Evelyn struck the glass first.
“Let him go.”
Her father did not flinch.
Noah did.
The boy’s shoulders rose sharply beneath Charles Ward’s hand.
“Evelyn,” Charles said through the speaker, “you’ve always mistaken urgency for leverage.”
“Take your hand off him.”
“He’s perfectly safe.”
Noah’s face said otherwise.
Graham moved toward the partition.
“What do you want?”
Charles looked at him.
“You’ve become careless.”
“My daughter is dying.”
“One of your daughters.”
I saw Graham stiffen.
Evelyn turned toward me.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Charles smiled faintly.
“That’s interesting advice from someone who withheld half the story.”
I looked at her.
“What half?”
“This is not the time.”
“That phrase is becoming very popular.”
Vale stood slightly behind Charles.
He looked uncomfortable.
Not frightened.
Ashamed, perhaps.
I hated him more for appearing human.
I remembered lying on an examination table while he told me to relax.
Trust us, Isabelle.
Everything looks excellent.
Now I wanted to know how many lies fit inside the word everything.
“Noah needs to be tested,” I said.
Charles looked at me.
“So you are Isabelle.”
“You know exactly who I am.”
“Yes.”
“Did you authorize Sophie’s embryo transfer?”
His smile disappeared.
“Authorize is not the word I would use.”
“What word?”
“Preserve.”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“You preserved nothing. You used people.”
Charles ignored her.
“To answer your practical question, Noah may be a match for Sophie.”
My chest tightened.
“You already tested him.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“For what?”
“Among other things, HLA profiles.”
“Is he compatible?”
Charles glanced at Vale.
Vale stepped toward a microphone.
“Based on existing data, Noah is highly likely to be a partial match.”
“Partial?”
“Potentially stronger than an unrelated donor. We would need current testing.”
“Then let him come with us.”
“No.”
My heart began pounding.
“Why not?”
Charles’s voice remained calm.
“Because once Noah enters that hospital, questions follow.”
“Good.”
“Questions destroy lives.”
I stared at him.
“Sophie’s life is already being destroyed.”
“And I am offering you a way to save it.”
Evelyn stepped closer to the glass.
“What do you want?”
Charles looked at his daughter.
“You know.”
“No.”
“Return the records.”
“They’re copied.”
“Then destroy the copies.”
“No.”
“Evelyn.”
“No.”
The word echoed through the warehouse.
Charles’s face hardened for the first time.
“You think releasing incomplete research will help those children?”
“Calling them research subjects is exactly why I’m going to release it.”
“You misunderstand what was achieved.”
I looked between them.
“What was achieved?”
Neither answered.
“Someone tell me.”
Vale finally spoke.
“The original program studied embryo selection using polygenic scoring.”
“I know those words separately.”
He exhaled.
“We evaluated large numbers of genetic variants associated with disease risk, cognitive traits, immune response, and other measurable outcomes.”
“And selected embryos.”
“Yes.”
“For rich people.”
Charles’s mouth tightened.
“For families willing to participate.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“Families did not consent to half of what you did.”
“Consent frameworks were different.”
“They were not nonexistent.”
Vale looked down.
Charles kept talking.
“Your generation likes simple villains. Science is not simple.”
“My daughter needs marrow.”
“And Noah can provide it.”
“Then unlock the door.”
“Agree to my terms.”
I laughed once.
“You kidnapped a child to negotiate confidentiality.”
“Noah is not kidnapped.”
Noah suddenly looked at him.
Charles’s hand tightened on his shoulder.
I saw it.
So did Evelyn.
“Ask him,” she said.
Charles ignored her.
“Ask Noah if he wants to be there.”
Still nothing.
I stepped closer to the glass.
“Noah.”
His eyes shifted toward me.
“Do you know who I am?”
Charles said something to him too quietly for us to hear.
Noah’s mouth tightened.
“Don’t answer him,” I said.
Charles looked at me.
“I’m not speaking to you.”
Then I looked back at Noah.
“My name is Isabelle.”
He stared.
“I’m Sophie’s mother.”
Something changed in his face.
Recognition.
“You know Sophie?”
He hesitated.
Then nodded.
Graham stepped forward.
“How?”
Noah’s gaze moved toward him.
“I saw pictures.”
“Where?”
Noah looked at Vale.
Charles removed his hand from the boy’s shoulder.
“Noah, go wait in the other room.”
“No.”
Charles turned slowly.
The boy’s voice shook.
But he repeated it.
“No.”
I recognized the sound.
Ruby had used the same voice when Graham ordered her out of Sophie’s hospital room.
Fear and defiance occupying the same small body.
Charles stared at Noah.
The boy swallowed.
“I want to know about Sophie.”
“She’s sick,” I said.
“How sick?”
“Very.”
“Am I supposed to help her?”
I looked at Charles.
“Apparently.”
Noah’s face tightened.
“Then why am I here?”
Nobody answered.
He stepped away from Charles.
Vale moved slightly toward him, but Charles raised a hand.
“Enough.”
The speaker clicked off.
For several seconds, the glass silenced them.
We watched Charles argue with Vale.
Evelyn turned to Graham.
“You brought Isabelle into this.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“You always have a choice. You just prefer calling it necessity afterward.”
