Chapter 25 - Rebecca's SecretGrant found Rebecca at the old Westchester estate.
The house no longer belonged to him.
But it was temporarily vacant between owners, undergoing renovations.
Rebecca sat on the back steps.
She had a bottle of water beside her.
No suitcase.
No weapon.
No dramatic escape plan.
She simply looked exhausted.
Grant stopped several feet away.
“You scared everyone.”
“I know.”
“Noah thinks Dad paid you twenty million dollars.”
“He did.”
Grant waited.
Rebecca looked at him.
“You’re not yelling.”
“I’m practicing.”
“Looks painful.”
“Extremely.”
She almost smiled.
Then her eyes filled.
“I gave it away.”
Grant frowned.
“What?”
“All twenty million.”
“To whom?”
“Gabriel.”
Grant stared.
Rebecca explained.
She had discovered Gabriel’s existence six years earlier after finding one of Margaret’s old photographs.
She confronted Walter.
Walter admitted everything.
Then made Rebecca promise not to tell Grant.
“I hated him for asking,” Rebecca whispered.
“Then why did you agree?”
“Because you were still you.”
That hurt.
“You were running the company. You were ruthless. Dad convinced me that if you discovered another heir existed, you’d see Gabriel as a threat.”
Grant looked away.
The accusation was terrible because he could not confidently say Walter had been wrong.
Rebecca continued.
“When Gabriel got sick, treatment was expensive. Noah had already drained his savings helping him.”
“So Dad paid you.”
“Yes.”
“To keep quiet?”
“And to make the money reach Gabriel without his knowing it came from Walter.”
Grant understood.
Rebecca had acted as intermediary.
Gabriel believed an anonymous educational foundation covered his medical expenses.
“He died anyway,” Rebecca whispered.
Grant sat beside her.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then:
“Why didn't you tell me after?”
“Shame.”
“Yours?”
“Yes.”
“For helping him?”
“For believing Dad when he said you might hurt him.”
Grant absorbed that.
Rebecca began crying.
“You were my brother. I should have believed there was something better inside you.”
Grant shook his head.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I hadn't given you evidence.”
“Grant—”
“You protected Gabriel from the man I was.”
His voice broke.
“You don't apologize for that.”
Rebecca covered her face.
Grant pulled her into his arms.
She cried against his shoulder.
He held her.
Then his phone rang.
Hannah.
Grant answered immediately.
“Everything okay?”
“No.”
He stood.
“What happened?”
“Noah disappeared.”
Grant’s blood went cold.
“What do you mean disappeared?”
“He left the farmhouse while I was putting Grace down.”
“Maybe he needed air.”
“He left his phone.”
Grant stopped.
Hannah continued.
“And the laptop from Locker 418 is gone.”
Grant looked toward Rebecca.
“What was on that laptop besides Gabriel’s video?”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“Financial records.”
“What records?”
“Dad kept copies of everything.”
Grant’s stomach tightened.
“Everything what?”
Rebecca whispered:
“The original Whitmore accounts.”
Grant understood.
Names.
Payments.
Judges.
Politicians.
Police.
Businesses.
Decades of corruption.
May you like
Enough evidence to destroy reputations across New York.
And Noah Reed—an investigative accountant whose father had been erased by the Whitmore family—had just disappeared with all of it.
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