Chapter 12 - I WALKED INTO VALE TOWER
I entered Vale Tower wearing black.
Not because I planned it.
Because black was the only dress Mia had brought that fit my postpartum body.
Six days earlier, I had been abandoned in a hospital gown.
Now three attorneys walked beside me.
Luka stayed half a step behind.
Mia carried the shareholder documents.
The receptionist recognized me.
“Mrs. Vale.”
“Elena Carter.”
I corrected her.
“Please notify the board that an 18.6-percent shareholder is requesting immediate access to historical acquisition records.”
Her face went blank.
Thirty minutes later, I sat inside the boardroom.
Adrian entered through the opposite door.
His father, Victor, followed him.
Victor Vale was sixty-three and had spent his entire life making silence feel like intimidation.
It no longer worked on me.
Adrian stared at Luka.
Then at my father.
His face went white.
“You.”
Thomas smiled without warmth.
“Hello, Adrian.”
Victor gripped the chair.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
My father’s response froze the room.
“You tried.”
Every attorney stopped writing.
Victor realized what he had said.
Too late.
Mia leaned forward.
“Would you like to repeat that for the record, Mr. Vale?”
Victor said nothing.
Adrian looked at me.
“Elena, we need to speak privately.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what they’re doing.”
“I understand you knew we were related.”
His face collapsed.
A director gasped.
Victor closed his eyes.
I continued.
“I understand you knew you were infertile.”
“Elena.”
“I understand you arranged donor material without telling me.”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain it here.”
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
I pushed the donor code across the table.
“D-4418.”
Adrian stared at it.
That told me everything.
“You know who the donor is.”
He looked away.
“Adrian.”
His hands began trembling.
Victor whispered.
“Don’t.”
I turned toward him.
“You know too.”
Luka stood against the wall.
Silent.
Watching.
Adrian finally spoke.
“It was supposed to be anonymous.”
“Who?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Elena.”
“WHO?”
Adrian slammed both palms on the table.
“I was trying to save our marriage.”
I laughed.
“Our marriage was built on fraud.”
“I loved you.”
“You knew I was your cousin.”
“I didn’t know when we met.”
“But you knew before the wedding.”
He said nothing.
I leaned closer.
“And you married me anyway because you wanted M-17.”
His eyes filled with something that looked like shame.
“Yes.”
There it was.
The truth.
Small.
Ugly.
Final.
Then Luka’s phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
His face changed.
“What?”
I asked.
He looked at Adrian.
“We found the cryobank acquisition file.”
Adrian stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
“No.”
May you like
Luka looked at me.
“And D-4418 has a name.”
