“And you believed that?”
“I wanted to.”
“Why?”
His eyes moved away.
The answer arrived before his mouth opened.
“You loved her.”
He laughed once, bitterly.
“Apparently I’m an idiot.”
“That trait seems hereditary.”
He almost smiled.
Almost.
Then he whispered, “Does Grant know?”
“No.”
Elliot closed his eyes.
“Jesus.”
“How long?”
“
Three months.”
“Three months?”
“It ended after she got pregnant.”
“How convenient.”
“She said once the baby came, everything would settle down. She said Grant would raise him and nobody needed to know.”
I studied him carefully.
“And what were you supposed to be?”
His face tightened.
“Uncle Elliot.”
For the first time, I felt something close to pity.
Then I remembered every fertility injection.
Every accusation.
Every night Sloane held my hand while secretly helping the Whitmore family build a lie on top of my grief.
The pity disappeared.
I reached into my handbag and handed Elliot a folded sheet of paper.
He opened it.
His face went gray.
“What is this?”
“A preliminary notice from the forensic accounting team.”
He scanned it quickly.
“Consulting payments? Boutique transfers?”
“Your brother helped hide assets during our divorce. Your father moved company money through entities linked to Grant. Sloane’s boutique received
hundreds of thousands of dollars for services nobody can prove existed.”
Elliot looked toward the doors.
“Does Richard know?”
“He will.”
“Grant?”
“Very soon.”
He stared at me.
“What do you want from me?”
“The truth.”
“If I tell the truth, my family will destroy me.”
I stepped closer.
“Elliot, your family has spent your entire life treating you like the backup plan. Sloane used you to produce a baby she could pass off as your brother’s. Grant is about to raise your child while you stand at birthday parties pretending to be Uncle Elliot.”
His eyes lowered.
“They’ve already destroyed you.”
From inside, applause erupted.
Then Sloane’s voice carried through the open doors.
“Everybody! We’re doing gifts!”
Elliot looked terrified.
I turned toward the ballroom.
Behind me, he asked, “Rebecca, what exactly did you bring?”
I glanced over my shoulder.
“A family heirloom.”
