Grayson's Chapter — Summary, Analysis, and Key Moments

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with Grayson staring at a photograph of himself at about sixteen, taken on a public street from an elevated angle—the kind of surveillance shot that suggests either a private investigator or Sheffield Grayson himself was watching him. Gigi begins pulling out photograph after photograph, each one showing Grayson at a different age: at eight at a martial arts competition, at four, at two, and finally a newborn photo taken in a hospital bassinet. Grayson notes that the photographer must have bribed a nurse to get that shot.

Gigi is increasingly distressed, demanding to know why her father has a safe-deposit box full of pictures of Grayson. Grayson reveals that Davenport is his middle name and that the box was registered under the name Tobias Davenport—his grandfather Tobias Hawthorne's name. This doesn't clarify things for Gigi.

Savannah then delivers the revelation: her father had an affair with Skye Hawthorne before the twins were born, right after Colin died. This makes Grayson the twins' half-brother. Gigi is devastated, realizing everyone present knew except her. She storms out after a heated outburst, noting that Grayson's name itself—Grayson—should have been a clue.

Grayson clarifies that he met Sheffield Grayson exactly once, at age nineteen, and Sheffield made it very clear that Grayson was not his son. Savannah retorts that the message wasn't clear enough, given the box of photographs.

At the bottom of the box, Grayson finds a thick bank envelope containing dozens of withdrawal slips for petty cash amounts. On the back of one slip is the notation