Professor Lucien
The words leave both our mouths at once, choked, strangled.
Valerie nods, tears streaming.
“She must have found out.” Her voice broke into the silence. “That she wasn’t my daughter."
Her fingers twist the kerchief, clutching it like it’s the only thing holding her together. “She started digging… old hospital records, private investigators, questions buried in her emails. And then—” Valerie swallows hard, her breath shaking. “She started visiting that club.”
“To do what?” I ask.
Valerie doesn’t respond at first, staring blankly.