Chapter 3 - THE CHILD WHO NEVER EXISTED
Claire finally opened the service door.
Laura stepped inside slowly.
Rebecca stayed between Claire and Ethan.
Laura noticed.
“I’m not going near him.”
Claire locked the door again.
“Start talking.”
Laura removed a waterproof folder from beneath her coat.
Inside were photocopied medical records.
Claire recognized the Bennett hospital logo.
Laura handed her the first page.
Patient A.
Female infant.
Born 2:16 a.m.
Mother: Claire Bennett.
Critical cardiac malformation.
Then the second.
Patient B.
Female infant.
Born 2:16 a.m.
Mother: Laura Hayes.
Healthy.
Rebecca stared at the papers.
Claire’s vision blurred.
The next page contained a handwritten note.
AUTHORIZED TRANSFER — C.B.
Claire looked up.
“Charles Bennett?”
Laura nodded.
Then another signature appeared beneath it.
D. BENNETT.
Daniel.
Claire stopped breathing.
“He signed it?”
Laura said nothing.
“He knew that night?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca turned away.
Claire wanted to protect her from the next words.
But there was no way to put the truth back inside the folder.
“How old was Daniel?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“He told me he had been sent home.”
“He was in the hospital all night.”
Claire remembered waking after emergency surgery.
Daniel had been beside her.
He said Rebecca had needed observation.
He said doctors had taken her to the neonatal unit.
Hours later, a nurse brought Rebecca to Claire.
Claire had kissed her forehead.
Counted her fingers.
Promised to love her forever.
And Daniel had watched.
Knowing.
Claire’s grief became something sharper.
“Why would Charles do this?”
“Legacy.”
Laura answered immediately.
“The Bennetts were preparing Daniel to take over the hospital system.”
“A dead newborn after a Bennett family delivery would have brought investigations.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It wasn’t just a dead newborn.”
Laura reached deeper into the folder.
She removed a genetic report.
Claire read the names.
Daniel Bennett.
Female Infant A.
Probability of biological paternity:
0.00%.
Claire stared.
“What?”
Laura’s voice softened.
“Your biological daughter wasn’t Daniel’s.”
Claire looked up so quickly pain shot through her neck.
“That’s impossible.”
“According to Charles’s records, Daniel was sterile after a childhood cancer treatment.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel had never had cancer.
At least not that she knew.
Laura continued.
“Charles knew Daniel couldn’t father a child.”
“Then how was I pregnant?”
“That’s the question he spent eight years hiding.”
Rebecca whispered.
“Mom?”
Claire grabbed her hand.
“I don’t know.”
Laura placed another document down.
A fertility clinic consent form.
Claire’s signature was on the bottom.
But Claire had never seen it.
She read the procedure.
Embryo transfer.
Anonymous donor sperm.
Her stomach turned.
“This is forged.”
“I think so.”
Laura pointed to a handwritten notation.
Donor profile reserved by C.B.
Charles had selected the donor.
Without Claire knowing.
Without Daniel telling her.
Claire felt violated in a way she couldn’t name.
Then she saw another page.
A second embryo had been frozen.
Same donor.
Same maternal source.
Claire looked at Laura.
“What does this have to do with Ethan?”
Laura spoke carefully.
“Six months ago, someone accessed those frozen embryo records.”
Claire stared toward the bassinet.
“No.”
“They couldn’t.”
“You conceived Ethan through IVF.”
Claire nodded.
After years of trying.
Daniel had encouraged her to return to the same fertility network.
Claire had trusted him.
Laura continued.
“What if Daniel used the remaining embryo?”
Claire looked at Ethan.
That would make Ethan genetically related to the biological daughter she had lost.
A full sibling.
But perhaps not Daniel’s child.
Then the phone in Claire’s hand rang.
Daniel.
Claire answered.
He spoke immediately.
“Do not let Laura Hayes touch Ethan.”
Laura looked toward the phone.
Daniel continued.
“She isn’t telling you everything.”
Claire’s voice turned cold.
“Neither did you.”
“Claire, I can explain Rebecca.”
“You signed the transfer.”
“I was terrified.”
“You watched me raise another woman’s daughter and never told me.”
“I loved her.”
“That doesn’t erase what you did.”
Daniel breathed heavily.
“Laura’s daughter wasn’t the only baby switched that night.”
Laura went completely still.
Claire noticed.
“What does he mean?”
Laura shook her head.
Daniel’s voice came through the speaker.
“Ask Laura what happened to your biological daughter.”
“She told me she died.”
Daniel said nothing for two seconds.
Then:
“She lied.”
Laura’s face drained.
Claire felt ice move through her body.
“Laura?”
Laura backed toward the wall.
Daniel spoke again.
“Your daughter survived.”
Rebecca gasped.
Claire gripped the phone.
“Where is she?”
May you like
Daniel’s next words destroyed the room.
“You’ve already met her.”
