Preston Vance placed the phone on the coffee table and pushed it toward Chloe Reed. "One of the people I found was responsible for docunting the sponsorship event with photos back then," he said. "He had several pictures. One of them shows Sunny Reed carrying Walker Grant out of the ruins."
This was the first photo he showed Chloe Reed.
Chloe Reed’s eyelashes quivered violently. The color drained from her face, replaced by an expression of disbelief.
She took the phone and examined the picture, realizing it was the sa one Walker Grant had shown her.
’Could it... Could it be real?’
’The person who saved Walker Grant... really was Sunny Reed.’
’But... what about ?’
’Who did I save?’
She looked up at Preston Vance in a panic, her throat tight. "But I rember... I was the one who saved him..."
"Don’t panic just yet." Seeing her pale face and shaken conviction, Preston Vance quickly tried to soothe her.
He swiped the screen again, bringing up a second photo. In it, a much younger Chloe Reed was carrying a boy on her back, walking out of a collapsed house. The cara had captured the boy’s profile.
He looked incredibly similar to Walker Grant. But it wasn’t Walker Grant!
Chloe Reed’s pupils constricted. She held the phone in both hands, zooming in on the photo to get a better look at the boy’s profile.
The boy was unconscious, his arms hanging limply. She was gritting her teeth, struggling to carry him out on her back.
The cara had perfectly captured the mont, getting a clear shot of the boy’s face.
"He... He’s..." Chloe Reed’s lips moved, but it took a long mont for the words to co out. "Julian Grant?"
"That’s right."
Preston Vance swiped the screen again. The next image was a recent photo of Julian Grant.
In the photo, he was wearing a school uniform, his bright, lively eyes looking directly at the cara. He was holding a trophy, a gentle, handso smile playing on his lips.
"I tracked down one of Julian Grant’s high school photos and compared it to this one. It’s the sa person."
Preston Vance looked at her intently. "You did save soone. It just wasn’t Walker Grant. It was Julian Grant."
Chloe Reed’s eyes glazed over. She never, ever imagined it would turn out like this.
’How could it be Julian Grant?’
’And all this ti I was so sure I was the one who saved Walker Grant. Isn’t that just ridiculous?’
’All those tis I stopped Walker Grant from being nice to Sunny Reed... in his eyes, I must have just looked like I was making a scene for no reason, right?’
’But how was I in the wrong?!’
’He figured out the truth a long ti ago, but he hid it from ! He even paid off the people in Brightwater Village to keep their mouths shut!’
’He was the one misleading this whole ti.’
Chloe Reed’s chaotic emotions soon settled.
She couldn’t wrap her head around what Walker Grant was thinking, or why he would hide the truth. She was also very curious as to how Julian Grant had ended up in Brightwater Village in the first place.
She clearly rembered his na wasn’t on the list back then.
She took a deep breath and looked at Preston Vance. "I really have to thank you for solving this long-standing mystery for ."
She handed the phone back to him.
Preston Vance said, "I also confird that it was Walker Grant who paid them hush money. They were ordered not to say a single word about what happened back then to anyone who asked. But I have my ways of making them talk."
Chloe Reed let out a heavy breath. "I already knew about that."
Preston Vance voiced the question that was on her mind. "Why would he do that?"
Chloe Reed’s lips twisted into a humorless smile. "I don’t know."
Preston Vance studied her for a mont. "I thought telling you all this might make you feel a bit better, but it doesn’t seem to have helped. Did sothing else happen today?"
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