Chapter 8 - THE FATHER OF BROOKE'S BABY
Nathan Larkin denied everything.
Until metadata placed him at Brooke’s apartment during several recordings.
Then he changed strategy.
The recordings were made for Brooke’s protection.
Not espionage.
Nathan said Grant was powerful.
Walter was more powerful.
Brooke feared being discarded.
Plausible.
Then the competitor connection.
Nathan worked for Eastbridge Urban Partners.
Eastbridge competed with Whitaker on two major bids.
But he said he never shared confidential Harrow Point material.
No evidence initially proved otherwise.
Then Brooke finally spoke through counsel.
She admitted:
the affair,
the recordings,
the paternity uncertainty,
the negotiations.
She denied conspiracy.
Then Maya asked the question everyone had avoided.
“Who else could be the father?”
Brooke refused.
Grant looked destroyed.
Audrey felt something uncomfortable.
Not sympathy exactly.
He had earned pain.
Still, watching him discover his fantasy might be false did not make her happy.
Then a subpoena in the paternity-related trust dispute identified another man.
Evan Pierce.
Thirty-five.
Architect.
Worked on Eastbridge projects.
Brooke’s former fiancé.
Timeline overlapped.
Brooke had continued seeing Evan during the first two months of the affair with Grant.
Grant stared at the dates.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Brooke laughed.
“You were married.”
That shut him up.
Then Evan voluntarily provided a DNA sample.
Why?
He believed the child might be his and wanted clarity.
Brooke fought the test.
Court ordered it after the descendant trust sought intervention.
Result:
Evan Pierce excluded.
Grant looked at Audrey.
Hope returned to his face.
She hated that she could see it.
Then Grant tested.
Everyone waited.
Result:
Grant Whitaker excluded.
Silence.
Brooke’s face drained.
Grant stared at the page.
“No.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
There it was.
The baby was not Grant’s.
Then whose?
Brooke finally admitted there had been a third man.
Not lover in the romantic sense.
One night.
During a breakup with Evan and before the affair with Grant became physical.
Name:
Nathan Larkin’s business partner?
No.
That would be too melodramatic.
A Whitaker executive.
Thomas Vale.
Forty-one.
Married.
Senior vice president of land acquisitions.
Walter went still.
Thomas Vale had access to Harrow Point files.
Now the conspiracy rearranged itself.
Brooke did not enter Grant’s life merely through communications work.
May you like
Thomas had introduced her.
And Thomas knew the environmental exposure before almost anyone.
