Chapter 5 - The grandson I never knew
His name was Noah.
Ten years old.
Birth certificate:
Mother, Willow Harper.
Father blank.
Born three years before Willow supposedly died.
Impossible.
Willow had never been pregnant.
Not that I knew.
Then Lena found hospital records under a sealed adoption file.
Noah had been born in another state.
His mother initially listed as “W. Hart.”
Hart had been Gloria's maiden name.
My wife's.
Someone had hidden the birth.
I felt betrayed by the dead.
Then remembered Gloria.
She survived only six months after Willow's funeral.
Had she known?
I searched through Gloria's old desk.
Boxes I had not opened since she died.
Tax papers.
Church bulletins.
Birthday cards.
Then a sealed envelope.
Henry, if something happens to me, do not give this to Brad.
My hands started shaking before I opened it.
Inside was a copy of a DNA report.
Noah.
Probability Willow was biological mother:
99.99%.
My wife knew.
Then another page.
Father probability:
Excluded — Brad Wallace.
So Noah was Willow's child.
Not Brad's.
Three years before Willow's death.
Which meant my daughter had lived a secret life while married.
Or before?
Dates showed Noah was conceived months before Willow married Brad.
Then why didn't she tell me?
Gloria's letter answered part of it.
Willow was terrified of the child's biological father.
She gave Noah into temporary private care through Dr. Keene while she decided what to do.
Brad learned after the marriage.
According to Gloria, he agreed to help Willow keep Noah hidden.
At first.
Then something changed.
Gloria wrote:
Brad says Noah is dangerous to Ivy's future.
I did not understand.
Neither did I.
How could a child threaten Ivy?
Then I found another line.
Willow believes Noah's father will come back if he knows the boy exists.
No name.
Only initials.
A.V.
I stared at them.
The woman from the black SUV.
Lena had identified her the same afternoon.
Alexandra Vale.
Attorney.
Political strategist.
And sister of Adrian Vale.
A man who had disappeared eleven years earlier after being investigated in a massive charity-fraud case.
A.V.
Could mean Adrian Vale.
If Noah was Adrian's son, Brad hadn't been hiding a family scandal.
He had been hiding a child connected to someone powerful and dangerous.
Then Lena called.
“Henry, there's more.”
“What?”
“Alexandra Vale has been paying Brad.”
My stomach dropped.
“How much?”
“Approximately $40,000 every year.”
The same amount I sent him.
Two identical streams.
Mine.
Hers.
Brad had been receiving eighty thousand dollars annually around Ivy and Willow.
Then I understood something worse.
May you like
Maybe my money had never been for Ivy.
Maybe it was the price Brad charged both sides to keep a secret alive.
