Chapter 4 - THE FIRST EMBRYO
Gideon arrived at Mallerie's apartment twenty minutes later.
He looked older than he had at the gala.
Not because of the silver in his hair.
Because of the fear.
Mallerie stood in the doorway.
“Tell me.”
He stepped inside.
“About the first embryo?”
“Yes.”
Gideon looked toward the window.
“Elena and I underwent fertility treatment six years ago. We created four embryos.”
Mallerie listened.
“Two were transferred to Elena. Neither resulted in a pregnancy.”
He paused.
“The clinic told us one remaining embryo was nonviable. The fourth was preserved.”
“And Owen?”
“The agency claimed he was born from the preserved embryo.”
Mallerie frowned.
“Then what was the first embryo?”
Gideon looked at her.
“The one the clinic said had been destroyed.”
Mallerie's stomach tightened.
“Why would someone mention it?”
“I don't know.”
She stared at him.
“That's not good enough.”
Gideon nodded.
“No. It isn't.”
Rebecca arrived with records from the fertility clinic.
The documents were incomplete.
Several pages were missing.
The laboratory director had retired.
The clinic had changed ownership.
And the original embryology records had been transferred to a private storage company.
Mallerie stared at the files.
“Someone planned this.”
Rebecca looked at her.
“Possibly. But we need evidence.”
The next morning, Mallerie received a message from an unknown number.
Your baby was never dead.
Beneath it was a photograph.
A hospital nursery.
Three newborns.
One had a crescent-shaped birthmark above his left ankle.
Mallerie recognized it instantly.
Her hands shook.
The photograph was dated November eighteenth.
One day after her delivery.
She forwarded it to Rebecca.
Then called Gideon.
He answered immediately.
“Mallerie?”
She could barely speak.
“My baby was alive.”
Silence.
Then Gideon's voice broke.
“I know.”
She began crying.
“No. You don't understand.”
She stared at the photograph.
“He was alive after they told me he died.”
That afternoon, Rebecca obtained an emergency preservation order for relevant hospital records and contacted investigators.
Gideon's security team identified the photograph's metadata as consistent with a device used by a former neonatal nurse.
Her name was Evelyn Cross.
She had resigned from St. Catherine's three days after Mallerie's delivery.
And she had disappeared.
At 6:30 p.m., Gideon's phone rang.
Adrian.
“We found Evelyn Cross.”
Gideon stood.
“Where?”
“Queens.”
“Is she safe?”
Adrian hesitated.
“No, sir.”
Gideon's face hardened.
“What happened?”
“She was found unconscious in her apartment. She's being taken to the hospital.”
Mallerie covered her mouth.
May you like
Gideon looked at her.
And for the first time, he realized that the people who had stolen a baby might be willing to kill to keep the truth buried.
