Vanessa stared at me as though she couldn’t understand.
“Then what do you want?”
I paused.
“I want my son to make his own decision.”
Ethan looked at me.
There was hurt in his eyes.
Not embarrassment.
Not anger.
Hurt.
“Mom…”
I shook my head.
“Not here.”
He stepped closer.
“Please.”
I looked toward the house.
“There’s something else you need to know.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
I glanced at Vanessa.
Then at her parents.
“Your fiancée wasn’t the only person I came here to investigate.”
Patricia stiffened.
George’s face changed.
Ethan noticed.
“What does that mean?”
I didn’t answer.
Instead, I looked at the crowd.
“Everyone should enjoy the rest of the evening.”
Vanessa stared at me.
“You can’t just do this.”
I smiled.
“I haven’t done anything yet.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
I turned toward Ethan.
“It means you should ask your future in-laws why they were so interested in your mother’s shopping bag.”
George suddenly stepped forward.
“That’s absurd.”
“Is it?”
I reached into the bag again.
This time I pulled out a folded piece of paper.
George’s face went pale.
I watched him carefully.
He recognized it.
That was my first confirmation.
Ethan saw it too.
“Dad?”
George said nothing.
“What is that?” Ethan asked.
I held the paper between two fingers.
“A copy of a document your father signed six months ago.”
Patricia’s hand flew to her mouth.
Vanessa looked from me to her father.
“What document?”
George finally spoke.
“She has no right to have that.”
Ethan turned toward him.
“Then why are you afraid of it?”
Silence.
I folded the paper and placed it back inside my bag.
“I think it’s time we stopped pretending this evening was about an engagement.”
Ethan stared at his father.
“What did you do?”
George’s voice cracked.
“Nothing.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I looked directly into his eyes.
“You did quite a lot.”
Vanessa suddenly grabbed Ethan’s arm.
“Don’t listen to her.”
He pulled away.
“Vanessa, I need you to stop.”
“But she’s trying to destroy us!”
“No.”
He looked at his mother.
“She’s trying to tell me something.”
I nodded.
“Finally.”
Ethan took a slow breath.
“Mom, what exactly have you been investigating?”
I looked at him for several seconds.
Then I said the words I’d been waiting months to say.
“Your father isn’t the man you think he is.”
George’s face hardened.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I smiled sadly.
“I’ve spent thirty-two years knowing exactly who you are.”
Ethan’s eyes widened.
“Thirty-two years?”
George looked away.
Patricia whispered something to him.
I heard it.
So did Ethan.
“She knows about the account.”
My son’s head snapped toward them.
“What account?”
Patricia froze.
George closed his eyes.
And Vanessa…
Vanessa suddenly started crying.
Not the delicate tears she’d used moments earlier.
These were real.
Terrified tears.
Ethan looked around at all three of them.
“Someone tell me what is going on.”
Nobody answered.
So I did.
“The money used to build Carter Holdings didn’t come entirely from your father’s business.”
Ethan stared at me.
“What?”
I reached into the shopping bag one final time.
This time, I pulled out a photograph.
Old.
Faded.
Almost thirty years old.
I handed it to him.
He looked down.
His face changed.
The photograph showed a much younger George Carter standing beside a woman Ethan had never seen before.
And in the woman’s arms was a baby.
Ethan.
His fingers began to tremble.
“Who is she?”
I looked at George.
He couldn’t meet my eyes.
I whispered:
“That’s the woman your father told you died before you were born.”
Ethan looked up sharply.
“But…”
His voice broke.
“You told me I was your only child.”
I took a slow breath.
“I know.”
He stared at the photograph.
Then at his father.
Then at me.
“And you knew about this?”
