Chapter 14 - Brooke’s Choice
Brooke arrived at the interview room without makeup, carrying a diaper bag though the babies had been left safely with a caregiver.
She looked at me through the observation window before she went inside.
I did not return the look.
Her attorney had arranged a recorded statement with investigators.
She acknowledged her relationship with Nathan had begun before her relationship with Arthur.
She also admitted knowing about the questionable invoices and helping Nathan conceal the shell company.
For months, she had believed Nathan would marry her after the development opened.
Then he began suggesting she make Arthur think the twins were his.
She said the idea had initially horrified her.
I wanted to ask which part had horrified her most: the deception or the possibility of being caught.
But the interview was not mine to conduct.
Brooke described the medical paperwork, the forged authorizations, and the staged photographs.
She said Nathan had promised that once Arthur separated from me, the investor money would fund their future.
"And the twins?" the detective asked.
"They're my children," she said.
"Did you know who their biological father was?"
Brooke began to cry.
"I thought so.
Then Nathan told me the clinic had switched donor information.
I didn't know what to believe anymore."
Investigators asked her to explain the discrepancy.
She produced copies of two records with conflicting donor information.
One listed Nathan.
The other listed an anonymous donor.
Both bore the same approval number.
That was impossible under the clinic's documented procedures.
Someone had falsified at least one form.
Brooke agreed to seek court-supervised parentage testing through her lawyer.
Her cooperation did not excuse her conduct.
It did, however, mean the babies' parentage could be resolved without further public speculation.
After the interview, Brooke asked if I would speak to her.
Mara advised that I did not need to.
I chose to stand at the end of the hallway with her, with our lawyers nearby.
"I held your hand in the hospital," I said.
"You knew what those losses did to me."
Brooke covered her mouth.
"I told myself I could still be your friend."
"You weren't confused about friendship.
You knew exactly where the line was."
She looked at the floor.
"Nathan said you would never find out."
"You were willing to keep doing it as long as I didn't."
Brooke did not deny that.
A court officer appeared with a sealed notice for her attorney.
The parentage case had been scheduled for an expedited evidentiary hearing.
Brooke read the date and whispered something I could not hear.
Then she looked up.
"There's one more thing Nathan hasn't told any of us," she said.
"He didn't start with your company.
May you like
He started with his own father."
