Julian Crane came into his bedroom. He’d just finished a long series of meetings. The only thing he wanted to do was get some sleep. He got into bed, and his eyes had been closed for a few minutes when he felt something cold against his neck.

Julian opened his eyes, and saw the cold, icy eyes of TC Russell facing him.

” Yeah, Julian, it’s me. And, the answers you give me will be the difference between life and death.”

” T…TC…why are you here?”

“ I just had a very interesting conversation with Liz.” Hearing Liz’s name, Julian’s eyes pop, and TC nodded.

“ Yeah, Julian, with Liz. She had a fantastic story to tell. Or so I thought. Now, I’m beginning to believe what she told me was the truth.”

“ TC, I don’t know what Liz could have told you.”

” Julian, let me be clear. I know lying is very easy for Cranes. But, the lie you tell now, might be your last.”

TC moved the blade into Julian’s neck.

” Ok, I understand, TC. No need to get happy with that knife.”

” Liz told me that she was Eve’s sister. You know anything about it?”

Julian thought about it. Lying wouldn’t help now. Truth was all that could keep him alive.

” Yes, Liz is Eve’s sister.”

” Very interesting that ‘ I ‘ , Eve’s HUSBAND didn’t know that Eve had a sister, but you did. Why is that, Julian?”

” Why don’t you tell me the …the rest of Liz’s story.”

” Ok. Liz said that Eve had a relationship with you. That my ‘ perfect’ wife was involved with you……well?”

” Eve and I were involved years ago.”

” How involved?”

” We….we were lovers.”

” She was a cheap thrill for you.”

” NO! Eve was nothing of the kind.”

TC lifted the knife a bit. “ I’ll be damned. Is that concern I hear in your voice. If I didn’t know you any better, Julian, you sounded like a man who was defending the honor of the woman he loved. But, I know you don’t know how to spell honor, and you know nothing of love.”

” The only reason I know that love exists is because of Eve.”

TC was enraged and the knife went back to Julian’s throat, almost drawing blood.

” How DARE you talk of Eve like that!”

Julian became emboldened. “ No. You said you wanted the truth, so I’ll tell you the truth. Eve is the ONLY woman I’ve ever loved. I loved her the moment I heard her sing.”

” Sing? …Eve doesn’t sing.”

” Yes, she does. She sings like an angel. HERS is the voice that you’ve heard on those tapes of mine. She has a voice like an angel. “

” Eve hates music.”

” Alas, she does. Now. Because of everything that happened.”

” What…what happened to her? What did YOU do to Eve?”

” I…I was the man you accused me of being, TC. I was Julian Crane.”

TC pulled the knife away from Julian’s throat. “ Tell me.”

” When I met Eve, she was no older than Simone is now. She was beautiful, smart, voice like an angel. Most of all, she was innocent. I fell for her instantly, but didn’t know how to deal with it. After all, I was Julian Crane. Love was never part of the package. Eve was supposed to be fun for me. And, I used the Crane lifestyle to seduce her.”

“ Seduce her how?”

” I introduced her into a wild lifestyle. But, then, it was everywhere: the booze, then the drugs. A life of debauchery.”

” You got her into DRUGS and you claim you loved her?”

” I know what I did. I know how I hurt her. And, I will live with the guilt forever.”

” So, you got Eve on booze and drugs. Why am I not surprised?”

” You don’t think I live with the pain of how I hurt her? That I don’t know about the harm I placed upon her? I live with it everyday.”

” Good! Is there more?”

Julian looked at TC. He honestly didn’t know what to do, so he decided to continue with the truth.

” Yes. Eve got pregnant.”

” Pregnant? By you?”

” Yes.”

” That’s a lie. Eve would never be pregnant by you.”

” TC..”

” Where’s the baby, then? If Eve had a child by you, then she would have the baby. NO WAY would Eve EVER give up a baby for adoption. I KNOW that about her.”

” You are right. Eve wouldn’t give up her baby. She didn’t. She had a son.”

” A son? Eve has a son?”

” She was told the baby died.”

” Eve’s baby died?”, TC said confused.

Julian nodded. “ That is what Eve believed from a few hours after his birth until around a year ago.”

” What happened?”

” Eve was at a party at the mansion here. She had a ‘vision’ of some sort. In the vision, she was taken back to the past. Back to when our son was born. Everything was the same, and when they took the baby back to the Nursery in the hospital, she saw what actually happened.”

” What ‘ actually’ happened?”

” She saw someone take our son out of the Nursery.”

“ Take? As in kidnap?”

” As in kidnap. Someone kidnapped our son.”

” How do you know that it wasn’t some delusion of Eve’s?”

” Because, I hired private investigators to give her peace of mind. I wanted her to know, one way or the other. My investigators have found that, whatever else happened, our son didn’t die.”

“ Why didn’t you help Eve all those years ago?”

” Because, I was a coward. I abandoned her and our son. I left her to the mercy of my father, because I didn’t have the spine to fight him.”

“ So, you left her at Alistair’s mercy!”

“ Yes, I did. And, because I did, I gave Alistair the opportunity to do this to Eve.”

” You’re telling me that Alistair took his own grandson from his mother?”

” Father doesn’t consider our son his grandson, because..”

” Because his mother is Black. Yeah, I know your family is racist, muther golly p> ” I…”

” Spare me any defense, Julian. Where is Eve’s son?”

” I don’t know. I still have people looking for him.”

TC thought about Julian’s admission. It was all spinning in his mind. “ Are you still in love with Eve?”

“ Yes. More than ever.”

“ What about her feelings for you?”

” She loves you, TC. She’s told me that repeatedly.”

” So, you HAVE tried to move in on my marriage!”

” I love Eve, and what I want for her is her happiness. Even if that means her being with you.”

TC laughed. “ So, am I supposed to believe that the ‘great’ Julian Crane is being benevolent all of a sudden.”

” No. I owe Eve her happiness, considering that I practically destroyed her years ago. You saved her after I wrecked her. I know that.”

TC dug the knife into the wall above Julian’s headboard, and began to leave the room.

” TC, what are you going to do?”

“ Hell if I know.”