“Eight months after divorcing me because I “couldn’t give him a family,”

Naomi swiped to the next page.

A photograph.

Company picnic.

My grandmother stood in the center.

Younger.

Smiling.

Beside her stood Patricia.

And Thomas Vale.

Lauren’s father.

Patricia’s hand rested on Thomas’s arm.

Too familiar.

I looked up.

“What is this?”

“Elias started digging after Patricia admitted working for Eleanor.”

“Okay.”

“Mia.”

Naomi sat beside me.

“There’s a reason Briarstone uses the Vale name.”

I felt cold.

“Thomas started it?”

“Yes.”

“What does that have to do with Lauren?”

Naomi hesitated.

“Thomas Vale wasn’t Lauren’s biological father.”

I stared at her.

“What?”

“We found an old sealed paternity case.”

“No.”

“Mia.”

“No.”

Whatever was coming, I did not want it.

Naomi continued.

“Patricia gave birth to a daughter thirty-four years ago.”

I felt the room tilt.

“She placed the child with Thomas and his wife.”

“Stop.”

“That daughter was Lauren.”

I stared at her.

No.

Lauren.

Ryan’s wife.

Patricia’s—

My mind refused.

“That would make Lauren Ryan’s sister.”

“No.”

Naomi shook her head quickly.

“Half-sister only if Patricia were Ryan’s biological mother.”

I frowned.

“She is.”

Naomi’s expression told me I was wrong.

My mouth went dry.

“What?”

“Ryan was adopted.”

The words struck almost as hard as the embryo revelation.

“Patricia and her husband adopted Ryan privately when he was six weeks old.”

“Does Ryan know?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then who are his parents?”

Naomi swallowed.

“That’s what Elias is trying to determine.”

I looked down at my daughter.

Ryan’s biological daughter.

And another child created using his genetics.

Everything suddenly felt unstable.

“Why hide an adoption?”

“I don’t know.”

My phone rang.

Elias.

I answered immediately.

“Tell me.”

His voice sounded shaken.

“Mia, I need you to listen carefully.”

“What did you find?”

“Eleanor kept private records.”

“About Ryan?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“She knew.”

“Knew what?”

“Who he was.”

The room became silent.

My daughter slept against my chest.

Elias continued.

“Patricia did not choose Ryan randomly.”

“What does that mean?”

“I found a sealed letter Eleanor left with her attorney.”

My heart began pounding.

“What does it say?”

There was a pause.

Then Elias said something I would remember until the day I died.

“Ryan Brooks is Eleanor Carter’s biological grandson.”

I stopped breathing.

Naomi stared at me.

“What?”

I put the phone on speaker.

Elias continued.

“Your grandmother had a son before she married your grandfather.”

My hand tightened around the phone.

“No.”

“She was nineteen. The father disappeared. Her family forced her to give the baby up.”

My grandmother.

The strongest woman I had ever known.