I looked at her.
“Did you know Graham was married to me when Sophie was transferred?”
Her eyes met mine.
“Yes.”
The answer landed hard.
“When?”
“Before the procedure.”
Graham closed his eyes.
I stared at her.
“You told me you found out later.”
“I found out later that the embryo had actually been transferred.”
“That isn’t what I asked you on the phone.”
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were ignorant.”
“I was trying to get you to listen.”
“So you lied.”
“Yes.”
At least she did not soften it.
“What did you think was supposed to happen to your embryo?”
“It was supposed to remain frozen.”
“Then why did you know about me?”
“Because Graham told me he was starting fertility treatment with his wife.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
He stared at the floor.
Evelyn answered.
“Because he wanted my permission.”
“For what?”
“To use one of the embryos if yours failed.”
The warehouse seemed to tilt.
I turned toward Graham.
“You asked her.”
“Yes.”
“You planned it.”
“Vale said your embryos were poor quality.”
“I was told they were healthy.”
“One was.”
“Ruby.”
“Yes.”
“And the other?”
He looked at me.
“Vale thought it might fail.”
“So you arranged a backup.”
“Yes.”
Without telling me.
Without consent.
Without giving me the right to decide what entered my body.
My voice came out low.
“You stood beside me while I signed consent forms.”
“I know.”
“You watched me sign documents stating that only embryos created from my eggs would be transferred.”
“Yes.”
“And then you secretly arranged for Evelyn’s embryo to be used.”
He looked sick.
“Yes.”
I wanted to hit him.
I did not.
That restraint mattered to me more than it would ever matter to a court.
“How many embryos were transferred?”
“Three.”
The word nearly stopped my breathing.
I remembered Dr. Vale telling me two.
“Three?”
“Yes.”
“Mine?”
“One.”
“Evelyn’s?”
“One.”
“And the third?”
Graham looked toward the glass.
Charles was watching us again.
“I don’t know.”
Evelyn turned sharply.
“You never told me there were three.”
“I didn’t know until later.”
“How much later?”
“After the pregnancy was confirmed.”
I remembered two heartbeats.
Two babies.
Three embryos.
“What happened to the third?”
Vale’s microphone came alive.
“It did not implant.”
I turned toward him.
“How do you know?”
“Because only two gestational sacs were observed.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
Charles gave him a look.
Small.
Sharp.
Vale saw it.
So did I.
“No,” I said.
“What?”
“You’re not certain.”
Vale’s face changed.
Evelyn moved beside me.
“What aren’t you saying?”
Charles reached toward the microphone control.
Vale stepped forward first.
“The third embryo may not have been transferred.”
Graham stared.
“You told me it was.”
“I told you what I was instructed to tell you.”
Charles switched off his microphone.
Too late.
Evelyn struck the glass again.
“Where is the third embryo?”
Charles said something to Vale.
Vale shook his head.
They argued.
Noah watched from behind them.
Then he moved.
Quickly.
He grabbed something from a desk.
A keycard.
Charles turned.
Noah ran toward a side door.
“Go!” I shouted.
He swiped the card.
The inner door unlocked.
An alarm began screaming.
Noah burst into our section of the warehouse.
Charles followed.
Graham grabbed a metal chair and wedged it under the handle as the door slammed behind Noah.
Charles struck the glass from the other side.
“Move that chair!”
Nobody did.
Noah stood panting.
Up close, I could see a bruise along his wrist.
Evelyn saw it too.
“What happened?”
“He grabbed me.”
She turned toward the glass.
Charles shouted something we could not hear beneath the alarm.
“Can you get us out?” Graham asked.
Noah nodded.
“There’s another door.”
He ran.
We followed through a storage corridor.
Behind us, something heavy hit the blocked door.
Again.
Again.
Noah stopped at a keypad.
“What’s the code?”
“He changed it.”
“Can you guess?”
“No.”
Evelyn pushed past us and entered six digits.
Red light.
Again.
Red.
Graham looked back.
The chair scraped.
“They’re getting through.”
Noah suddenly said, “His birthday.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“He never uses it.”
“Not his.”
Noah entered six numbers.
Green.
The outer door opened.
Cold air hit my face.
We ran into the rain.
A dark SUV swung around the corner.
For one terrified instant, I thought Charles had another guard.
Then blue lights flashed once behind the windshield.
Daniel’s discreet police escort.
Two officers jumped out.
Behind us, the warehouse door flew open.
Charles stopped when he saw them.
Noah stood beside me, shivering.
One officer moved toward him.
“You’re safe.”
Noah looked up.
“No, I’m not.”
The officer crouched.
“Why do you say that?”
Noah pointed at Graham.
“Because he knows where the other girl is.”
Everything inside me stopped.
I looked at Graham.
“What other girl?”
His face emptied.
Noah frowned.
“The girl from the files.”
“What girl?”
He looked between us, confused.
“The one who has your name.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 7: Noah’s Files Revealed a Third Child Connected to My Fertility Treatment, and Graham Had Spent Years Paying to Keep Her Invisible
The Hospital Called After Two Years of Silence, and the First Thing They Asked Me Was Whether I Could Save Sophie
Part 6 of 20
