The Billionaire’s Fight For Redemption (Noah and Sierra) novel Chapter 396

“I did search, but nothing ever came from it,” Mom replies, sniffing softly as she wipes at her face. “The only results I kept getting were for an old man in his eighties and some teenage boy. After a while, I convinced myself he had lied to me… that he never actually gave me his real name.”

Lilly exhales slowly, shaking her head. “That would make sense… but now you know he didn’t lie.”

Mom gives a small, tired shrug. “Only about his last name. He told me he was Andrew Carter. None of you use Carter, so that part had been a lie.”

Aunt Harper shifts slightly in her seat, her expression thoughtful. “Not necessarily.”

I glance at her. “What do you mean?”

“Carter was our grandfather’s name on our father’s side,” she explains. “Andrew used it sometimes, especially when he wanted to keep a low profile or when he wanted to be normal and just be away from everything that came with the Beckett name.”

Mom goes still at that, her expression changing as the pieces begin to fall into place.

“So, he didn’t lie." Aunt Harper continues, “He just didn’t tell you everything and honestly, I think the version he showed you was the most genuine one.”

Mom and I look at each other, neither of us fully understanding what she means while Aunt Harper lets out a soft sigh, her gaze drifting for a moment as if she’s stepping back into memories she hasn’t touched in a long time.

“Andrew was the heir to the family business, and he hated it,” she says. “Unlike me, he never got the chance to just be a normal kid. My parents started taking him to the office when he was barely seven years old. So, while I got to play with my dolls, run around outside, and go to the park, Andrew was sitting in boardrooms, going through reports, being trained to take over something he never even wanted.”

She pauses, her expression softening. “He created an escape for himself, a sort of alter ego… Andrew Carter was nothing like Andrew Beckett. Andrew Beckett was the cold, calculated heir everyone expected him to be. The one people feared. The one who carried the weight of the family name… But Andrew Carter, he was just a normal man. No expectations. No pressure. No legacy hanging over his head... It was just him.”

The room is quiet as her words sink in.

“That’s why I think you got the best version of him,” she says gently to Mom. “You didn’t meet Andrew Beckett, the man people called ruthless and impossible. You met Andrew Carter… the version of him he only showed to a handful of people. The kind, genuine part of him he protected from the world. The sweet man who loved with all his heart.”

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