Chapter 12 - Grant’s Last Useful Truth
Lena agreed to the call on one condition.
Mara and Noah would listen.
Grant appeared on the secure screen wearing a plain detention uniform. He looked exhausted. Without the white suits, expensive watches and confident posture, he seemed smaller.
“You said you know where Celeste’s missing child is,” Lena began.
“I know where Rook claimed the child was.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“It is all I have.”
“Then speak.”
Grant leaned closer.
“During our second meeting, Rook showed me a photograph of a woman standing outside Arden House.”
“What woman?”
“He said she was the reason Celeste created Halcyon.”
“Do you have the photograph?”
“My mother does.”
Vivian was being held separately.
“Where?”
“In a deposit box registered to Ashbourne Services.”
Mara typed the name into her tablet.
“A Crown Meridian subsidiary.”
Grant nodded.
“The access card is inside my office safe.”
“Your office was emptied,” Lena said.
“Not the office at Arden House. My Mercer Ridge office downtown.”
Federal agents had already sealed it.
Mara sent a message to her team.
“What did Rook say about the woman?” Lena asked.
“He said Celeste stole her identity.”
Noah frowned.
“That sounds like manipulation.”
“I know.”
“Did he give you a name?”
Grant looked directly at Lena.
“Evelyn Vale.”
Lena had heard the surname before.
Halcyon’s original charter had been signed by E. Vale.
“Who is she?”
“Rook said she is Celeste’s daughter.”
Lena’s heart beat faster.
“And she is alive?”
“He said she had been watching the estate for years.”
Noah stood and walked toward the window.
Lena noticed.
“You know that name too.”
Noah remained silent.
Mara turned to him.
“Mr. Hale, withholding information now may constitute obstruction.”
Noah faced them.
“Evelyn Vale was Halcyon’s first director.”
“You worked with her?” Lena asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you know she was my grandmother’s daughter?”
“I suspected it.”
“How could you hide this from me?”
“Celeste ordered everyone to protect Evelyn’s identity.”
“From Crown Meridian?”
“From the Arden family.”
Lena stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because Celeste believed someone inside the family had helped kidnap her.”
Vivian.
Or someone older.
Grant spoke from the screen.
“My mother knew Evelyn’s name.”
Everyone turned toward him.
“She said it once while speaking to Rook. She called Evelyn the mistake Celeste failed to bury.”
Lena felt anger rise.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
Grant lowered his gaze.
“Because I kept believing I could fix one lie with another. Every time I failed, my mother offered a worse solution.”
“That does not excuse you.”
“I know.”
“You locked Ava outside.”
“I thought you would go to the hotel and sign the medical transfer after my mother convinced you that you needed rest.”
“You planned to exploit me after childbirth.”
“Yes.”
The honesty was brutal.
Lena preferred it to another excuse.
Grant continued.
“I told myself the transfer would last only forty-eight hours. I would release the loan, repay the investors and return everything.”
“You risked my estate and our child.”
“I know.”
“Why should I believe anything you say?”
“You should not.”
Grant’s voice cracked.
“But believe this. Rook never threatened my company first. He threatened to reveal something about Ava’s birth.”
Lena went still.
“What?”
“He said the hospital records contained a second genetic profile.”
“That is impossible.”
“I thought so too.”
“What second profile?”
“He said Ava’s sample matched the missing beneficiary more closely than it matched you.”
The room became silent.
Lena’s hands turned cold.
“That makes no biological sense.”
Mara spoke carefully.
“Unless the record was altered.”
Grant nodded.
“Rook said Celeste prepared for Ava long before Lena became pregnant.”
Lena stood.
“This conversation is over.”
“Lena, wait.”
“You are repeating whatever he told you to frighten me.”
“He gave me a hospital file.”
“Where is it?”
“My mother took it.”
Mara received a message.
Her agents had opened the Mercer Ridge safe.
Inside they found the deposit-box card.
They also found a hospital identification bracelet.
May you like
The printed name was faded but still readable.
Baby Evelyn Arden.
