pursuant to emergency protective custody statutes, minor child Lillian Vance and infant sibling are remanded to the biological father, Julian Vance, effective immediately upon service, due to maternal abandonment and critical medical endangerment.
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