Chapter 7 - THE PRICE OF A MARRIAGE
I slapped Ryan.
I didn’t plan it.
My hand moved before my brain caught up.
His head turned with the impact.
Vanessa stepped backward.
Nobody tried to stop me.
“How much?”
Ryan slowly looked at me again.
“Elena—”
“How much did they pay you?”
He said nothing.
“How much was I worth?”
His eyes filled with something that almost resembled shame.
“Two million dollars.”
I laughed.
A broken, disbelieving sound.
“You married me for two million dollars?”
“No.”
“You just said—”
“They paid me to get close to you.”
“That’s called marrying me for money.”
“I didn’t expect to fall in love with you.”
The room went silent.
I hated that sentence more than I hated the money.
Because some part of me wanted to believe it.
I looked away.
“Who is Helix Crown?”
Luka answered.
“A private biomedical consortium.”
“Legal?”
“Parts of it.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means they invest in research nobody wants their name attached to.”
Ryan sat heavily near the window.
“My father represented them.”
“He introduced me to one of their directors before I met you.”
“They knew your father had hidden M-17.”
“They believed you might have inherited something important.”
“So you were supposed to watch me.”
“Yes.”
“And if I got pregnant?”
His silence answered.
My stomach turned.
Vanessa stared at him.
“You told me you were divorcing her because you were miserable.”
“I was.”
“You told me the baby wasn’t yours.”
“I didn’t know.”
I looked sharply at him.
“What?”
Ryan rubbed his face.
“The prenatal sequence was unusual.”
“Helix told me that if M-17 transferred through the maternal line, traditional paternity markers could be complicated.”
Luka frowned.
“That’s nonsense.”
“I know that now.”
“But at the time—”
“You wanted an excuse.”
I finished for him.
Ryan looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
Vanessa’s expression shifted from anger to disgust.
“So you let me believe Elena cheated?”
He said nothing.
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You’re unbelievable.”
Then she picked up her purse.
Ryan reached for her.
“Where are you going?”
“Away from you.”
She turned toward me.
For the first time, her face softened.
“I’m sorry.”
I said nothing.
She left.
Ryan watched the door close.
Then I asked.
“Why did Helix Crown want you to leave today?”
His head snapped toward me.
“How do you know they did?”
“Because you walked out hours after Grace was born.”
“You’ve spent years watching me.”
“You don’t suddenly leave on the most important day of the experiment unless someone tells you to.”
Luka looked impressed.
Ryan looked defeated.
“They called me at six this morning.”
“What did they say?”
“That Grace’s cord blood showed the M-17 signature.”
My mother covered her mouth.
“They already tested her?”
Ryan nodded.
“Before Elena woke up after delivery.”
Rage burned through me.
“They took my daughter’s blood without permission?”
“The hospital takes cord blood routinely.”
“They accessed the sample.”
Luka’s voice dropped.
“Who?”
Ryan hesitated.
Then whispered.
“Dr. Samuel Reed.”
My obstetrician.
The man who had treated me for nine months.
The man Ryan insisted was the best.
The man who had held my hand during delivery.
I felt physically ill.
Luka checked his phone.
“He’s not in the hospital.”
Ryan shook his head.
“He left after sending the sample.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Luka made another call.
I barely heard him.
My mind was collapsing under the weight of every betrayal.
My husband.
My doctor.
My father’s company.
My marriage.
Then my mother whispered.
“Elena.”
I looked at her.
“There’s something else Ryan doesn’t know.”
Ryan raised his head.
My mother reached into the inner lining of her handbag.
She tore open a seam.
Hidden inside was a small brass key.
“Your father left a safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Boston.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“He told me never to open it unless M-17 appeared again.”
Luka stared at the key.
Then at my mother.
“Which bank?”
She named it.
Luka froze.
I noticed.
“What?”
“That bank closed six years ago.”
My mother frowned.
“No.”
“The private vault division was acquired.”
“By who?”
May you like
Luka looked at me.
“My family.”
