Chapter 7 - The Second Pregnancy
The ultrasound image had been printed from a terminal inside Sublevel C.
Mara traced the network route twice.
Both results led to the abandoned laboratory beneath the hospital.
“There should not be power down there,” Sebastian said.
“There should not be patients down there either,” Mara answered.
Khloe studied the image.
The date in the corner was four days old.
The fetuses measured approximately twenty-one weeks.
Isabella did not appear twenty-one weeks pregnant.
Her fitted crimson gown had shown no curve.
“The scan could be fabricated,” Sebastian said.
“So could the medical records.”
Khloe looked at the genetic profile again.
“What if Isabella is not carrying them?”
Gabriel understood.
“A surrogate.”
The possibility changed everything.
Someone could have created embryos using tissue taken during Khloe’s unauthorized procedure and genetic material obtained from Sebastian.
The resulting children would possess the same inheritance claim as their unborn daughter.
“Why create more heirs?” Sebastian asked.
“To challenge Khloe’s child,” Gabriel said.
“The trust names her first biological child.”
“The twins may have been conceived earlier.”
Khloe’s mouth went dry.
“If they were created before our daughter, the trustees could argue they are my first children.”
“Even if you never consented?”
“Consent would matter criminally.”
Gabriel’s expression remained grim.
“It may not matter to the automated succession provisions.”
Mara looked at him.
“Automated?”
“The trust uses genetic verification and medical timestamps.”
“Designed by Eleanor?”
“Designed by Alexander.”
Khloe understood the trap.
Her mother had hidden the empire inside a system Alexander helped create.
Miles intended to use that same system against her.
“Find the surrogate,” she said.
Mara opened the hospital’s restricted maternity records.
Access was denied.
Sebastian tried his executive credentials.
They had been revoked.
Khloe pressed her thumb to the biometric reader on Gabriel’s device.
The screen turned gold.
ELEANOR VALE PRIMARY SUCCESSOR RECOGNIZED.
A list of protected databases appeared.
Khloe selected reproductive medicine.
Hundreds of files opened.
Most patient names were encrypted.
One profile had been accessed repeatedly during the previous month.
PATIENT VIOLET.
The gestational age matched the ultrasound.
The location field displayed OFF-SITE CARE.
Mara opened the medication log.
“All prescriptions are being delivered to a private residence in Westchester.”
“Whose residence?” Sebastian asked.
The property owner was listed through a shell company.
Gabriel recognized it.
“The company belongs to Miles.”
Sebastian called a trusted detective outside the hospital network.
He requested an immediate welfare check.
Khloe continued reading.
Patient Violet had undergone embryo transfer twenty-one weeks earlier.
Two embryos had implanted successfully.
The maternal genetic contributor was listed as KVT.
Khloe Vale Thorne.
The paternal contributor was listed as SMT.
Sebastian Miles Thorne.
Khloe looked at her husband.
“Sebastian Miles?”
“My full name.”
She had known his middle name.
Seeing the initials inside the stolen fertility file made them feel incriminating.
“Where would they get your genetic material?”
Sebastian sat down.
“Thorne Meridian requires annual executive health examinations.”
“Stored at this hospital?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel searched the access history.
Damian Holt, the missing technology officer, had opened Sebastian’s medical file eleven months ago.
The same week Alexander Thorne died.
“Your father’s death began this,” Khloe said.
“Or stopped something.”
Sebastian looked at Gabriel.
“Did Alexander know about the trust transfer?”
“He helped write the original conditions.”
“Then why allow Khloe’s child to inherit?”
“He did not expect Khloe to marry you.”
Khloe remembered how quickly Celia had opposed their engagement.
She had called Khloe unsuitable.
Ambitious.
Dangerous.
Perhaps Celia had known the marriage could reunite the bloodlines and place control beyond her reach.
“Miles encouraged our relationship,” Sebastian said.
Khloe looked at him.
“He introduced us.”
At a museum benefit four years earlier, Miles had brought Sebastian to Khloe’s table.
Miles had arranged their first dinner.
