Chapter 2 - The Genesis FileThe hospital room seemed to tilt sideways. Claire stared at the paper on her lap, the words blurring behind a sudden rush of hot, blinding tears.
"What are you talking about?" she choked out, her hands flying to her stomach. "I carried this baby for thirty-four weeks. I felt every kick, every heartbeat. I donated my eggs—"
"Your eggs were harvested, yes," Vance interrupted gently, leaning forward. "According to the clinic's master ledger—the physical ledger Vanessa forgot to shred—there was a catastrophic inventory error six months before your successful transfer. Or... it wasn't an error at all."
"Spit it out, Detective!" Claire snapped, the maternal instinct inside her turning into a ferocious, protective cage-animal.
"The embryo implanted during your procedure was not created using Ethan's sperm," Vance said, the words falling like lead weights. "And it wasn't fertilized using anonymous donor tissue, either. The genetic markers match an internal audit file from a private, high-net-worth client roster at Genesis. Claire... you are carrying the biological child of Julian Sterling."
The name hit Claire like a physical blow.
Julian Sterling. The billionaire real estate mogul and tech philanthropist who had funded half of the Genesis Fertility Clinic's expansion wing three years ago. A man Claire had never met, never spoken to—and whose face plastered the financial magazines stacked on every newsstand in the city.
"Julian Sterling?" Claire shook her head, gasping for air. "That's impossible. Why would my husband—why would Ethan be talking to Vanessa about switching Sterling's embryo into my body? It makes no sense. Ethan was an ordinary landscape architect. We lived in a rundown apartment building with a knocking radiator!"
"An ordinary landscape architect who mysteriously inherited a sudden, multi-million-dollar offshore account two weeks before his car went off the Blackwood River," Vance countered, his eyes sharp. "We reopened Ethan's cold case the moment we heard that audio file. The coroner's report on the recovered body in the river? Claire... the dental records matched, but the DNA sample degradation was extreme because of the prolonged submersion. At the time, we took the family's word for identification. We took Ethan's sister’s word."
Claire froze. "Vanessa."
"Vanessa identified the body," Vance nodded. "And then she immediately took a leave of absence from the clinic, moved across town, and took in her orphaned niece, Sophie. But if Ethan didn't die in that river... if that body belonged to someone else..."
The hospital door burst open. Dr. Hayes rushed in, his face pale, holding a paging tablet.
"Detective Vance! Mrs. Morgan!" Dr. Hayes gasped. "You need to see this. A news flash just broke on the local network. A massive explosion was just reported at the private estate of Julian Sterling in the northern hills. The fire department is on the scene, but..."
Claire ripped the IV needle from the back of her hand, ignoring the sudden spray of crimson, and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
May you like
"Where are you going?" Vance demanded, rising to block her path.
"To find my husband," Claire said, her eyes burning with a terrifying, unyielding fire. "And to find out why he faked his own death, stole another man's child, and tried to burn a nine-year-old girl alive to keep me quiet."
