Chapter 6 - The Shadow of Leo
At midnight, after Lily had finally fallen into a deep, peaceful sleep in Julian’s master bedroom—wrapped in silk sheets, holding a soft teddy bear Julian had ordered via express courier—Julian sat in his dimly lit study, surrounded by boxes of old family records.
The room smelled of old paper and whiskey.
Julian sat behind his glass desk, a half-empty glass of bourbon in his hand, staring at an old leather-bound journal he had retrieved from a storage trunk in the hall closet. It was Leo’s high school diary from twenty years ago.
November 14, 2006, one entry read. Father caught me talking to the union organizers at the dock. He hit me in front of the managers. He said an Ellison doesn't stand with workers. He said if I ever speak to them again, he will destroy me.
Julian turned the pages, his heart aching as he read entry after entry detailing the brutal, perfectionist tyranny of their father, Richard Ellison. Richard had been a titan of industry—a cold, ruthless man who viewed his family not as human beings, but as assets to be managed and controlled.
When Leo had refused to go to law school, choosing instead to marry a young artist from the river district named Clara, Richard had cut him off completely. But Leo hadn't just walked away; he had threatened to expose Richard’s illegal land-grab schemes in the city’s south district.
Mara helped him do it, Julian realized with a sickening jolt, reading an entry from May 2010. Mother signed the transfer papers that stripped my name from the birth registry. They erased me.
A soft chime sounded from his computer screen.
An encrypted email arrived in Julian’s inbox from his private investigator, a former police detective named Sarah Hayes.
Julian clicked it open.
Attached were police reports from Oregon, medical records from county clinics, and death certificates from two years ago.
Julian’s eyes scanned the documents quickly, stopping at a hospital death record dated August 12, 2024.
Name: Clara Ellison.
Cause of death: Advanced cervical cancer.
Note: Patient lacked medical insurance. Treatment denied due to non-payment.
Tears filled Julian’s eyes. Leo hadn't been a drug addict or a criminal, as Arthur had implied. He had spent his entire life savings, sold his house, and taken out predatory loans trying to save his wife’s life. When Clara died, Leo was left broke, homeless, and broken-hearted, living in a van with his five-year-old daughter, hiding from debt collectors.
And two miles away, his mother was hosting charity galas in a sixty-room mansion.
Julian grabbed his glass of bourbon and slammed it onto the desk, the heavy glass shattering into a dozen sharp shards, amber liquid spreading across the glass table like blood.
"They killed them," Julian whispered into the quiet room, his body shaking with pure, unadulterated rage. "They let them die."
The phone on his desk rang.
Julian answered it without checking the caller ID. "Speak."
"Julian," Sarah Hayes’s voice came through the speaker, urgent and sharp. "You need to lock your apartment doors right now."
May you like
Julian stood up, his hand gripping the receiver tightly. "What are you talking about?"
"Mara’s legal team didn't just file a custody petition, Julian," Sarah warned. "They obtained an emergency administrative warrant from Judge Harrison—one of your father’s old political lackeys. They are claiming you kidnapped the child from CPS custody without proper authorization. Child Protection officers and city marshals are on their way to your building right now to seize Lily."
