Chapter 11: The Blood Test
Ava’s heart procedure had succeeded.
The unexpected problem appeared in her bloodwork.
A rare antibody made standard transfusions dangerous.
The hospital needed a closely matched donor.
Marcus immediately volunteered.
So did Khloe.
The preliminary results returned within twenty minutes.
Khloe was compatible.
Marcus was not.
That alone meant nothing.
Parents were not always suitable donors.
But the laboratory technician had run a broader genetic panel because of Ava’s premature birth.
The report showed an irregularity.
Detective Ortiz read the result twice before handing it to Marcus.
“The test indicates you are not Ava’s biological father.”
Marcus did not move.
Khloe stared at the detective.
“That is impossible.”
“The laboratory recommends confirmation with a second sample.”
“I have never been with anyone else.”
Marcus looked at Khloe.
“I believe you.”
She turned on him.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Or did you already know?”
“No.”
The room spun around her.
Gabriel ordered the lab to repeat the test under direct supervision.
A second technician collected fresh samples from Marcus, Khloe, and Ava.
While they waited, Marcus stood beside the neonatal window.
Khloe remained across the hall.
Neither approached the other.
The confirmation came forty-one minutes later.
Marcus was not Ava’s biological father.
Khloe was Ava’s biological mother.
“There has to be an explanation,” Khloe said.
Gabriel opened Khloe’s prenatal records.
Her fertility specialist had been employed by a private clinic owned by Thorne Medical Holdings.
Khloe had undergone treatment after two miscarriages.
The procedure had included embryo testing.
Marcus’s face changed.
“The clinic stored our embryos.”
Khloe looked at him.
“You said they were destroyed after the transfer.”
“That is what I was told.”
Detective Ortiz contacted the clinic director.
He had disappeared the previous week.
The records showed that Khloe’s transferred embryo had been labeled with a numbered donor code rather than Marcus’s name.
The code linked to a sealed research account.
A.T.-01.
Adrian Thorne.
Khloe’s knees weakened.
“No.”
Marcus caught her before she fell.
For a moment, she allowed him to hold her.
Then she pushed him away.
Adrian had not merely watched their family from the shadows.
He had entered it.
A message appeared on Marcus’s recovered phone.
A photograph showed Adrian standing inside the abandoned research facility.
Isabella was beside him.
On a table between them rested the stolen Vale file.
May you like
The message contained one sentence.
COME CLAIM YOUR BROTHER’S DAUGHTER.
