Chapter 4
I could not breathe.
The adoption paper shook in my hands.
“No.”
Daniel reached for me.
“Claire—”
“No.”
I backed away from him, from Margaret, from the box.
Lily was mine.
I had carried her.
I had labored twelve hours.
I had held her first.
I knew every inch of her face.
But the paper in my hand said something impossible.
Emergency embryo transfer.
Surrogacy consent.
Private clinic.
My name was on one page.
My signature.
Except I had never signed it.
“What is this?” I whispered.
Daniel stared at the documents, horror spreading across his face.
Margaret tried to grab them.
I slapped her hand away.
“What is this?”
She lifted her chin, but her voice shook.
“You wanted a child.”
My blood froze.
After three miscarriages, Daniel and I had gone to a fertility clinic.
I remembered the sterile rooms.
The needles.
The grief.
The doctor saying one embryo had survived.
Our embryo.
Our miracle.
Lily.
Margaret’s mouth twisted.
“The clinic made arrangements.”
“What arrangements?”
Daniel grabbed another page.
His face drained completely.
“Mara was alive,” he whispered.
I turned.
“What?”
He held up a letter.
A letter from Mara to Robert.
You cannot take my baby. You cannot give her to Daniel and Claire like I am already dead.
My knees gave out.
Daniel caught me before I hit the floor.
Margaret stood very still.
The silence became monstrous.
“You stole Mara’s baby,” I said.
Margaret shook her head.
“I saved this family.”
“You put her baby in my body?”
“She was unfit.”
I nearly vomited.
Daniel’s voice broke.
“You told the clinic Claire and I had legal consent?”
“Your father handled the papers.”
“My father was dead by then.”
Margaret looked away.
Daniel whispered, “You forged him.”
The doorbell rang.
Everyone jumped.
Rachel called from upstairs, “Claire?”
I wiped my face.
“Keep Lily up there.”
I opened the door with shaking hands.
Two police officers stood outside.
Behind them was a woman in a navy suit.
“Claire Morgan?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m Detective Alvarez. We received a call from a neighbor about a child being dragged and screaming.”
Rachel.
Thank God.
I stepped aside.
“Come in.”
Margaret’s face went white.
Detective Alvarez saw the papers in my hand.
Saw Margaret.
Saw Daniel.
Saw the red mark on Lily’s wrist when Rachel brought her halfway down the stairs.
Her expression hardened.
Within minutes, Margaret’s attempt to lock Lily away became a police report.
But then Daniel handed the detective the lockbox.
The room changed.
Child abuse became something larger.
Fraud.
Possible kidnapping.
Medical crime.
A missing woman.
Detective Alvarez read Mara’s letter twice.
“Where is Mara Evans?”
Margaret said nothing.
Daniel turned on her.
“Where is my sister?”
“She left.”
“You said that before.”
“She left!” Margaret screamed.
Lily started crying upstairs.
I moved toward the stairs, but Rachel was already soothing her.
Detective Alvarez stepped closer to Margaret.
“Mrs. Whitmore, you need an attorney.”
Margaret laughed wildly.
“You think I’m the villain? That girl would have destroyed him.”
“Mara?” I asked.
Margaret’s eyes burned.
“She wanted to tell everyone what Robert did.”
Daniel staggered.
The detective’s voice softened but stayed firm.
“And where is she now?”
May you like
Margaret’s lips trembled.
Then she whispered, “Ask the clinic.”
