Chapter 9 - THE SECOND CHILD
I could not process it.
“What second embryo?”
“The one in that file.”
“You already knew?”
“No.”
James rubbed his forehead.
“Reeves called and said Margaret had been asking questions about old inventory records.”
“And you paid him to disappear?”
“I paid him because he was terrified.”
“Of your mother?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because every time I learned something new, it got worse.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I thought if I could stop her before she reached us, you would never have to know.”
I almost smiled.
Not because anything was funny.
Because his logic was unbelievable.
“You were going to protect our marriage by lying until the truth became irrelevant.”
James looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Officer Daniels approached.
“We found something else.”
She held a photograph inside an evidence sleeve.
A little boy stood outside a school.
Maybe seven years old.
Brown hair.
Blue jacket.
A handwritten name appeared on the back.
EVAN MARSH.
My stomach tightened.
“Who is he?”
Daniels looked at James.
“We were hoping you knew.”
He shook his head.
Martin suddenly sat on the hood of a police cruiser.
“Oh, God.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Marsh.”
“Who is Marsh?”
Martin stared at the photograph.
“Claire Marsh worked for your mother.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“What did she do?”
“She was Margaret’s personal assistant.”
James stepped closer.
“I remember Claire.”
Martin nodded.
“She disappeared from the company around the same time Emily became pregnant.”
I looked at the boy again.
“How old would he be?”
Daniels checked the date written beneath the photograph.
“Seven.”
One year older than Lily.
The second embryo.
A second transfer.
A woman who disappeared.
A seven-year-old boy.
James whispered, “He could be my father’s son too.”
Martin shook his head.
“No.”
We all looked at him.
“What?”
“Charles’s trust says first verified biological child.”
James frowned.
“So?”
“If Evan was born first, Lily would never have triggered the trust.”
My blood ran cold.
“But you said Lily did.”
“Yes.”
“Meaning Evan was never verified.”
“Or someone made sure he wasn’t.”
Officer Daniels’s phone rang.
She stepped away.
I kept staring at the photograph.
The boy had something familiar around the eyes.
Not James.
Margaret.
Daniels returned.
Her expression had changed.
“We located Claire Marsh.”
“Where?”
“About two hours north.”
“Is the boy with her?”
Daniels hesitated.
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“She says Evan disappeared yesterday afternoon.”
I looked at James.
Margaret had filed for Lily’s custody yesterday.
Reeves had been hit by a car tonight.
The storage unit had been searched.
And now another child connected to the Whitmore embryos was missing.
Daniels continued.
“Claire says she received a message three hours ago.”
“From whom?”
“She doesn’t know.”
“What did it say?”
May you like
Daniels looked directly at me.
“Bring Emily Whitmore to the old Whitmore estate by midnight, or you never see Evan again.”
