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"I want to talk to you about Moer interested in small talk

"Oh," his face turned serious as he realized the gravity of our conversation

"Before I went to Pal to find out what happened with Mohtness didn’t reach his eyes His shoulders looked tense and I could see the strain in his face

"Yeah I couldn’t" I sighed "I alas a glutton for punishave him all the information I had, which wasn’t much, but he was able to find some leads You see, she was in the system"

"She was a criminal?" Zane looked shocked

"No, she was in the iration system She applied for a visa when she moved to the States"

"She wasn’t American?" Zane sat back in confusion

"No She was, or rather is, from France She moved to the States to be an au pair She was interested in being an actress as well, so that’s why she chose California She thought she’d et into movies"

"Oh" He frowned "How do you know this?"

"Sorry, I’ ahead So I hired the detective, and he found her in a couple of databases He saw the visa application and some sealed mental records"

"Mental records?"

"I mean patient records from a mental institute"

"She was in a mental institute?" Zane’s eyes ide "Oh, God, don’t tell ene from her That’s all I need"

"No" I shook my head "I think she suffered from depression, maybe bipolar as well I don’t really know"

"So she left us because she was depressed?"

"No" I shook my head "She had postpartu to harm us I think she was close to a nervous breakdown And, well, it didn’t help that she ith Dad"

"I suppose not" Zane ran his fingers through his hair "I alondered if she was depressed or souess I never realized that would make someone leave her two sons So the detective told you all this?"

"No, he gave me the contact information to a man she had listed on her visa application in France Turns out that she had listed her father on the application and he still lived at that address"

"How do you know?" He frowned at me "Oh, is that when you went back to France?"

"Yes" I nodded "I tried to talk to you about it all, but you just weren’t interested and I didn’t want to force the conversation until I knew exactly what had happened I was so excited, you know I thought I was going to be able to arrange this happy faavewent crazy all at once I went to Mexico on that weekend trip with Angelique and Braydon, and I called the FBI, and then I went on another trip to France and I met her and my brain was inundated with too ry and scared and I didn’t know if I was co anything" Zane looked at ht you were one to just run away"

"I thought I was protecting you" I sighed "I don’t knohy--"

"Why did she pretend she didn’t know me?" Zane cut me off "And why does she still call you? It doesn’t make sense to me"

"She’s not your mom" I spurted it out and waited for hi about?" Zane frowned "Of course she’s my mom If she’s your mom, she’s ical mom, Zane" I stared into his eyes and he stared back at me with a wild expression "She was your au pair when you were a baby She slept with Dad, and they started a relationship As nant with ht she’d made it But he still treated her like the au pair"

"Who’s my mom, then?" Zane looked like a zombie as he spoke slowly "Where’s my mom?"

I took a deep breath before I continued This was the part I was dreading thechildbirth"

"You mean my childbirth?" Zane looked dazed "She died because she had me?" He sat back and closed his eyes, his fists clenched and I could see his chest heaving up and down

"It wasn’t your fault, Zane I saw the records She had a pre-existing condition that the doctors missed She would have died whether she had had you or not"

"I killedhysterically "Any other surprises forto tell ination as well?"

"Zane" I said his name loudly and with authority "Please I didn’t want to tell you because I was scared you would lose it But you can’t lose it, Zane None of this is your fault"

"How could you not tell me, Noah?" He jumped up from his chair "How could you keep this from me?"

"I was scared" I jumped up as well "I didn’t want you to be hurt I didn’t want you to take it the wrong way"

"Take what the wrong way? I ht I am My whole life has been a lie" He paced back and forth "I don’t even knoho I a brother" I said slowly "You know you’re still the guy that went out of his way to find out what happened to e for uy that promised me that you’d be by my side every day of my life Remember that day e pretended to ca as we both lived, I’d always have you?"