Chapter 13 - SEVENTY-TWO HOURS
Marcus did not defend himself.
That was the first reason I continued listening.
He sat at Julian’s dining table and opened every file he had retained from Caldwell.
No excuses.
No claims that his past work was irrelevant.
“We have seventy-two hours.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Caldwell’s parent company filed for emergency dissolution this afternoon.”
“What does that mean?”
“They are closing.”
“Why now?”
“Possibly because Marianne knows evidence is surfacing.”
My stomach tightened.
“What happens to records?”
“Legally, they should be preserved.”
“In reality?”
“If someone wants them gone, this is the moment.”
Seventy-two hours.
A deadline.
Finally something I understood.
“Can we stop the dissolution?”
“We can seek an injunction.”
“How fast?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“What do you need?”
“Evidence connecting your embryo to Caldwell.”
I looked at Dr. Vance’s archive entry.
“We have that.”
“We have a copy.”
“We need authenticated records.”
“Then get them.”
Marcus nodded.
“I will.”
Julian remained quiet.
He had been staring at Adrian’s photograph for almost an hour.
Sienna arrived shortly after midnight.
Miles was with Emily again.
When Julian told her the truth about his infertility, she cried.
Not for him.
For herself.
“I thought he was ours.”
Julian looked at her.
“He never was.”
I spoke.
“He was always a child.”
“Not a possession.”
Sienna nodded.
“You’re right.”
Julian rubbed his eyes.
“Did my mother know about embryo A when she sent B to you?”
Sienna hesitated.
“Yes.”
I stared.
“You knew there were three?”
“Not exactly.”
“She told me there had been another transfer.”
“To whom?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because I forgot.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You forgot another stolen embryo?”
“No.”
She flinched.
“I mean I never understood it mattered.”
“Everything matters now.”
“I know.”
“Then think.”
Sienna closed her eyes.
“Marianne once said the first child would be raised ‘properly.’”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“She said he would be kept outside the family until needed.”
Julian stared.
“A boy?”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“She said ‘he.’”
My heart pounded.
A son.
Two years old.
Somewhere in New York.
“What else?”
“She mentioned a woman named Evelyn.”
Marcus’s head lifted.
“Evelyn Park?”
Sienna looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
“She just said Evelyn had become difficult.”
The room chilled.
Evelyn Park.
The Caldwell whistleblower.
Missing for years.
Could she have received embryo A?
Marcus opened his old file.
Evelyn had been thirty-four when she disappeared.
Single.
No children listed.
But disappearance records did not mean she had not been pregnant.
“When did she vanish?”
I asked.
“Two years, eight months ago.”
“When was embryo A transferred?”
Dr. Vance checked.
“Two years, ten months ago.”
Everyone went still.
Two months after transfer.
Evelyn disappeared.
My son would have been born roughly seven months later.
“What if she wasn’t a whistleblower because she saw other embryos stolen?”
Marcus said quietly.
“What if she became a whistleblower because they implanted one into her?”
I stared.
“Without her knowledge?”
“Impossible during fertility treatment.”
“But she could have been told it was donated.”
“Like Rachel.”
“Yes.”
Sienna sat.
“Why would Marianne choose her?”
“Maybe she didn’t.”
That mattered.
Not every part of the network belonged to Marianne.
Caldwell might have had its own motives.
Thomas and Rachel returned at 2:00 a.m.
Grace was with them.
I had not expected that.
Rachel walked inside holding her.
The moment I saw my daughter, everything else faded.
Rachel looked at me.
“I’m done running.”
I stood.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
“But I’m more afraid of Marianne deciding our lives than I am of you.”
I nodded.
Grace stared at Julian.
Then buried her face in Rachel’s shoulder.
Julian looked devastated.
“Is she…”
“Yes.”
I answered.
“Biologically mine and Adrian’s.”
Julian closed his eyes.
Rachel glanced at him.
“I’m sorry.”
He shook his head.
“Don’t apologize.”
He looked at Grace again.
“She looks like him.”
I understood.
Adrian.
Grace had features from a man I had never met.
A dead man who had never consented to fatherhood.
The complexity of that grief belonged to Julian too.
Thomas placed the hidden server on the table.
“I copied everything.”
Marcus looked at him.
“You stole evidence.”
Thomas stared back.
“I preserved evidence.”
“You removed it from a crime scene.”
“It was my office before Clara was pushed out.”
“It was Clara’s office.”
“Fine.”
“You want to arrest me?”
“Not my job.”
“Good.”
I interrupted.
“What did you find?”
Thomas connected the drive.
Hundreds of folders appeared.
We searched C-17A.
A patient record.
Recipient.
EVELYN PARK.
My heart stopped.
“She had him.”
Thomas nodded.
“According to this.”
Pregnancy confirmed.
Healthy male birth.
Location.
New York.
Child name.
BENJAMIN PARK.
Benjamin.
My first child.
My son.
Two years old.
I stared at his name until the letters blurred.
“Where is Evelyn?”
Thomas opened the next record.
“Unknown.”
“Where is Benjamin?”
“Last documented at a pediatric clinic in Westchester County.”
“When?”
“Six weeks ago.”
Alive.
Recently documented.
I could breathe again.
“Address?”
“Restricted.”
Marcus stood.
“I can seek emergency disclosure in the morning.”
“No.”
Thomas clicked another file.
“There’s an address in the server backup.”
Marcus stared.
“That may have been obtained illegally.”
Thomas looked at me.
“Do you care?”
I did.
But not enough to ignore it.
The address belonged to a small house in Rye, New York.
Registered owner.
Evelyn Park.
She was not missing.
At least not anymore.
She had purchased the home under a slightly different middle name.
“Why would she hide?”
Marcus asked.
Thomas opened emails.
The first message was from Marianne.
Evelyn.
You took something that belongs to my family.
The second.
Return the child and the past stays buried.
The third.
You cannot hide forever.
I gripped the table.
“She’s been threatening her.”
“Yes.”
“For two years.”
“Yes.”
“Why hasn’t she taken Benjamin?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Because Evelyn has something Marianne needs.”
“What?”
He opened a document.
A full patient ledger.
Names.
Embryo codes.
Recipient clinics.
Financial transfers.
Thirty-two families.
Peter Hale had told the truth.
Evelyn possessed the map to the entire network.
Marcus stared.
“If we get this authenticated, the case explodes.”
I looked at the clock.
3:14 a.m.
“Then we go to New York.”
Marcus nodded.
“First flight.”
Julian stood.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Benjamin is Adrian’s son.”
“That doesn’t make him yours.”
“Adrian was my brother.”
I saw genuine grief.
Not ownership.
I softened.
“Fine.”
Sienna stood too.
“No.”
She sat back immediately.
Fair.
Rachel looked at me.
“What about Grace?”
“You stay here with her.”
“And Miles?”
“Emily.”
“We need everyone protected.”
Marcus arranged security.
At 5:40, we left for the airport.
Seventy-two hours until Caldwell’s dissolution.
One missing whistleblower.
One hidden two-year-old boy.
One ledger capable of exposing the network.
And Marianne knew we were looking.
As we boarded, I received a photograph.
Benjamin.
A little boy with dark blond hair standing beside Evelyn outside a coffee shop.
Timestamp.
Twenty minutes earlier.
Someone was watching them.
The message beneath it came from Marianne.
YOU FOUND THE FIRST ONE.
May you like
NOW SEE IF YOU CAN REACH HIM BEFORE I DO.
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