Chapter 5 - The Woman From Prague
Marcus did not get far.
Two courthouse deputies caught him at the stairwell.
Grant shouted after them.
Chloe stood frozen beside the elevators.
I simply watched.
Marcus fought harder than I had ever seen him fight for anything during our marriage.
Not for me.
Not for our relationship.
Not even for Noah.
For the right to reach the parking garage.
“Get off me!”
One deputy twisted his arm behind his back.
“Sir, stop resisting.”
“You don’t understand!”
Marcus looked straight at me.
“Elena!”
I did not move.
“Listen to me!”
“No.”
His face twisted.
“You need to hear me before you meet that woman.”
Dana stepped in front of me.
“Do not speak to my client.”
Marcus laughed wildly.
“Your client has no idea what she’s walking into.”
I felt my stomach knot.
“What do you mean?”
Dana turned.
“Elena.”
I ignored her.
“What do you mean, Marcus?”
His struggle stopped.
The deputies kept hold of him.
He looked suddenly calm.
That frightened me more.
“Sofia Novak is lying.”
“About what?”
“Everything.”
“Did you pay for her flight?”
He said nothing.
“Did you?”
Grant hurried toward him.
“Marcus, shut up.”
Marcus kept staring at me.
“She contacted me first.”
“Why?”
“Because she wanted money.”
“For what?”
“For the baby.”
The hallway seemed to narrow.
“What?”
Marcus smiled.
“She was going to sell you your own daughter.”
Dana stepped closer.
“That is enough.”
But Marcus continued.
“She found out who the genetic parents were.”
“She threatened to expose everything.”
“So I agreed to meet her.”
I stared at him.
“Where?”
He hesitated.
That was enough.
Dana immediately understood.
“You arranged to take possession of the baby.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“I arranged to protect my daughter.”
My daughter.
The words made something hot and violent move through my chest.
“You knew.”
He said nothing.
“You knew she had been born.”
Nothing.
“How long?”
“Elena.”
“How long?”
His mouth tightened.
“Six weeks.”
My vision blurred.
She was seven weeks old.
Marcus had known almost from birth.
He had been living his ordinary life.
Attending charity events.
Posting photographs with Noah.
Smiling beside Chloe.
While knowing somewhere in Europe another child created from my stolen embryo had been born.
“You knew I had a daughter.”
“You didn’t have anything.”
My breath caught.
“She was ours.”
“No.”
Marcus leaned toward me against the deputies’ grip.
“She was mine.”
There it was.
Not fatherhood.
Ownership.
I suddenly understood the entire architecture of his betrayal.
Marcus had never wanted children with me.
He had wanted heirs.
Proof.
Legacy.
Something carrying his name.
I had merely been the woman whose body was supposed to produce them.
When my body did not perform according to his expectations, he had replaced me.
Then, when he discovered the failure belonged to him, he rewrote reality.
“You stole my embryos because you wanted children without me.”
His eyes flickered.
I had found the center of it.
“You wanted my genetics.”
Silence.
“You wanted the embryos we created.”
Silence.
“But you didn’t want me.”
Marcus finally smiled.
“That marriage was already dead.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You killed it.”
A deputy led him away.
Grant followed, cursing.
Chloe stayed behind.
She looked sick.
“You didn’t know about the second baby.”
I said.
“No.”
“You swear?”
“Yes.”
I believed her.
Not because Chloe had suddenly become trustworthy.
Because her shock was too complete.
She turned toward Dana.
“Can I help Elena find her?”
Dana studied her.
“You should talk to your attorney.”
“I’m asking as a person.”
I almost laughed.
“You stopped being my friend long before you stopped being my husband’s mistress.”
Chloe flinched.
“I know.”
“No.”
“You’re beginning to know.”
Her eyes filled.
“Fair.”
We found Sofia Novak at a protected apartment arranged through federal authorities.
The phrase federal authorities had become involved at some point that afternoon.
Embryos transported internationally under forged consent triggered questions far beyond family court.
Dana drove.
Dr. Thorne met us there.
A state investigator named Renee Alvarez waited outside.
Before entering, Renee stopped me.
“Mrs. Mercer.”
“Elena.”
“Elena.”
She softened slightly.
“The woman inside is frightened.”
“So am I.”
“I understand.”
“No.”
My voice cracked.
“You don’t.”
Renee nodded slowly.
“You’re right.”
She opened the door.
Sofia Novak sat on a beige sofa.
She could not have been older than twenty-eight.
Her hair was pulled into a loose braid.
She wore jeans and an oversized gray sweater.
A bassinet stood beside her.
I stopped in the doorway.
Everything inside me froze.
There was a baby inside.
A little girl.
Tiny.
Sleeping.
One fist tucked against her cheek.
Sofia stood.
“You are Elena?”
Her English carried a soft accent.
“Yes.”
She looked toward the bassinet.
“I am sorry.”
Three words.
Nothing had prepared me for them.
I stepped closer.
The baby made a tiny sound.
My hand flew to my mouth.
“She is healthy?”
Sofia nodded.
“Yes.”
“Her name?”
“I call her Mila.”
