Late at night in Tobias Hawthorne’s office, Avery studies her birth certificate and the highlighted signature. The name is Ricky Grambs, but the handwriting matches the writing on the walls of Toby’s sealed wing, forcing Avery to realize that Toby Hawthorne signed the document.

The discovery reopens Avery’s painful memories of Ricky. Avery remembers loving Ricky as a child before understanding that his gifts and attention were hollow, and contrasts his absence after her mother’s death with Harry’s arrival in her life soon afterward.

Avery connects the evidence: if Toby was adopted and not biologically Hawthorne, then Zara’s DNA test did not disprove that Avery could be connected to Tobias Hawthorne’s family through Toby. The inheritance puzzle begins to shift from misdirection to a personal revelation: Avery may not be a stranger to the Hawthornes because Toby may be Avery’s father.

Unable to stay still, Avery steps onto the balcony and says aloud that Toby signed her birth certificate. She sees Grayson swimming below with punishing intensity, and their silent eye contact briefly steadies and unsettles Avery before Grayson looks away.

Back inside, Avery can no longer deny the conclusion. Despite Toby’s lies, his secrecy, and the fact that he allowed Avery to struggle while hiding his connection to immense wealth, Avery finally says that Toby Hawthorne is her father. The mystery becomes intensely personal, and Avery wants answers about why Toby never told her and where Toby is now.