Chapter 12: What Happened That Night

I stared at the photograph of Adrian and Marcus.

They were standing outside the original Bellamy restaurant, both smiling as if they had been brothers rather than rivals.

But the date on the back made my stomach twist.

It was taken thirty-two years ago.

The same year Tessa was born.

Graham looked at the photograph over my shoulder.

“I remember that night.”

I turned toward him.

“What happened?”

He rubbed a hand over his face.

“Marcus called me after midnight. He said he had proof Celeste had been moving money from the business.”

“And what did you do?”

“I told him to come to the house in the morning.”

Graham's voice became quieter.

“He never came.”

Evelyn stepped closer.

“Because Celeste intercepted him.”

Graham looked at her.

“How do you know?”

“Marcus told me before he disappeared.”

She opened another file.

Inside was a police report from thirty-two years ago.

A car accident had occurred on the road outside Lakehaven that same night.

The vehicle belonged to Marcus.

“He survived,” Evelyn said. “But he was badly injured.”

Graham stared at the report.

“Why wasn't I told?”

“Because Celeste told the hospital that Marcus had no family in Lakehaven.”

I felt a chill run down my spine.

“She erased him.”

Evelyn nodded.

“And when Marcus recovered, she threatened him with a charge for financial theft using the documents she had forged.”

Graham's face hardened.

“I thought those documents were real.”

“That's why Marcus left.”

Tessa had been listening silently.

Now she stepped forward.

“And Adrian?”

Everyone looked at her.

“Where was Adrian that night?”

Evelyn hesitated.

“He was sixteen.”

Tessa frowned.

“So?”

“He saw Marcus leave the house.”

My heart sank.

Graham looked at Evelyn in disbelief.

“Adrian was there?”

“Yes.”

Evelyn handed him another photograph.

It showed a teenage Adrian standing near Marcus's car.

On the back was a handwritten note.

He knows what his mother did.

Tessa's eyes filled with tears.

“He knew since he was sixteen?”

I thought about every conversation I had ever had with Adrian.

Every time he defended Celeste.

Every time he dismissed concerns about the family finances.

Every time he insisted that family secrets should stay inside the family.

It suddenly made sense.

Adrian hadn't become cruel overnight.

He had spent his entire life learning that protecting Celeste mattered more than telling the truth.

My phone rang.

It was Hart.

“Nora, the laboratory results are ready.”

My entire body went still.

“All of them?”

“Yes.”

She paused.

“And there's a serious discrepancy.”

“What kind?”

“The results don't match the assumptions made in the original report.”

I looked at Graham.

“Are you saying Owen is Adrian's son?”

“The official report confirms that Adrian is Owen's biological father.”

Tessa closed her eyes.

Graham let out a breath that sounded almost like a sob.

But Hart wasn't finished.

“And the grandparent test confirms Graham is Owen's biological grandfather.”

For a moment, nobody spoke.

The fake report had been completely destroyed.

Owen was Adrian's son.

The Bellamy bloodline was exactly where it belonged.

Then Hart said the words that changed everything.

“Nora, there's one more result.”

I tightened my grip on the phone.

“Tessa's test.”

Hart's voice became very quiet.

“Graham Bellamy is not Tessa's biological father.”

Tessa covered her mouth.

Graham closed his eyes.

And somewhere inside me, the final piece of Celeste's thirty-two-year secret finally clicked into place.