Chapter 5 - THE MISSING EMBRYO
The glass shattered inward.
Laura pulled Rebecca behind the treatment cart.
Claire covered Ethan with her body.
The fake nurse climbed through the broken frame.
“Stay away from him.”
Claire grabbed a metal instrument tray.
The woman raised both hands.
“I’m not here to hurt him.”
“You tried to take him.”
“I was trying to get him out.”
“From his mother?”
The woman looked at Claire.
“That’s the problem.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“What’s your name?”
“Natalie Cross.”
“Were you a nurse here?”
“Eight years ago.”
Laura stared.
“I remember you.”
Natalie nodded.
“I was in the neonatal unit.”
Claire’s grip tightened around the tray.
“Did you switch the babies?”
“No.”
“But I saw who did.”
“Charles?”
“Charles ordered it.”
“Daniel approved it.”
“But another nurse physically changed the bracelets.”
“Who?”
Natalie glanced toward the hallway.
“We don’t have time.”
Claire stepped between her and the bassinet.
“Make time.”
Natalie exhaled.
“Miriam Cole.”
Laura went pale.
“My sister?”
Claire turned.
Natalie nodded.
“Miriam was Laura’s older sister.”
Laura shook her head.
“She died five years ago.”
“She was murdered five years ago.”
The room became silent.
Daniel’s voice came weakly through the phone.
“That’s not true.”
Natalie looked toward it.
“Of course you’re listening.”
“Natalie,” Daniel warned.
“You should tell Claire why Miriam died.”
Claire lifted the phone.
“Daniel?”
No answer.
Natalie pulled a small flash drive from her pocket.
“Miriam recorded Charles.”
“She was going to expose everything.”
“She died in a car accident two days before meeting a federal investigator.”
Laura covered her mouth.
Natalie continued.
“I found her recording last month.”
“Charles found out.”
“Then he had his stroke.”
“He knew he was dying.”
“So he started sending evidence to everyone he had hurt.”
Claire pointed at Ethan.
“Explain my baby.”
Natalie’s expression changed.
“Six months ago, I discovered a second illegal embryo transfer.”
“At the Bennett fertility lab.”
“The embryo file was labeled with your name.”
“But the genetic material didn’t match you.”
Claire felt nauseated.
“Whose was it?”
Natalie looked at Laura.
Laura shook her head.
“No.”
Natalie answered anyway.
“Sophie’s.”
Claire stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“Sophie is eight.”
“They didn’t use one of Sophie’s embryos.”
Natalie spoke faster.
“They used cells harvested from the original frozen embryo connected to Sophie’s genetic line.”
“Charles had been funding experimental reproductive research.”
Daniel shouted through the phone.
“Stop.”
Natalie ignored him.
“Those researchers created an embryo from preserved material linked to the donor line and another woman’s egg.”
Claire struggled to follow.
“So Ethan is not biologically mine?”
“No.”
“Then why was I pregnant with him?”
“Because someone implanted the embryo into you.”
Claire looked at Daniel’s name on the phone screen.
“When?”
“During what you believed was your fertility treatment.”
Claire’s vision blurred.
She had carried Ethan.
Felt his first kick.
Heard his heartbeat.
Given birth to him six hours earlier.
But genetically, he belonged to someone else.
“Whose egg?”
Natalie hesitated.
Claire snapped.
“WHOSE?”
Natalie looked toward Laura.
“Rebecca’s biological family.”
Laura went pale.
Claire frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Natalie swallowed.
“The egg came from an adult relative of Laura.”
Laura whispered.
“Miriam.”
Natalie nodded.
Claire stared at Ethan.
The newborn was genetically connected to the family of the daughter she had raised.
Connected somehow to the daughter she had lost.
Built from secrets layered over secrets.
Rebecca stepped closer.
“So Ethan is still my brother?”
Claire turned to her.
“He is.”
“But biologically?”
Claire’s voice softened.
“None of that changes what he is to us.”
Natalie’s eyes filled with sadness.
“Unfortunately, someone else disagrees.”
She reached into her coat.
She removed a legal document.
At the top were the words:
EMERGENCY CUSTODY PETITION — INFANT MALE 771409.
The petitioner’s name was blacked out.
Claire read the final paragraph.
The child described as Ethan Bennett was alleged to be the biological property of a confidential reproductive research trust.
Claire stared.
“Property?”
Natalie nodded.
“That’s why they’re here.”
A deep boom shook the building.
The emergency doors at the end of the corridor unlocked.
Natalie looked toward the sound.
“They’ve cut the security system.”
Footsteps echoed upstairs.
Daniel’s voice suddenly came through Claire’s phone.
“Claire.”
This time he sounded terrified.
“Take Rebecca and Ethan and hide.”
Claire turned toward the hall.
“Who is coming?”
May you like
Daniel whispered.
“My mother.”
