411: Shadows of the Past

The usual clatter of dinner dishes had barely settled when the conversation took a turn towards the mysterious diary. With their father absent, the siblings felt a rare freedom to delve into matters usually skirted around. "Everything in the diary... I've read it through. About Mom and Dad, their elopement wasn't wrong," Emma began, her voice tinged with the weight of newfound truths. "But what really puzzles me is the entries about Mom's last three months. She met someone, and she didn’t name who. I think it might have been Clarke Zodiac. Who else could it be?" Bauer nodded slowly, absorbing her theory. "It makes sense. Clarke Zodiac was always around, wasn’t he? Especially towards the end." "Yes, and there’s more," Emma continued, leaning forward, her hands clasped tightly. "If Clarke Zodiac changed right after meeting Dad, then everything that followed... our company's troubles, they might all connect back to him." Wayne interjected, his brow furrowed in concern. "So you think