Chapter 18 - The False Victory
We gave the evidence to federal investigators.
Not copies.
Everything.
The donor registries.
The adoption records.
The forged DNA reports.
The financial transfers.
The video of Malcolm confronting my father.
Within forty-eight hours, raids began.
Hayes Medical Holdings offices were searched.
Two laboratory executives were arrested.
A retired judge surrendered.
Three families learned that paternity cases from decades earlier had been manipulated.
M-17 was no longer a secret.
Malcolm disappeared.
Derek contacted me again.
“I can help you find him.”
“Why would I trust you?”
“Because he’s going to kill me too.”
I almost hung up.
Then Derek sent a location.
An abandoned private clinic outside the city.
The original M-17 research site.
Luka wanted police to handle it.
Rebecca agreed.
I did not go.
For once, I chose Isla over answers.
Federal agents raided the clinic.
Malcolm was not there.
But Derek was.
He surrendered.
He gave them a laptop containing communications between himself and Malcolm.
The messages confirmed Derek had known about M-17.
But they also proved something else.
Derek had repeatedly tried to convince Malcolm to leave me alone during our marriage.
He had lied to me.
Used me.
Watched me.
But somewhere along the way, he really had tried to protect me.
It did not forgive anything.
It only made the truth more painful.
Derek agreed to meet me in a secure federal interview room.
He looked terrible.
Unshaven.
Exhausted.
No expensive suit.
No confidence.
“Elena.”
I sat across from him.
“Why did you abandon Isla?”
His eyes filled.
“I received the prenatal test.”
“You helped create the system that produced it.”
“I thought my father was testing whether you had betrayed me.”
“And instead of asking me, you believed paper.”
“Yes.”
“You chose Camille.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked down.
“Because she already knew about M-17.”
My stomach tightened.
“You used her too.”
“At first.”
The phrase disgusted me.
“At first.”
Exactly what Malcolm had said about me.
Men like them always turned manipulation into romance once feelings became inconvenient.
Derek covered his face.
“I destroyed everything.”
“Yes.”
“I want to fix it.”
“You can testify.”
“I will.”
Then he looked at me.
“But please.”
His voice became desperate.
“Do not open that last envelope.”
I leaned forward.
“Why?”
He began to cry.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
May you like
Just tears from a man who had finally run out of places to hide.
“Because I know whose DNA is inside.”
