Page 234 of Secret Heir For The Billionaire Twin

And for the first time since she opened the door, I understand that whatever she has been trying to keep behind it has nothing to do with me being here.

A child lives here.

From somewhere deeper in the townhouse, a boy’s voice carries toward the entryway.

“Mom?”

Sophie freezes.

It is slight, just a tightening through her shoulders and a pause that lasts a fraction too long, but I see it.

Then he steps into view.

He is holding what looks like a partially assembled model in both hands, one plastic piece turned between his fingers as he studies me from several feet away.

For a moment, I only look at him.

Dark hair.

Blue eyes.

Not Sophie’s blue.

Mine.

The thought is too fast, too instinctive, and I reject it before I can even examine it.

The boy says nothing. He watches me with the same concentrated stillness I saw in the lab yesterday when one of the engineers was working through a design problem. His head tilts slightly, his attention fixed on me while his thumb rolls the small plastic piece back and forth.

Something in my chest shifts.

I look at Sophie. Her face has gone pale. Then I look back at the boy.

“You have…a son?” I ask.

Sophie’s grip tightens around the leather bag.

“Yes,” she says.

The answer is quiet.

The boy glances toward her.

“Mom, who is he?”

Sophie looks at him before answering.

“This is Julian Blackwell. He’s someone I’m working with.”

The boy nods once, still studying me.

I cannot stop looking at him.

The shape around his eyes.

The dark hair.

The way he stands there thinking before he speaks.