Chapter 6 - MARGARET BENNETT
Margaret Bennett entered the maternity wing wearing a black winter coat over an ivory suit.
Snow melted across her shoulders.
Two private security men walked behind her.
Claire had known Margaret for eleven years.
Elegant.
Controlled.
Never rushed.
Even at her husband’s funeral, Margaret had not shed a tear in public.
Now she stepped through broken glass without looking down.
“Claire.”
Rebecca moved closer to her mother.
Claire positioned Ethan’s bassinet behind her wheelchair.
“What are you doing here?”
Margaret looked at Natalie.
“I could ask the same question.”
Natalie backed away.
Margaret turned to Laura.
“And you.”
Laura’s hands curled into fists.
“You knew.”
Margaret barely blinked.
“Yes.”
One word.
No denial.
No apology.
Claire felt something cold settle inside her.
“You knew about Rebecca?”
“I knew what Charles did.”
“And Sophie?”
“Yes.”
“Ethan?”
Margaret’s silence answered.
Claire stared at her.
“What did you do to me?”
Margaret removed her gloves.
“My husband became obsessed with bloodlines after Daniel’s treatment left him infertile.”
Daniel appeared at the far end of the corridor.
His coat was open.
His hair was wet with snow.
“Mother.”
Margaret did not turn.
“He believed a family empire without a biological heir would collapse.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“So he experimented on women?”
“He convinced himself he was preserving the Bennett legacy.”
“He stole children.”
“Yes.”
“He switched newborns.”
“Yes.”
“He put an embryo inside me without my consent.”
Margaret looked at Ethan.
“Yes.”
Claire’s eyes burned.
“And you let him?”
Margaret finally showed emotion.
“I tried to stop the second transfer.”
Daniel approached.
“No, you didn’t.”
His mother turned.
“I canceled the protocol.”
“You canceled one.”
Daniel stopped several feet away.
“You authorized another.”
Claire looked between them.
“What is he talking about?”
Daniel’s face was pale.
“My father wasn’t the only person obsessed with creating an heir.”
Margaret’s jaw tightened.
Daniel continued.
“My mother wanted a Bennett grandchild who was genetically connected to the woman Charles believed should have been my wife.”
Claire stared.
“What?”
Margaret said quietly.
“Miriam Cole.”
Laura recoiled.
“My sister?”
Daniel nodded.
“My father and Miriam had an affair.”
Laura looked as if she had been slapped.
“No.”
Margaret’s voice remained flat.
“Years before you gave birth.”
Claire suddenly understood something.
“Miriam’s egg.”
Natalie nodded.
Ethan carried genetic material connected to Miriam.
But Daniel still wasn’t the father.
Claire looked at Margaret.
“Who supplied the paternal DNA?”
Margaret’s composure cracked.
Just slightly.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Claire knew before anyone answered that the truth would be worse than she expected.
“Daniel?”
He looked at her.
“My brother.”
Claire frowned.
“You don’t have a brother.”
“I do.”
Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“That is enough.”
Daniel ignored her.
“My father had another son.”
“Before he married my mother.”
“A child he never publicly acknowledged.”
Claire whispered.
“Who?”
Footsteps sounded behind Margaret’s security team.
The tall man from the garage stepped forward.
He removed his coat.
His face bore an unmistakable resemblance to Daniel.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Older by perhaps five years.
He looked at Claire.
“My name is Marcus Vale.”
Daniel said quietly.
“He is my half brother.”
Marcus looked down at Ethan.
“And according to the records Charles left behind…”
May you like
His voice softened.
“…I am Ethan’s biological father.”
