Chapter 5 - THE FIRST LIE
I thought I knew every important detail about my pregnancy.
I knew the day Ethan and I sat inside the fertility specialist’s office.
I knew the sterile white room.
I knew the doctor saying my chances were excellent.
I knew Ethan holding my hand when they transferred the embryo.
What I had never known was why Ethan had insisted on fertility treatment when we had barely tried naturally.
He had said he wanted to “avoid wasting time.”
I had believed him.
Now Luka locked the hospital room door.
Ethan remained near it.
“What did you do?”
My husband looked at the floor.
“Ava, listen to me.”
“What did you do?”
“I wanted a family.”
“You just abandoned that family.”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
Luka’s voice stayed dangerously quiet.
“What wasn’t?”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“You stay out of this.”
Luka pulled the M-17 access card from his pocket.
“My genetic material is in this.”
Ethan stared at the card.
That silence told me more than any confession.
I felt dizzy.
“You knew?”
“I knew there was a donor.”
The words broke something inside me.
“A donor?”
Ethan immediately stepped toward me.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“After the baby was born.”
“She has been born.”
“I needed time.”
I shook my head.
“You told me the embryo was ours.”
“It was yours.”
“And whose else?”
Ethan looked at Luka.
“I never knew his name.”
I stopped breathing.
Luka’s eyes narrowed.
“What did you authorize?”
Ethan rubbed both hands over his face.
“Four years ago, I learned I couldn’t have children naturally.”
I stared at him.
“You never told me.”
“I was embarrassed.”
“So you lied to me for our entire marriage?”
“I signed donor authorization.”
“Without me?”
“The clinic said the forms could be handled.”
I nearly dropped into the chair.
“You let a doctor put another man’s genetic material inside me without my consent.”
Ethan’s voice cracked.
“I thought it would protect us.”
“Protect us from what?”
“My grandfather’s trust.”
That answer was so selfish I almost couldn’t process it.
Ethan came from money.
I had known that.
His grandfather’s estate included a complicated family trust.
I had never cared about it.
Ethan did.
“A biological descendant was required for your inheritance.”
He looked away.
“You needed a child.”
“I needed an heir.”
The words echoed through the room.
My daughter began crying.
I lifted her closer.
Luka’s face had become unreadable.
“Who arranged the donor?”
Ethan whispered one name.
“Vanessa.”
Everything suddenly connected.
The affair.
The clinic.
The hospital.
Vanessa Hale.
Luka stepped closer.
“What exactly did she promise you?”
Ethan looked terrified now.
“She said the donor was anonymous.”
“She said nobody would ever know.”
Luka held up the M-17 card.
“She lied.”
Then Nurse Collins burst through the door.
Her face was white.
“You need to leave.”
Luka turned.
“What happened?”
May you like
She looked at my daughter.
“The lab just ordered every blood sample belonging to Ava and the baby destroyed.”