Mila.
I repeated it silently.
“Can I see her?”
Sofia immediately moved aside.
I approached the bassinet.
The child had dark hair.
A small nose.
Perfect lips.
A little red birthmark near her ear.
I stared at her until my eyes burned.
Dr. Thorne stood behind me.
He said nothing.
I reached toward Mila.
Then stopped.
Sofia noticed.
“You can touch.”
I let one finger rest against the baby’s hand.
Her fingers curled around mine.
I broke.
There was no dramatic collapse.
No screaming.
I simply bent forward and cried silently over a child I had never known existed.
Sofia began crying too.
“I did not know.”
I looked at her.
“What did they tell you?”
“That embryo belonged to married couple who could not carry pregnancy.”
“Who told you?”
“Agency.”
“Asteria?”
“Yes.”
“They said genetic mother had hysterectomy.”
I nearly laughed from the cruelty of it.
“No.”
Sofia shook her head.
“I learn later.”
“How?”
“Hospital after birth requested family genetic history.”
She looked at Mila.
“Agency gave me file.”
“There was name inside.”
“Marcus?”
“And you.”
I wiped my face.
“What did you do?”
“I searched internet.”
That must have been devastating.
She would have found newspaper articles about my divorce.
Photographs of Marcus and Chloe.
Stories describing Chloe’s miraculous pregnancy.
Articles praising Marcus for rebuilding his life after being trapped in a toxic marriage.
“What did you find?”
“That you were not dead.”
My stomach twisted.
“They told you I was dead?”
“Agency paperwork says genetic mother deceased.”
Renee Alvarez cursed softly.
Sofia continued.
“I found you alive.”
“I found story about divorce.”
“I found picture of baby boy.”
“I knew something wrong.”
“Then you contacted Marcus.”
“Yes.”
“Why not me?”
Her eyes filled.
“His contact easy.”
“He called quickly.”
“What did he say?”
Sofia’s expression changed.
Fear.
“He told me you were mentally ill.”
Of course.
“He said you had tried to destroy embryos.”
“He said he moved them to protect children.”
My hands curled.
“He offered money?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
“For what?”
“To bring Mila here.”
“To give her to him.”
Sofia nodded.
“Did you plan to?”
“I planned to come.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I planned to find truth.”
Renee handed me a folder.
“Sofia saved their messages.”
I opened it.
Printed emails.
Marcus’s name.
Marcus’s private account.
His words.
BRING HER TO VIRGINIA.
DO NOT CONTACT ELENA.
SHE HAS NO LEGAL CLAIM.
WE WILL RESOLVE PAYMENT AFTER DNA CONFIRMATION.
My vision blurred.
Then I saw another message.
MAKE CERTAIN THE ORIGINAL AGENCY PAPERWORK DOES NOT TRAVEL WITH YOU.
I looked up.
“He wanted you to destroy evidence.”
Sofia nodded.
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
She reached beneath the sofa cushion.
“No.”
She pulled out a blue folder.
“I brought everything.”
Dana almost smiled.
“Good.”
Sofia handed it to her.
I kept staring at Mila.
“Why is Marcus so afraid of you?”
I asked.
Sofia looked confused.
“He is not afraid of me.”
“He ran when he learned you were here.”
She looked toward Renee.
Then back at me.
“Maybe because I told him someone else contacted me.”
Every person in the room became still.
“Who?”
Sofia looked nervous.
“A man.”
“What man?”
“He said his name Adrian Cole.”
I knew the name.
Everyone in the city knew the name.
Adrian Cole had been Marcus’s business partner for twelve years.
He had also served as treasurer of my shelter board.
“What did Adrian want?”
Sofia swallowed.
“He told me not to give baby to Marcus.”
My heartbeat increased.
“Why?”
“He said Marcus was dangerous.”
Renee leaned forward.
“What exactly did he say?”
Sofia reached for her phone.
“He left voicemail.”
She pressed play.
Adrian’s voice filled the room.
“Sofia, listen carefully.”
“Do not meet Marcus alone.”
“Do not hand the child to him.”
“Do not accept money.”
“And whatever you do, do not tell him you know what happened to Elena’s third embryo.”
I stopped breathing.
Dr. Thorne stared at the phone.
Dana whispered, “Third?”
Sofia looked at us.
“You did not know?”
My mouth went dry.
“Know what?”
She pointed toward the documents Dr. Thorne was holding.
“They told you only two embryos survived?”
“Yes.”
Sofia slowly shook her head.
“Adrian says there were three viable embryos.”
The room became silent.
I looked at Dr. Thorne.
His face had gone pale.
“That is impossible.”
Sofia pressed another message.
Adrian’s voice returned.
“The third embryo never appeared in the official transfer records.”
“Marcus paid Keller to make certain of that.”
“If you want to know where it went, ask Marcus what happened on March seventeenth.”
March seventeenth.
I knew that date.
It was the day my final IVF cycle had officially been declared a complete failure.
The day Marcus took me home.
The day Chloe came over and held me while I cried.
May you like
And apparently, the day both of them had begun building a family from pieces stolen from mine.
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