He had given a speech at their wedding.
“He needed us to create an heir,” Khloe whispered.
“Then he needed control over the heir.”
Their marriage had not been merely observed.
It had been cultivated.
A secure call arrived from the detective in Westchester.
Mara activated the speaker.
“We found the property.”
“And the surrogate?” Khloe asked.
“The house is empty.”
The detective sent photographs.
Medical equipment remained in an upstairs bedroom.
Medication was still cold in the refrigerator.
A meal sat unfinished on the kitchen table.
The surrogate had been removed recently.
“How recently?”
“Less than two hours.”
Someone had moved her after the hospital attack.
The detective found security footage from a neighboring property.
A black ambulance had arrived before dawn.
Its logo belonged to St. Aurelia.
Mara checked the fleet.
“One ambulance is unaccounted for.”
The vehicle’s tracker had been disabled.
Sebastian’s phone vibrated again.
The emergency board meeting had ended.
He opened the resolution.
The directors had removed him as chief executive pending an investigation.
Miles had been appointed interim chairman.
A second resolution authorized the sale of St. Aurelia Medical Center to Rossi International.
Khloe looked at the approval list.
Celia had voted in favor.
“Your mother is transferring the hospital to Isabella’s family.”
“She cannot sell what the company does not own.”
“She can create enough confusion to control the building.”
A third resolution appeared.
All patient transfers involving Khloe Thorne required authorization from the interim chairman.
“They are trapping me here,” Khloe said.
Sebastian began calling board members.
The first refused to answer.
The second claimed Miles had presented evidence showing Sebastian misused company funds.
The third said federal investigators were preparing criminal charges.
By the fourth call, Sebastian understood.
Miles had spent months preparing to remove him.
The scandal was only the trigger.
Khloe’s phone received a message from Isabella.
The attached photograph showed Isabella inside Khloe’s nursery.
She stood beside the unfinished crib.
One hand held the silver nameplate Khloe had chosen.
ELEANOR.
Khloe had planned to name her daughter after her mother.
She had told no one except Sebastian.
Isabella’s message contained one sentence.
Beautiful name for whichever daughter survives.
Sebastian saw the photograph.
“I will kill her.”
“No.”
Khloe’s voice stopped him.
“That is what they want.”
“They entered our home.”
“They want you reckless.”
“They attacked you.”
“And now they are trying to make you look violent.”
Khloe enlarged the photograph.
A reflection appeared in the nursery window.
Behind Isabella stood another woman.
Young.
Pregnant.
Terrified.
“Patient Violet,” Khloe said.
Mara sent the image through facial-recognition software.
The result identified the woman as Avery Lane.
Khloe’s closest friend.
Avery had served as Khloe’s chief of staff for six years.
She had planned the baby shower.
She had chosen the nursery curtains.
She had sat beside Khloe during every argument with Sebastian.
Khloe called her.
The phone rang once.
Avery answered in a whisper.
“Khloe?”
“Where are you?”
“I cannot talk.”
“Are you pregnant?”
Avery began crying.
“I am sorry.”
Khloe closed her eyes.
“You are carrying the twins.”
“They told me the embryos belonged to anonymous donors.”
“Who told you?”
“Dr. Shaw.”
Sebastian looked toward the door.
Dr. Shaw had known more than anyone.
Avery’s breathing quickened.
“I did not know they were yours until last week.”
“Why did you not tell me?”
“They said they would take the babies.”
“They already stole them.”
Avery cried harder.
“Isabella brought me to your house.”
“Why?”
“She wanted me to see where the children would live.”
Khloe felt sick.
“They were never going to live there.”
“I know that now.”
A man’s voice spoke in the background.
Avery stopped breathing.
“Avery?”
“I have to go.”
“Tell me where you are.”
“I cannot.”
“Give me anything.”
Avery whispered quickly.
“I can hear bells.”
“What bells?”
“Church bells.”
A door opened near her.
May you like
Before the call ended, Avery forced out one final sentence.
“Miles says one of the twins has to die before Friday.”
