Lies and Weddings

In Venice, Arabella receives a package from Rosina, who has been working with a team of private detectives. She also meets with Eden, who has come to Venice to attend Beatrice’s wedding. Arabella tries to pressure Eden into accepting the proposal from Luis Felipe, implying that Eden is selfish for refusing to help the Gresham family. Finally, Arabella confronts Eden with the news that Eden is not the biological daughter of Thomas Tong. Rosina’s investigators have uncovered the fact that Mary Gao secretly moved to Canada, where she gave birth to Eden. When Mary and Thomas later got married, he changed Eden’s name and created a new birth certificate for her. Eden’s biological father is actually Henry Tong, whom Arabella labels “ a gambler, a reprobate, an addict” (725).

Arabella threatens to blackmail Eden with this information unless the younger woman agrees to marry Luis. Eden angrily refuses and storms off. As Eden tries to walk back to the hotel, she collapses.

Eden awakens to find herself in a luxurious suite at Martha’s palazzo, with Rufus by her side. Eden immediately tells Rufus everything about the confrontation with Arabella. Rufus is furious with his mother and reassures Eden that he doesn’t care who her biological father might be. He also suggests that Eden immediately talk with Thomas to see what he can tell her; however, when she texts her father, Eden learns that Thomas is rushing to LA, where Luis Felipe has overdosed.

Thomas arrives in LA to find Luis in a coma. While Thomas is grief-stricken, many people who know Luis reassure Thomas that nothing he could have done would have helped the damaged and embittered young man. Thomas gives his consent to turn the ventilators off. Moments later, he receives a voicemail from Eden, who demands to know if she has any connection to Henry Tong. Despite the tragic circumstances, Thomas immediately boards a flight to return to Europe.

In Venice, Rufus confronts his mother and accuses her of being cruel to Eden. He also explains that Luis is now dead, and no one knows what this development will mean for the Gresham family’s debt.

Eden and Rufus reunite with Thomas as soon as he arrives in Venice. Privately, Thomas tells Eden that she is indeed the biological daughter of Mary Gao and Henry Tong, which makes Thomas her biological uncle. After Henry’s death, Mary still wanted to have a child but couldn’t bear the public shame that she would receive within wealthy Hong Kong society. She therefore moved to Canada, where she gave birth to Eden and lived quietly, aware that the rumors that she had died protected her from gossip and scrutiny. When Mary became ill with cancer, she ran into Thomas by chance. Thomas married her so that she would be able to stay in the US and receive treatments that prolonged her life by several years. Before Mary died, she made Thomas promise never to tell Eden about her birth father or introduce Eden to Mary’s family. Mary resented how coldly they had treated her and how they had pressured her to terminate the pregnancy.

Now, Eden reassures Thomas that none of this information changes her love for him.

Thomas meets with the legal team representing Rene Tan and is shocked to learn the identity of the new beneficiary of Rene’s wealth, now that Luis Felipe is dead.

Thomas reveals further family secrets to Eden. He states that Roger Gao (her mother’s brother) served a short sentence after the death of Henry Tong and subsequently moved to the Philippines, where a wealthy business tycoon mentored him. Roger eventually changed his name to Rene Tan; this means that Roger/Rene was Eden’s uncle. Because Rene and Luis have both died, all of the Tan estate now passes to Eden, who is “the sole heiress of his business empire, his properties, his chattel—worth, as of market close yesterday, in excess of ninety billion American dollars” (781). This also means that Eden has access to the Gresham loans and the collateral (i.e., the Gresham house and estate) and could legally seize the estate for herself. Eden immediately goes to share this news with Rufus.

Eden and Rufus tell Francis, Augusta, and Beatrice that Eden is the new heiress to the Tan fortune. She assures them that she would never take their home away. When Arabella learns this news a few minutes later, she faints and then immediately decides that Eden and Rufus should get married.

Beatrice and Gopal are married in a beautiful ceremony. Rosina arrives and warmly greets Eden, explaining that she loved Mary and hopes to cultivate a friendship with Eden. As various guests ask about their plans, Eden and Rufus explain that they intend to move to Hawaii and use most of the fortune to reduce inequality in the world and work toward social good. They will also only get engaged when they feel ready to do so. Eventually, Eden and Rufus slip away to embark on a spontaneous trip now that they have all the freedom they can hope for.