Chapter 9 - Chloe’s Last Lie
Chloe went silent when I showed her Keller’s message.
We were sitting in the visitation center after Noah fell asleep.
A counselor had stepped outside.
Dana remained in the room.
Chloe read the sentence twice.
Then placed the paper on the table.
“It’s manipulation.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Keller hated Marcus.”
“What happened the night before the embryo transfer?”
“Nothing.”
I stared at her.
She looked away.
“Chloe.”
“I was scared.”
“Of the procedure?”
“Yes.”
“Try again.”
Her jaw tightened.
“You think because Marcus lied, every memory I have is a conspiracy.”
“I think because you lied, every sentence you give me requires verification.”
That hurt her.
Good.
“What happened?”
I asked again.
Chloe looked toward Noah.
He slept with one hand beneath his cheek.
She whispered, “Marcus brought me to the estate.”
My stomach tightened.
“I was there?”
“Yes.”
My skin prickled.
“Where?”
“Upstairs.”
“Was I awake?”
“No.”
A cold feeling spread through me.
“What did you do in my house?”
“We needed documents.”
“What documents?”
“Your identification.”
I could not breathe.
“You went into my bedroom while I was sleeping?”
“Yes.”
“To steal my identification?”
“He said we needed copies.”
“You helped him.”
“Yes.”
“For the transfer.”
“Yes.”
I stood.
Dana touched my arm.
“Elena.”
I pulled away.
“What else?”
Chloe cried silently.
“What else did you take?”
“Your passport.”
“We copied it.”
“Driver’s license?”
“Yes.”
“Signature?”
“Marcus already had samples.”
My stomach turned.
“The papers in the nursery safe.”
She nodded.
“You knew about them?”
“Some.”
I laughed.
“You knew he was forging my consent before you got pregnant.”
“No.”
“You just admitted you stole my identification for the procedure.”
“He told me the clinic required proof because you had donated the embryos.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know that now.”
“It made no sense then.”
She lowered her face.
“Yes.”
There it was.
The truth beneath all her excuses.
She had known enough to know something was wrong.
She simply wanted Marcus enough not to care.
“Did you see me?”
I asked.
Chloe looked up.
“What?”
“That night.”
“Did you see me?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In bed.”
I closed my eyes.
“What condition was I in?”
She swallowed.
“Asleep.”
“Normal asleep?”
Chloe’s silence answered.
I opened my eyes.
“What did he give me?”
Dana straightened.
“Elena.”
I felt suddenly sick.
During those months, there had been nights I slept unusually hard.
Marcus told me fertility medication was exhausting me.
I had believed him.
“What did he give me?”
Chloe shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“You know something.”
“He put something in your tea.”
My legs weakened.
Dana stood.
“Did you see him?”
Chloe nodded.
“What?”
“A pill.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That your doctor prescribed it for anxiety.”
I laughed bitterly.
“And you believed that too?”
“No.”
The word came quietly.
“No.”
Finally.
“What did you believe?”
“That he wanted you to sleep.”
The room became completely silent.
“Why?”
“So we could get the papers without you waking.”
I looked at Dana.
Her face had hardened.
Drugging me.
Forgery.
Theft.
Embryo transfers.
Every layer kept becoming more deliberate.
“What happened after you copied my identification?”
“We left.”
“That’s all?”
Chloe hesitated.
“No.”
“What else?”
“Marcus went into the bathroom.”
“For what?”
“He took a medication bag.”
I frowned.
“My injections?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do with them?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he throw them away?”
“No.”
“He took them.”
My stomach twisted.
Dana wrote something down.
“Which medication?”
“I don’t know.”
“Describe it.”
Chloe described refrigerated vials.
Dr. Thorne later identified the likely medication.
Progesterone.
The hormone I had been prescribed during previous transfer preparation.
“But there was no transfer that cycle.”
I said.
Dr. Thorne nodded.
“That is what you were told.”
My blood ran cold.
“What are you saying?”
He looked through reconstructed records.
“One of your embryos may have been intended for transfer back to you.”
I stared.
“Before Marcus moved them?”
“Yes.”
“But why steal my medication?”
“Possibly to prevent you from maintaining an implantation.”
My entire body froze.
“No.”
Dr. Thorne’s face was grim.
“We need to examine your blood results from that period.”
“No.”
I stood.
“No.”
Dana stepped toward me.
“Elena.”
“I was never pregnant.”
“That is what your records say.”
Dr. Thorne answered.
I stared at him.
“What do the originals say?”
He did not answer.
The silence destroyed me.
“What do the originals say?”
He opened a recovered report.
“Your beta-hCG level on March twenty-third was positive.”
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
“It was low.”
“No.”
“But positive.”
“No.”
I backed away.
“I was told it was negative.”
“The altered report says negative.”
“And the original?”
“Positive.”
My hands went numb.
“What happened afterward?”
Dr. Thorne swallowed.
“A second blood draw forty-eight hours later showed falling levels.”
I knew enough fertility medicine to understand.
Chemical pregnancy.
Very early loss.
I pressed my palm against the table.
“I was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Probably several days.”
“And Marcus knew?”
“We don’t know.”
Chloe began sobbing.
I turned toward her.
She looked terrified.
“Why are you crying?”
“I didn’t know.”
“You knew he took my medication.”
“I didn’t know you were pregnant.”
“Did Marcus?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he say anything?”
