Chapter 5 - CLAIRE’S CONFESSION
Daniel rose slowly.
“You knew.”
Claire shut the office door.
“Daniel—”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
The word hit harder than a scream.
Daniel stared at the woman he had married eight years earlier.
“What did you do?”
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”
“What way?”
“You weren’t supposed to test him.”
Daniel laughed once.
It sounded ugly.
“That’s your defense?”
“No.”
“You let me raise another person’s baby while telling me he was mine.”
“It’s complicated.”
“It isn’t.”
“It is!”
Claire slammed her hand against the desk.
“I lost our baby.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
Her face collapsed.
“During the seventh month.”
“No.”
“The doctor found a problem.”
“You told me everything was fine.”
“I lied.”
Daniel stared at her.
Claire wiped her face.
“I couldn’t tell you.”
“You couldn’t tell your husband our child died?”
“I knew what it would do to you.”
“What it would do to me?”
“You wanted that baby more than anything.”
“So you replaced him?”
Claire flinched.
“I panicked.”
“Babies aren’t watches, Claire.”
“I know!”
“Then explain Ethan.”
She turned away.
“My mother handled it.”
“Handled what?”
“She knew a girl at the clinic was due around the same time.”
“Rosa.”
“Yes.”
Daniel felt rage rise through him.
“You stole her child.”
Claire spun around.
“I didn’t know that was the plan!”
“But you knew afterward.”
Her silence answered.
Daniel grabbed the edge of the desk.
“What happened to Rosa’s records?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened to the death certificate?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who signed it?”
“My mother knew people.”
“Of course she did.”
Daniel walked toward the door.
Claire blocked him.
“Where are you going?”
“To the police.”
“No.”
“Move.”
“You can’t.”
“Watch me.”
She grabbed his arm.
“If you call the police, Ethan could disappear into foster care.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“You’re not his biological father. I’m not his biological mother. Rosa’s paperwork says her child died. Until the court sorts it out, social services could take him.”
Daniel’s anger faltered.
Claire saw it.
“You love him.”
“Don’t use that against me.”
“I’m trying to protect him.”
“You stole him.”
“My mother stole him.”
“And you kept him.”
Claire started crying.
“I had already lost one baby.”
“So you let Rosa lose hers too?”
Claire had no answer.
Daniel pulled away.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Daniel Whitmore?”
“Yes.”
“This is Dr. Marcus Reed.”
Daniel frowned.
The name was familiar.
Then he remembered.
The obstetrician from the night Ethan was born.
“I need to see you,” Reed said.
“Why?”
“Because I heard you ordered a DNA test.”
Daniel’s blood went cold.
“How did you hear that?”
Silence.
Then the doctor whispered:
“Because someone is watching the lab.”
A crash sounded on the other end.
“Dr. Reed?”
No answer.
“Doctor?”
Then a man’s voice came through the phone.
Low.
Calm.
May you like
“Stop digging, Mr. Whitmore.”
The call ended.
