Chapter 2 - The Child Daniel Claimed Was Not Hers
Claire woke beneath white hospital lights.
A fetal monitor beeped beside her. An intravenous line pulled at the skin on the back of her hand. The room was quiet except for the low hum of the air conditioner and distant voices beyond the closed door.
Her first instinct was to touch her stomach.
It was still round.
The baby moved.
A sob escaped her before she could stop it.
Nathan stood from a chair near the window. He had removed his marshal’s jacket, but there was dried blood on the cuff of his shirt.
“The baby’s alive,” he said immediately. “Her heartbeat stabilized. The doctors stopped the early labor.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Her?”
Nathan hesitated.
“You never told me.”
“I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“For Daniel?”
“For everyone.”
Nathan moved closer.
“Claire, Daniel escaped through the rear stairwell. He had a car waiting behind the building.”
“He planned it.”
“It looks that way.”
“Where is Vanessa?”
“Federal custody.”
Claire turned her face toward the window.
Outside, rain covered the city in a silver haze.
The attack had happened inside Daniel’s law office, on the twenty-third floor of one of the most secure buildings in downtown Richmond. Claire had gone there after receiving a message from Daniel’s phone asking her to bring his forgotten medical folder.
Vanessa had been waiting beside the elevators.
She had smiled and asked Claire to follow her into the laundry service corridor because Daniel had supposedly collapsed.
Claire had known Vanessa worked for one of Daniel’s corporate clients.
She had not known Vanessa was sleeping with him.
“How long?” Claire asked.
“Vanessa says eighteen months.”
Claire laughed once, bitterly.
“That would mean it started before our wedding anniversary trip.”
Nathan lowered his voice.
“She also says Daniel told her the baby wasn’t biologically yours.”
“That’s insane.”
“She claims he had documents.”
“What documents?”
“She won’t say anything else without immunity.”
Claire stared at her brother.
Nathan had always been protective, but now he looked like a man standing at the edge of something he did not understand.
“Why were federal marshals there?” Claire asked.
“We were serving a sealed arrest warrant on Daniel.”
“For what?”
Nathan did not answer.
“Nathan.”
“The case isn’t mine. I was brought in because investigators believed he might use you as leverage.”
“For what crime?”
“Financial conspiracy, witness intimidation, obstruction.”
Claire waited.
Nathan looked toward the door, then lowered his voice.
“And possible involvement in the disappearance of a federal witness.”
Claire felt cold despite the blanket.
“My husband is a tax attorney.”
“Your husband has represented shell corporations tied to medical clinics, adoption agencies, and private maternity centers in four states.”
Claire’s fingers tightened around the blanket.
“Our fertility clinic?”
Nathan went still.
Claire saw the answer before he spoke.
“Yes.”
Three years earlier, Claire and Daniel had undergone treatment at Hawthorne Reproductive Health. Two unsuccessful procedures had drained their savings and nearly ended their marriage.
Then, ten months ago, their final embryo transfer had worked.
Claire had heard the heartbeat at seven weeks.
She had watched her daughter grow inside her.
No document could change that.
“What did Vanessa mean?” Claire whispered. “Why would Daniel say the baby wasn’t mine?”
Nathan reached into a plastic evidence envelope.
Inside was a photograph taken during the search of Daniel’s office.
It showed a blue folder lying open beneath his desk.
The first page contained Claire’s name, date of birth, and patient identification number.
The second page bore a heading she had never seen.
GESTATIONAL CARRIER ASSIGNMENT.
Claire read the words twice.
Then she saw another woman’s name printed beneath them.
Biological mother: Elena Ward.
Claire’s heart monitor began to race.
“That’s false.”
“We don’t know what it is.”
“I am not a carrier.”
“I know.”
“I never agreed to carry someone else’s child.”
Nathan put the photograph away.
“Daniel may have falsified the document.”
“Why?”
“That’s what we have to find out.”
The door opened.
A doctor entered with a nurse and checked Claire’s monitor. She explained that the bleeding had slowed but that Claire would remain under observation. She warned that another severe stress event could trigger labor.
When the doctor left, Nathan’s phone vibrated.
He read the message.
His expression changed.
“What happened?” Claire asked.
“The marshal chasing Daniel found the getaway vehicle.”
“Was he inside?”
“No.”
“Then where is he?”
“The driver was dead.”
Claire stared at him.
Nathan slid the phone into his pocket.
“The car was registered to Hawthorne Reproductive Health.”
Before Claire could speak, a nurse hurried into the room.
“There’s a woman asking to see Mrs. Bennett.”
“No visitors,” Nathan said.
“She says it concerns the baby.”
Nathan’s hand moved toward his holster.
“What’s her name?”
May you like
The nurse checked the card in her hand.
“Elena Ward.”
