Chapter 12 - THE CHILD BY THE LAKE
Claire studied the photograph until the image blurred.
The toddler appeared to be around eighteen months old.
A yellow coat.
Red boots.
Pale curls beneath a knitted hat.
“Is this real?”
Mara sat beside her.
“We believe so.”
“I would remember giving birth.”
“You may not have carried the pregnancy to term.”
“But the note says delivery.”
“It could refer to embryo delivery, medical transport, or something else.”
Claire looked at Evan.
“You said the implant happened two years ago.”
“Yes.”
“The child looks the right age.”
Evan closed his eyes.
Claire wanted to hate him completely.
Hatred would have been easier if no part of him looked broken.
But guilt was not redemption.
Pain was not accountability.
She turned to Mara.
“Where was the photograph taken?”
“We identified the lake as Lake Aster in northern Maine.”
“Have agents searched there?”
“They are on the way.”
“I’m going.”
“You had surgery less than twenty-four hours ago.”
“I am not remaining in this hospital while another child may be hidden.”
“Lily cannot travel.”
“Then someone stays with her.”
Mara shook her head.
“You are both targets.”
Claire looked through the glass at Lily.
The baby slept beneath a white blanket, her breathing steadier now.
“I have already lost years with a child I did not know existed.”
“We have not confirmed that the child is biologically yours.”
“Then confirm it.”
The photograph was sent for facial analysis and environmental identification.
A small building appeared in the background beside the lake. Records showed it belonged to the Aster Children’s Recovery Foundation, another Bennett-funded charity.
The facility had closed six months earlier.
Agents arrived before sunset.
They found no children.
But they found recent food supplies, small beds, and medical equipment.
Someone had emptied the building within the previous forty-eight hours.
In the basement, agents discovered a locked room containing files for women who had received treatment from Dr. Hart.
Most believed they had undergone fertility procedures or minor gynecological surgeries.
Several had unexplained gaps in their medical records.
Claire recognized one name.
Sophie Grant.
Her former college roommate.
Sophie had introduced Claire to Evan at a charity gala.
Three months after Claire’s wedding, Sophie disappeared.
Everyone believed she had moved overseas.
Mara called the phone number in Sophie’s file.
Disconnected.
They contacted her family.
Sophie had not spoken to them in three years.
Claire remembered their final conversation.
Sophie had sounded frightened.
She had asked whether Claire trusted the Bennetts.
Claire had become defensive.
She told Sophie to stop judging a family she barely knew.
Two days later, Sophie vanished.
Mara searched old travel records.
There was no evidence Sophie ever left the country.
Then an agent found a handwritten note inside the lake facility.
CLAIRE REMAINS COMPLIANT.
SOPHIE DOES NOT.
TRANSFER SOPHIE BEFORE C DISCOVERS CONNECTION.
Claire read the note twice.
“They used Sophie to get close to me.”
“Possibly.”
“She introduced me to Evan.”
“She may have been instructed to.”
“Or she tried to warn me after realizing what they wanted.”
Mara nodded.
Another file contained photographs of Claire taken before she met Evan.
Leaving her apartment.
Going to work.
Visiting her parents’ graves.
The Bennett family had studied her.
They knew she had no close relatives.
They knew she had a history of ovarian cysts.
They knew her blood type.
They knew she wanted children.
Claire suddenly understood why Victoria had welcomed her so warmly in the beginning.
She had not been chosen as a daughter-in-law.
She had been selected as a medical candidate.
A carrier.
A woman with no powerful family to ask questions if she disappeared.
Mara received a call from the team in Maine.
They had found fresh tire tracks leading away from the facility.
The tracks matched a refrigerated medical transport truck.
Traffic cameras showed the vehicle heading toward Canada.
The truck’s registered owner was a shell company controlled by Charles Bennett.
At the same time, Canadian border authorities reported an unusual crossing.
A private medical convoy had entered using diplomatic clearance connected to Senator Jonathan Rusk, a longtime Bennett ally.
Inside the convoy were six adults and at least four children.
One girl matched Elena’s height.
One toddler wore a yellow coat.
Claire felt the world narrow around those details.
“Where are they going?”
“The convoy left the main highway and turned toward a private estate outside Quebec City.”
“Who owns it?”
Mara looked at the property records.
“Richard Vale.”
Claire looked toward Lily.
Vanessa stood on the other side of the incubator.
For the first time, there was no hostility between them.
Only shared terror.
Mara’s phone rang again.
This time, the caller was Victoria.
She was still under guard in the hospital, but she had requested to speak with Claire.
Claire accepted through a secure line.
Victoria’s voice was calm.
“You need to stop Mara from approaching that estate.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard has prepared for this.”
“What does he want?”
“The original Bennett trust.”
“What is in it?”
“Names.”
“Whose names?”
“Every family that purchased a child through North River.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“How many children?”
“I do not know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I knew about Vanessa’s embryos. I did not know Richard expanded the program.”
“You funded it.”
“I funded medical privacy.”
“You funded trafficking.”
Victoria’s silence confirmed more than denial would have.
Claire looked at the toddler’s photograph.
“Is she mine?”
Victoria answered quietly.
“Yes.”
The room stopped moving.
Claire could hear only her own heartbeat.
“Where is she?”
“With Richard.”
“What is her name?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Amelia.”
Claire pressed one hand to her mouth.
“Why did you take her?”
“The first implantation was not supposed to continue. Hart declared it unsuccessful. Months later, Richard revealed he had transferred the embryo into another carrier.”
Claire felt sick.
“Whose embryo?”
“Yours and Evan’s.”
Claire looked at Evan.
He stared back in horror.
Victoria continued.
“Amelia is your biological daughter. Another woman carried her.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sophie?”
Victoria did not answer.
Claire understood.
“Sophie carried my child.”
“She became emotionally attached.”
“You mean she refused to surrender her.”
“She violated the agreement.”
“What did you do to her?”
Before Victoria could respond, a man spoke in the background of her call.
“End the conversation, Mrs. Bennett.”
Victoria gasped.
The line went dead.
Mara contacted the guards outside Victoria’s room.
No one answered.
Agents rushed down the corridor.
The guards were found unconscious.
Victoria’s hospital bed was empty.
May you like
On the pillow lay a note.
BRING CLAIRE TO QUEBEC, OR THE CHILDREN DISAPPEAR AGAIN.
