Chapter 11 - The Baby Evelyn Stole
Clara returned to the records from the basement archive.
She focused on the year Julian was born.
Medical payments led to a private maternity residence operated by the Mercer Foundation.
Officially, the residence supported vulnerable pregnant women.
In practice, it arranged discreet adoptions for wealthy families.
Nina found a payment made two days before Julian’s birth certificate was filed.
The recipient was Margaret Bennett.
Clara felt betrayed by a dead woman who could no longer explain herself.
Marcus urged caution.
“The payment may have been for accounting work.”
“It was labeled maternal transfer.”
“That still doesn’t prove Julian was the child in the photograph.”
Clara examined the image of Margaret holding the newborn.
On the back was a partial date.
Three weeks before Julian’s official birthday.
She called her aunt Rose, her mother’s younger sister.
Rose lived in Vermont and had avoided discussing Margaret’s early career for years.
When Clara showed her the photograph, Rose began to cry.
“I told her this would return.”
“Who is the baby?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“Was it Julian?”
Rose shook her head.
“Your mother worked at the Mercer maternity residence. She found out babies were being reassigned.”
“What does that mean?”
“Birth records were changed. Mothers were told their children died. Wealthy families received infants through private arrangements.”
Clara felt sick.
“Was Evelyn involved?”
“Margaret believed she was.”
“Why would my mother accept money?”
“She didn’t. She copied the records and left. The payment was deposited without her permission.”
“Did she take a baby?”
Rose looked toward the photograph.
“She saved one.”
“What happened to him?”
“She gave him to someone she trusted.”
“Who?”
“She never told me.”
“Did she know Arthur?”
“Arthur contacted her after he discovered what Evelyn had done.”
Clara’s voice tightened.
“What did Evelyn do?”
Rose took a long breath.
“Evelyn had delivered a stillborn child.”
Clara understood before Rose finished.
“She replaced him.”
“Yes.”
“With one of the babies from the residence.”
“Yes.”
“Julian.”
Rose nodded.
“Arthur believed so.”
“Then Sebastian isn’t Julian’s father.”
“No.”
“Why did Evelyn tell him he was?”
“To make the replacement look like a family arrangement.”
Clara stood and walked toward the window.
The man she had married did not know who he was.
The child Chloe carried had been created using an unknown donor.
And somewhere, an original baby connected to the Mercer family might still be alive.
“What bloodline did Evelyn try to erase?” Clara asked.
Rose’s face became pale.
“Arthur had another son.”
Clara turned.
“With whom?”
“Not Evelyn.”
“Who was the mother?”
“A young woman who worked at the maternity residence.”
“What happened?”
“She disappeared after giving birth.”
“And the baby?”
“Margaret saved him.”
Clara looked at the photograph again.
The newborn in her mother’s arms was Arthur Mercer’s biological son.
The rightful heir.
“Where is he now?”
Rose wiped her eyes.
“I don’t know.”
Clara did not believe her.
Before she could press further, Marcus entered the room.
“The prenatal DNA results are back.”
Clara ended the call.
Marcus handed her the report.
Julian was not Chloe’s child’s biological father.
The clinic had falsified the original verification.
The independent test had identified several rare genetic markers.
Dana’s laboratory compared them with DNA recovered from Arthur Mercer’s archived medical samples.
No paternal relationship existed.
They compared them with Sebastian’s.
No relationship.
Then the lab found a partial match in a federal database.
The child’s biological father had a close relative convicted of financial crimes twelve years earlier.
His name was Adrian Cross.
Clara recognized the name.
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Adrian Cross was the founder of Asterion Group.
The private equity firm trying to seize her company.
