Gemotions

The lawyer’s office was stifling. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air. He sat across from the lawyer, the man's calm demeanor grating on his nerves.

He flipped through the documents, the ink on the will blurring before his eyes. Then, he saw them. The old photographs. His father's signature, scrawled on the back of each one, a flourish he recognized immediately. Pictures of his father, not in the family photos, grinning alongside a woman who was not his mother, in a place he never mentioned. He felt a bitter taste rising in his throat.

He pushed the photos away, his knuckles white. "What does it mean?" he asked, his voice low and strained. The lawyer gave him a placid look, and he felt a flush spread across his face.