diff --git a/spartan/scripts/setup_gcp_secrets.sh b/spartan/scripts/setup_gcp_secrets.sh
index e363f3026824..6acfaad9331b 100755
--- a/spartan/scripts/setup_gcp_secrets.sh
+++ b/spartan/scripts/setup_gcp_secrets.sh
@@ -65,8 +65,6 @@ mask_secret_value() {
             echo "::add-mask::$element"
         done
     fi
-
-    echo "$secret_value"
 }
 
 # Map of environment variables to GCP secret names
@@ -102,14 +100,14 @@ for env_var in "${!SECRET_MAPPINGS[@]}"; do
     if grep -q "^${env_var}=REPLACE_WITH_GCP_SECRET" "$ENV_FILE"; then
         # Export the secret value
         secret_file=$(get_secret "$secret_name")
-        secret_value=$(mask_secret_value "$env_var" "$secret_file")
-        export $env_var="${secret_value}"
+        mask_secret_value "$env_var" "$secret_file"
+        export $env_var="$(cat "$secret_file")"
     elif grep -q "^${env_var}=REPLACE_WITH_GCP_SECRET/" "$ENV_FILE"; then
         # Handle cases like STORE_SNAPSHOT_URL=REPLACE_WITH_GCP_SECRET/network/
         suffix=$(grep "^${env_var}=REPLACE_WITH_GCP_SECRET/" "$ENV_FILE" | cut -d'/' -f2-)
         secret_file=$(get_secret "$secret_name")
-        secret_value=$(mask_secret_value "$env_var" "$secret_file")
-        export $env_var='${secret_value}/'$suffix
+        mask_secret_value "$env_var" "$secret_file"
+        export $env_var="$(cat $secret_file)/$suffix"
     elif grep -q "^${env_var}=.*REPLACE_WITH_GCP_SECRET" "$ENV_FILE"; then
         # Replace inline occurrences within the value, preserving surrounding content
         full_value=$(grep "^${env_var}=" "$ENV_FILE" | cut -d'=' -f2-)
@@ -118,7 +116,8 @@ for env_var in "${!SECRET_MAPPINGS[@]}"; do
             full_value="${full_value:1:-1}"
         fi
         secret_file=$(get_secret "$secret_name")
-        secret_value=$(mask_secret_value "$env_var" "$secret_file")
+        mask_secret_value "$env_var" "$secret_file"
+        secret_value="$(cat "$secret_file")"
         replaced_value="${full_value//REPLACE_WITH_GCP_SECRET/$secret_value}"
         export $env_var="$replaced_value"
     fi