Chase looked between them, confused. «Wait, what do you mean, Mom? What’s going on?»
Catherine didn’t answer. Her eyes were locked on the folder in her lap, as if it had dragged a ghost out of her chest.
Jader stood frozen, one hand gripping the side of her desk. «You recognize this, don’t you?» Robert asked quietly. He wasn’t looking at Jader. He was staring at his wife.
Catherine finally spoke, her voice low and cracking. «That necklace, it’s not just similar. It’s the same. I had one just like it made. Years ago. Before…»
She stopped.
«Before what?» Chase asked, now rising, panic rising in his throat.
Robert’s voice was barely a whisper. «Before the baby.»
Jader’s lips parted, stunned. «What baby?»
Catherine stood up too fast. «This isn’t the time. This isn’t the place.»
Jader stepped back, her voice shaking. «I think I have the right to know.»
Catherine turned to her son. «Chase, she may be your sister.»
Silence. Heavy. Unforgiving.
«No,» Jader whispered, stepping back like she’d been slapped. «That’s not possible.»
But Catherine wasn’t denying it. Robert sat down, burying his face in his hands. Chase just stood there, everything tilting out from under him.
«No,» Chase said again, louder this time. «That can’t be right. That’s insane.»
Jader had stepped into the corner of the room, arms crossed tightly over her chest like she was holding herself together by force. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she refused to let them fall.
Catherine stayed silent, but her face said everything. She looked like she had aged a decade in five minutes.
«I was twenty,» she said finally. «I was in college. I wasn’t married yet. I wasn’t ready. My parents threatened to disown me if I kept the baby. So, I… I made the worst decision of my life.»
She looked at Jader now. «They told me you were adopted. I didn’t even know where you ended up. But I couldn’t bear the thought of you having nothing. So, I left the necklace. That was all I had.»
Jader’s voice was icy. «You abandoned me.»
«I hated myself every day for it,» Catherine said.
Chase turned to his mother, voice hollow. «And you never told me.»
Robert finally spoke, his voice brittle. «I found out two years after we married. She told me in tears. I promised never to bring it up again.»
«But she’s not your daughter,» Catherine whispered. «She’s mine, but not ours.»
And then Robert asked what no one else dared to. «Are you sure?»
The next morning was quiet. Jader didn’t sleep. She sat on her bed, knees drawn to her chest, clutching the necklace she once thought was just a pretty charm. Her world had flipped in one evening. She didn’t know who to trust, herself least of all.
A knock at her door startled her. It was Chase. Alone. He looked like he hadn’t slept either.
He handed her a small envelope. «A private DNA lab. They’ll come to you. No records. No publicity. No drama.»
Jader stared at the envelope but didn’t take it. «You still think I might be your sister?» she asked softly.
«I don’t know what to think,» he admitted. «But I know I want the truth. Whatever it is.»
She took the envelope, finally.
Back at the Waverley penthouse, Catherine sat at the dining table, silent. Robert paced, phone in hand.
«She hates me,» Catherine whispered. «I saw it in her eyes.»
«She’s allowed to,» Robert replied. «But that doesn’t mean this ends in hate.»
A few hours later, the DNA technician came and went. Three days passed. Then a single email arrived in Jader’s inbox. She opened it slowly, heart pounding.
99.9% probability of a direct maternal relationship to Catherine Waverley. And below that: No paternal match to Robert Waverley.
Catherine stood alone on the rooftop garden of Waverley Tower, clutching the original necklace she’d hidden for nearly two decades. The DNA results had confirmed what she already knew deep down, but the lack of Robert’s paternity changed everything.
«I failed her twice,» she whispered. «Once when I gave her away. And again when I met her and saw nothing but shame.»
Behind her, Jader appeared quietly. «You wanted to meet,» Jader said gently. «So I came.»
Catherine turned. Her voice cracked. «Thank you.»
They sat on a bench beneath the glass awning, the city humming quietly below.
«I wasn’t going to come,» Jader admitted. «But I remembered what you asked me the first night. About the necklace. And you asked if I’d ever looked for my parents. I used to want answers. Now, I think I just want peace.»
Catherine reached into her coat pocket and handed Jader a small velvet box. Inside was the twin necklace.