Chapter 8 - The Son No One Knew Existed
The photograph was not of their unborn son.
It was older.
Much older.
Grant studied it.
The boy was around eight years old.
Dark hair.
Gray-blue eyes.
A scar above the eyebrow.
Jolene stared.
"Who is he?"
Grant didn't answer.
Then he noticed the date.
The photo had been taken eleven years earlier.
Before he met Jolene.
Before Monica.
Before the wedding.
Before everything.
On the back was a name.
Evan Holloway.
Grant's face went blank.
"My brother."
Jolene looked at him.
"You have a brother?"
"I thought he died."
The Holloway family had always spoken of Evan in whispers.
Grant had been told his younger half-brother died as an infant.
But now there was photographic proof.
They began searching.
The records led to an adoption agency in North Carolina.
Then to a church.
Then to a private orphanage.
Evan had survived.
His identity had been changed.
And the person who arranged it?
Desmond.
Grant's uncle had secretly hidden Evan because he believed another heir would weaken his control over the family.
Grant realized something.
Desmond had not only betrayed Jolene.
He had destroyed his own family from within.
They found Evan in a small coastal town.
He was eighteen now.
He refused to believe Grant.
"Why should I?"
Grant said:
"Because I brought your father's watch."
The young man stared.
Their father had divided two identical watches between the brothers.
One had belonged to Grant.
The other had been buried with the family records.
Evan took it.
His eyes filled.
"He told me someone would come."
Grant swallowed.
"He was right."
Evan looked at Jolene.
"And you're carrying his child."
She nodded.
Evan smiled.
"Then I have a nephew."
Grant laughed.
"You do."
For the first time in years, the Holloway family seemed to grow instead of shrink.
Evan moved into the guest house.
He started studying business.
Grant helped him.
Jolene became his first real family.
But one problem remained.
The Black Ledger had exposed the criminal network.
What it didn't expose was who originally created it.
Grant discovered the answer in Richard's private journal.
The network had begun as protection.
Then greed had taken over.
Richard had tried to stop it.
Desmond had prevented him.
Victor had joined him.
The family had spent decades fighting a war that should have ended before Grant was born.
Jolene read the final pages.
"Your father loved you."
Grant smiled sadly.
"I know."
"Do you forgive him?"
Grant considered it.
"I forgive what I can."
She rested her head against his shoulder.
The birth of their son came six weeks later.
It happened at 2:17 a.m.
Jolene gripped Grant's hand.
"It's time."
He panicked.
"Now?"
She laughed despite the pain.
"Yes, now."
At the hospital, Grant never left her side.
Hours later, a baby cried.
A nurse placed the newborn against Jolene's chest.
Grant stared.
Tiny hands.
Dark hair.
Eyes still closed.
His son.
Jolene whispered:
"Meet Noah."
Grant's eyes filled.
"Noah."
He touched the baby's hand.
The tiny fingers closed around his.
Grant broke down.
Jolene smiled.
"He has you."
"No."
May you like
Grant kissed the baby's forehead.
"He has both of us."
