Chapter 8 - The Man Who Tried to Stop Him
Dr. Thorne arrived thirty minutes later.
Dana did not let him enter until Renee Alvarez joined us.
He stood in the middle of my tiny apartment looking older than he had the day before.
“You paid Marcus.”
“Yes.”
“To buy my embryos.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked at the floor.
“Because I was a coward.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That answer is becoming popular.”
He accepted the blow.
“I learned about the falsified records four years ago.”
My chest tightened.
“How?”
“An embryologist approached me anonymously.”
“Heather?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“Adrian Cole.”
I stared.
“Adrian?”
“Yes.”
“How did he know?”
“He had discovered Marcus paying Keller through Mercer Family Holdings.”
“Why come to you?”
“Because I had just become department chief.”
Dr. Thorne sat only after Renee allowed it.
“He told me Marcus was moving embryos that belonged to a patient without her knowledge.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“Did he give you my name?”
“Eventually.”
“And you didn’t call me.”
Dr. Thorne closed his eyes.
“I should have.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Keller threatened the hospital.”
I stared.
“With what?”
“A malpractice scandal.”
“He said if the transfers became public, Crestview would face lawsuits, licensing investigations, and possible closure of the fertility program.”
“That sounds like exactly what should have happened.”
“Yes.”
His answer came immediately.
“I know that now.”
“What did you do instead?”
“I tried to handle it internally.”
The most dangerous phrase in institutional life.
Handle it internally.
I felt sick.
“How?”
“I confronted Keller.”
“He denied everything.”
“I approached Marcus.”
My eyebrows lifted.
“You confronted my husband?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That you had consented.”
“And you believed him?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“He said the embryos had already been transferred.”
“Where?”
“He would not tell me.”
“So you paid him.”
Dr. Thorne nodded.
“He claimed he could recover two.”
My stomach twisted.
“Did he?”
“No.”
“He took your money?”
“Yes.”
“And disappeared with mine.”
“Yes.”
Dana looked disgusted.
“Why was the payment routed through BioLegacy?”
“Because Marcus told me that company held the storage contracts.”
“You funded his scheme.”
“I know.”
Dr. Thorne’s voice cracked for the first time.
“I know.”
I had trusted him because he was the first person with authority who told me the truth.
Now I learned he had known pieces of that truth for years.
“How could you stand beside me in that hospital and act like this was all new?”
“I didn’t know about the pregnancies.”
“But you knew my embryos were missing.”
“Yes.”
“And you watched me believe they had died.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I did not know you had been told there were no viable embryos until I audited your personal file.”
I stared.
“That matters to you?”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t matter to me.”
He lowered his eyes.
Renee stepped in.
“What happened after the payment?”
“Marcus stopped communicating.”
“Did you report him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I had made an unauthorized payment to recover biological materials.”
“Meaning you compromised yourself.”
“Yes.”
“And Crestview.”
“Yes.”
“Did the hospital know?”
“The previous CEO did.”
Renee’s eyes narrowed.
“Name?”
“Richard Halpern.”
Dana typed it into her phone.
Dr. Thorne continued.
“Halpern ordered me to stop investigating.”
“And you did?”
“For a time.”
I laughed again.
“For a time.”
“Then what changed?”
“You disappeared.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“After the divorce, you stopped answering calls.”
“I moved.”
“You left the shelter.”
“I was thrown out.”
“I know.”
“I tried to contact you.”
I stared at him.
“You did?”
“Twice.”
“I never received anything.”
“I sent letters to the estate.”
Marcus would have seen them.
My stomach turned.
“What did they say?”
“That I needed to discuss discrepancies in your reproductive records.”
I closed my eyes.
Marcus must have intercepted them.
“When did you finally audit the files?”
“After you contacted Crestview six weeks ago requesting archived copies.”
“And found missing reports.”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell me everything immediately?”
“Because I wanted evidence before reopening a trauma based on suspicion.”
I could understand that.
I did not forgive it.
“What about Adrian?”
Renee asked.
“Why did he object?”
Dr. Thorne hesitated.
“I believe he initially helped Marcus create BioLegacy.”
My stomach tightened.
“So Adrian isn’t a hero.”
“No.”
“He was the financial architect.”
“Why turn against Marcus?”
“Something happened.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
Renee’s phone rang.
She stepped into the hallway.
Dana looked at Dr. Thorne.
“If you withheld evidence from federal investigators, you could face charges.”
“I know.”
“Your medical license could be reviewed.”
“I know.”
“Why tell us now?”
Dr. Thorne looked at me.
“Because Elena deserves truth even when the truth makes me look unforgivable.”
I wanted to hate him.
That would have been easier.
Instead I saw another person who had made cowardly decisions inside Marcus’s machinery.
Not innocent.
