Chapter 9 - THE LAST SECRETThe DNA test arrived two days later.
Grant refused to open it.
He sat alone in his office.
The envelope rested on the desk.
Audrey waited downstairs.
Caleb slept in her arms.
David stood beside the door.
“You need to know.”
Grant nodded.
“I know.”
“You still love her.”
Grant looked at the envelope.
“That makes it worse.”
David didn't argue.
Grant finally opened it.
He read the first line.
Then stopped.
His breathing slowed.
David waited.
“Well?”
Grant looked up.
“Caleb is my son.”
David exhaled.
Grant closed his eyes.
The test had confirmed what Lenora wanted him to question.
But Grant wasn't relieved.
He was furious.
Because now he knew his mother had lied one last time.
He went downstairs.
Audrey stood.
“What did it say?”
Grant held the paper.
“He's mine.”
Audrey began crying.
“I never doubted that.”
“But you doubted me.”
She shook her head.
“I doubted what would happen if I told you everything.”
Grant looked at her.
“Why didn't you trust me?”
“Because three years ago, I was twenty-five and terrified.”
He sat beside her.
“Tell me everything.”
So she did.
Not only about his father.
Not only about Lenora.
But about the night Caleb was conceived.
Grant listened.
When she finished, the silence between them felt different.
Not broken.
Scarred.
But still there.
“I should have told you,” Audrey whispered.
“Yes.”
“I should have trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“I understand if you hate me.”
Grant looked at Caleb.
“I don't hate you.”
Audrey cried harder.
“But I don't know how to trust you yet.”
She nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Before either of them could speak, David entered.
“We found something.”
Grant stood.
“What?”
“Lenora's offshore account.”
“And?”
“It wasn't hers.”
Grant frowned.
“It belonged to Ethan?”
“No.”
David placed a file on the table.
“It belonged to your father's business partner.”
Grant opened it.
Then froze.
“That's impossible.”
David nodded.
“We thought so too.”
At the top of the file was a name.
Richard Whitmore.
Grant's uncle.
His father's younger brother.
Dead for eleven years.
David pointed to the transaction records.
“Money moved through an account in his name for the last six years.”
Grant stared.
“Someone's been using his identity.”
“Exactly.”
“Who?”
David looked at him.
“We don't know.”
Grant turned the pages.
One transfer caught his eye.
A payment to Lenora.
Another to Marcus.
Another to Ethan.
And one enormous payment.
To an account registered overseas.
The recipient name was:
G.W. HOLDINGS.
Grant's stomach tightened.
“That looks like my company.”
“It is.”
“But I never opened that account.”
David pointed to the signature.
Grant stared.
The signature was his.
Perfect.
Impossible.
Someone had forged his identity.
David spoke quietly.
“Your mother's operation was larger than we thought.”
Grant closed the file.
“How large?”
David hesitated.
“Large enough that someone has been planning this since before Caleb was born.”
Grant looked at Audrey.
She shook her head.
“I didn't know.”
“I know.”
David's phone rang.
He answered.
Then his expression changed.
“Grant…”
“What?”
“Lenora was released.”
Grant's face hardened.
“How?”
“Bail.”
“Who posted it?”
David didn't answer.
Grant understood.
“Ethan?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
David looked at the caller ID.
“It was your father.”
Grant stared.
“My father is dead.”
David nodded.
“Exactly.”
The room became silent.
Grant took the phone.
On the other end was a man breathing slowly.
Then a familiar voice spoke.
“Hello, son.”
Grant's knees nearly gave out.
He hadn't heard that voice in three years.
His father's voice.
Impossible.
“Dad?”
The man laughed softly.
“I knew you'd call me that.”
Grant gripped the desk.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere your mother cannot find me.”
Grant's heart pounded.
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
A long silence.
Then his father's answer.
“Because I needed to know who would betray you.”
Grant swallowed.
“And?”
His father's voice became cold.
“I was right.”
The call ended.
Grant stared at the phone.
David whispered:
“What are you going to do?”
Grant looked toward Audrey.
Then toward Caleb.
May you like
Finally, he said:
“Find my father.”
