Chapter 4 - THE SISTER HE NEVER TOLD HER ABOUT
Brooke Sutton was Graham’s half-sister.
Caroline read the words five times before they made sense.
Then nausea rose so quickly she barely made it to the café restroom.
When she came out, Ethan was standing beside the hall.
“You okay?”
“No.”
She showed him the photograph.
His face changed.
“What the hell?”
“Exactly.”
Ethan read the note.
“Did Graham know?”
“I’m going to find out.”
She drove directly to Hayes Development.
Mia insisted on coming.
The receptionist tried to stop them.
Caroline kept walking.
Graham stood when she entered his office.
“We need to talk.”
She threw the photograph onto his desk.
His face drained of color.
There.
That was the answer.
“You knew.”
“Caroline—”
“You knew she was your sister.”
“Half-sister.”
“I’m not interested in fractions.”
Graham sat down.
For the first time since the gala, he looked genuinely ashamed.
“My father had an affair before he married my mother.”
“With Brooke’s mother.”
“Yes.”
“Did you grow up together?”
“No. I found out five years ago.”
“The same year she worked for Ethan.”
“Yes.”
Caroline stared.
“So you weren’t sleeping with Brooke.”
Graham looked confused.
“What?”
Caroline’s pulse raced.
“You said you had been having an affair for seven months.”
His eyes closed.
“I lied.”
The floor seemed to disappear.
“You let me believe you were sleeping with your own sister?”
“I panicked.”
“Why would that lie be better?”
“Because the truth was worse.”
Caroline stepped backward.
“What truth?”
Graham’s voice dropped.
“Brooke has been blackmailing me.”
Silence.
“With what?”
“My father’s records.”
“What records?”
He looked toward the office windows.
“Walter Hayes didn’t build this company legally.”
Caroline felt her stomach tighten again.
“He bribed inspectors. Paid city officials. Laundered money through shell contractors. Brooke found the records after her mother died.”
“And she threatened you?”
“Yes.”
“For money?”
“At first.”
“How much?”
“Two million.”
“And you paid her.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“She wanted a job.”
“Why?”
“She wanted access.”
“To what?”
“Everything.”
Caroline stared at him.
“You hired your blackmailer as director of client strategy.”
“I thought I could control it.”
“You thought wrong.”
“Yes.”
“What was happening in that lounge?”
Graham looked down.
“Brooke threatened to expose the company unless I transferred the last of the money.”
“And the hug?”
“She was scared.”
“Of what?”
“That’s where it gets complicated.”
Caroline laughed sharply.
“You have got to stop saying things like that.”
Graham swallowed.
“Brooke isn’t the one stealing the money.”
“Then who is?”
“She thinks someone has been using her accounts.”
“Why would anyone do that?”
“Because whoever is behind this wants both of us blamed.”
Caroline’s anger shifted.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You always don’t know.”
“I’m trying.”
“Who knows your father’s secrets?”
“Brooke. Me. My mother.”
“Your mother is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Anyone else?”
Graham hesitated.
“There was one man.”
“Who?”
“My father’s business partner.”
“Name.”
“Charles Sutton.”
Brooke’s legal father.
Caroline stared.
“Is he alive?”
“No.”
“How did he die?”
“Heart attack.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
Six months.
Just before the fraud accelerated.
Caroline turned toward the door.
Graham stopped her with his voice.
“There’s more.”
She looked back.
“Brooke wasn’t crying because of the blackmail.”
“Why was she crying?”
“She’s pregnant.”
Caroline went still.
“What?”
“Ten weeks.”
The baby inside Caroline kicked again.
“Who’s the father?”
Graham looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
“Does she?”
“Yes.”
“Then who?”
His face tightened.
“She won’t tell me.”
Caroline remembered the words through the lounge door.
Just give me until the baby comes.
Not Caroline’s baby.
Brooke’s.
Suddenly the conversation meant something entirely different.
“Graham.”
“Yes.”
“When you said, ‘Just give me until the baby comes’…”
He nodded.
“I meant Brooke’s baby.”
“Why?”
“Because she says once the baby is born, she can prove who’s been controlling everything.”
Caroline frowned.
“How could a newborn prove financial fraud?”
Graham stared at her.
“Because the father is the person behind it.”
And before Caroline could ask more, Brooke walked into the office.
Her face was white.
Her hand shook around her phone.
“They found him.”
Graham stood.
“Who?”
Brooke looked at Caroline.
“My baby’s father.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“And he’s dead.”