Not equivalent to Marcus.
But not clean.
Renee returned.
“They found Adrian.”
I stood.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Abandoned warehouse outside Annapolis.”
“What happened?”
“He says two men attacked him.”
“Who?”
“He identified one.”
“Marcus?”
“No.”
“Keller.”
My eyebrows rose.
“Dr. Keller attacked Adrian?”
“According to him.”
“But Keller was hospitalized.”
“He discharged himself six hours ago.”
Renee looked at Dr. Thorne.
“We need everything you know about Philip Keller.”
Dr. Thorne looked grim.
“Keller is brilliant.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“He is also narcissistic, financially reckless, and deeply resentful.”
“Toward whom?”
“Anyone with power over him.”
“Marcus?”
“At first, Marcus had money.”
“Keller had access.”
“They needed each other.”
“Then?”
“Marcus started treating him like an employee.”
Renee nodded.
“That creates motive.”
“For what?”
I asked.
“To steal from Marcus.”
My stomach tightened.
“Steal what?”
Renee looked toward the documents scattered across my table.
“His business.”
The next twenty-four hours changed the case again.
Federal investigators searched Keller’s apartment.
They found fake passports.
Encrypted ledgers.
Embryology records from four clinics.
And photographs.
Dozens of photographs of children.
Some infants.
Some toddlers.
Some older.
Each photograph had numbers written beneath it.
I sat beside Dana while Renee showed us copies.
“Are these all children from transferred embryos?”
“We don’t know yet.”
I felt sick.
Then I saw one photograph that stopped me.
A girl.
Maybe five years old.
Blonde hair.
Green eyes.
She was standing beside a playground.
Beneath the photograph:
E-12.
PREMIUM LINE.
I turned away.
“What does premium line mean?”
Renee did not answer.
Dr. Thorne did.
“Genetic characteristics marketed as desirable.”
My stomach rolled.
“This was trafficking.”
“Potentially.”
“In children.”
“In reproductive material.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Don’t make it clinical.”
“These became children.”
He lowered his eyes.
“You’re right.”
Among Keller’s documents was a list of genetic profiles.
Education.
Height.
Medical history.
Family wealth.
Eye color.
Athletic ability.
Music aptitude.
One profile was mine.
ELENA MERCER.
Age at retrieval: 32.
Education: Georgetown.
Family history: no major hereditary disease.
IQ estimate.
Height.
Eye color.
Hair color.
Then a category I could barely read.
MARKET TIER: HIGH.
I stared at it until the letters blurred.
My embryos had become inventory.
Marcus had sold one.
Keller may have sold others belonging to other patients.
And Adrian had helped design the financial structure.
Renee closed the folder.
“We believe BioLegacy began with your embryos.”
The sentence landed heavily.
“What do you mean?”
“Marcus discovered he could move reproductive material because he had spousal access to parts of your treatment file.”
“He and Keller exploited weaknesses in consent verification.”
“After that, they expanded.”
“How many?”
“We’re still determining.”
“Give me a number.”
“Potentially thirty-one embryos.”
I gripped the table.
“Thirty-one families?”
“We don’t know whether all resulted in births.”
I thought of the photographs.
“How many children?”
“At least nine confirmed.”
The room went silent.
Nine.
Noah.
Mila.
Lucas.
And six children connected to strangers who might not know anything.
Renee looked at me.
“Your case may become the first one prosecutors can prove from beginning to end.”
“Because Marcus was arrogant enough to keep notes.”
“Yes.”
“And because Chloe is cooperating.”
“Yes.”
“And Adrian?”
“He wants immunity.”
I laughed.
“Of course.”
“He claims he can identify every transaction.”
“Do you believe him?”
“Not yet.”
My phone buzzed.
A message from the visitation center.
My next visit with Noah had been approved for two hours.
The contrast nearly broke me.
One moment, I was evidence in a fertility trafficking investigation.
The next, I was learning whether my son liked bananas.
I looked at Dana.
“I need to go.”
She nodded.
Renee stopped me.
“One more thing.”
I turned.
“Keller’s computer contained a scheduled message.”
“To whom?”
“You.”
My skin went cold.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
She handed me a printout.
One line.
ELENA, MARCUS DID NOT CHOOSE CHLOE BECAUSE SHE COULD GIVE HIM A CHILD.
I kept reading.
HE CHOSE HER BECAUSE SHE WAS WILLING TO HELP HIM TAKE YOURS.
My hands began shaking.
Below it was another sentence.
AND CHLOE HAS STILL NOT TOLD YOU WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT BEFORE HER EMBRYO TRANSFER.
I looked at Dana.
Then at Renee.
“What happened that night?”
Neither knew.
But Chloe did.
May you like
And for the first time since she began cooperating, I realized my former best friend might still be hiding the worst part.
---