She shook her head.
Then stopped.
One tiny movement.
I saw it.
“What did he say?”
“Nothing.”
“What did he say, Chloe?”
She started shaking.
“He said…”
“Say it.”
“He said it would be easier once your body finished the job.”
Every sound disappeared.
My body finished the job.
I tasted metal.
Dana grabbed my shoulders because apparently I had started moving toward Chloe.
I did not remember deciding to.
“You heard him say that?”
I whispered.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“In the car.”
“After leaving my house?”
“Yes.”
“And you still went through with the embryo transfer the next morning.”
Chloe cried harder.
“Yes.”
I could not look at her.
I walked toward the opposite wall.
Marcus had known.
Maybe not with certainty.
But enough.
He had removed prescribed medication.
Drugged me.
Then spoken as if an early pregnancy loss was convenient.
The baby I might have carried disappeared before I ever knew it existed.
And the next morning, Chloe received one of the remaining embryos.
Dana’s voice became deadly calm.
“Chloe, investigators need this statement today.”
“I’ll tell them.”
“All of it.”
“Yes.”
“No more omissions.”
“Yes.”
“If you hide one more detail, your cooperation agreement may disappear.”
“I understand.”
I turned.
“No.”
Chloe looked at me.
“You don’t understand.”
“You lost the right to say you understand what happened to me.”
She lowered her eyes.
I looked at Noah.
My son slept peacefully between us.
He had nothing to do with any of this.
That reality was the only thing keeping me grounded.
I sat beside his stroller.
His tiny foot had slipped free of the blanket.
I covered it.
Chloe watched me.
Then she whispered, “He likes when you hum.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“Last visit.”
“You hummed while stacking blocks.”
“He kept looking at you.”
I swallowed.
“What song?”
“You Are My Sunshine.”
I closed my eyes.
My mother used to sing it to me.
I had apparently hummed it without noticing.
Noah shifted.
I began humming again.
His breathing settled.
For one brief minute, Marcus disappeared.
Court disappeared.
Chloe disappeared.
There was only my son.
Then Dana’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her eyes widened.
“What happened?”
I asked.
She ended the call.
“Marcus has been arrested.”
Chloe stood.
“For what?”
“Obstruction.”
“Evidence tampering.”
“Conspiracy.”
“Possible unlawful transfer of reproductive material.”
My breath left me.
Chloe looked almost relieved.
Then Dana continued.
“Keller was arrested too.”
“Good.”
“But Marcus made a statement before his attorney stopped him.”
I frowned.
“What statement?”
Dana looked at Chloe.
“He says Chloe planned everything.”
Chloe went white.
“What?”
“He says the embryo transfer was her idea.”
“That’s insane.”
“He claims she stole Elena’s identification.”
“No.”
“He claims she forged the paperwork.”
“No.”
“He claims she paid Keller.”
“No!”
Noah startled.
Chloe immediately lowered her voice.
“That is not true.”
Dana’s expression remained hard.
“Can you prove it?”
Chloe froze.
I knew that look.
She could.
“What do you have?”
I asked.
Chloe looked at me.
Then at Noah.
“A recording.”
Dana stepped forward.
“Of what?”
“Marcus.”
“When?”
“The night before my transfer.”
My stomach tightened.
“You recorded him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was afraid he would leave me afterward.”
The selfishness almost made me laugh.
Even her evidence had been created to protect herself.
“Where is it?”
Chloe reached into her handbag.
She pulled out an old phone.
“I kept it because it was the first time he promised Noah and I would become his family.”
She unlocked the device.
Found the file.
Pressed play.
Marcus’s voice filled the room.
“You have the passport copy?”
Chloe’s recorded voice answered.
“Yes.”
“And her signature?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“What if Elena finds out?”
“She won’t.”
“What about the embryo they were going to transfer to her?”
A pause.
Then Marcus spoke.
“She’s already losing it.”
My breath stopped.
Chloe whispered on the recording.
“How do you know?”
Marcus laughed.
“Because I made sure she stopped taking what she needed.”
The room froze.
Then he said something worse.
“By tomorrow, Elena’s future will be inside you.”
Chloe covered her face.
My vision blurred.
The recording continued.
“And once you’re pregnant, nobody will ever believe she was the victim.”
The file ended.
No one moved.
Dana immediately copied it.
I stared at Chloe.
“You had this for a year.”
She nodded.
“You listened to him admit what he did to me.”
“Yes.”
“And said nothing.”
“Yes.”
I could barely speak.
“Why give it to me now?”
Chloe looked at Noah.
“Because he just tried to make me take the fall for everything.”
There it was.
Not remorse.
Self-preservation.
I almost hated her more for finally telling the truth than for all the lies before it.
Then Noah woke.
He looked around.
His eyes landed on me.
For a few seconds, he stared.
Then he reached out both arms.
Not toward Chloe.
Toward me.
My entire body went still.
Chloe started crying.
I picked him up carefully.
He touched my face.
And for the first time, my son rested his head against my shoulder.
Behind me, Dana whispered, “Elena.”
I looked up.
She was staring at her phone.
“What?”
“Federal investigators just identified the account that paid Keller the night your medication disappeared.”
“Marcus?”
Dana shook her head.
“No.”
I looked at Chloe.
Her face was already white.
Dana turned the screen toward us.
The payment had come from Northstar Community Solutions.
May you like
The company registered in Chloe’s name.
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