Chapter 3 - THE FIRST TEST
Ethan drove Claire to a small hotel under a false reservation.
Inside the room, he placed the pin on a white towel.
Claire stared at the foam thread. “You think she’s wearing a fake stomach?”
“I think we need proof before Nathan hears anything.”
“He won’t believe me.”
“He might believe his own eyes.”
Ethan called an old contact, forensic materials specialist Dana Ruiz. By midnight, Dana confirmed the foam was medical-grade silicone commonly used in theatrical prosthetics.
“The pin punctured a reinforced edge,” Dana said over video. “Whatever it came from was strapped or fastened under clothing.”
Claire closed her eyes.
A fake pregnancy explained Vanessa’s unchanged body, her refusal to attend appointments with Nathan, and the strange way she kept everyone from touching her stomach.
But it did not explain the doctor.
“Mercer examined her tonight,” Claire said.
“Or pretended to,” Ethan replied.
He pulled mansion access records from his encrypted tablet. Doctor Mercer had entered the estate twelve times in two months. Every visit occurred late at night. No nurse accompanied him. No clinic invoice existed.
Then Ethan found something worse.
Mercer had received three payments from a shell company called Bellweather Consulting.
The company’s registered address belonged to Vanessa’s brother, Julian Hale.
Claire paced toward the window. “So they paid a doctor to confirm the pregnancy.”
“Maybe. But this looks bigger than a marriage scam.”
Ethan opened another file.
Nathan’s grandfather’s trust stated that controlling shares in Moretti Global would transfer to Nathan’s first biological child upon birth. Until then, Claire remained Nathan’s legal successor if he died without an heir.
Vanessa did not merely want Nathan.
She wanted a baby that could control a twelve-billion-dollar company.
Claire’s phone vibrated.
A message from Nathan appeared.
Vanessa lost the baby. This is your fault.
A second message arrived before Claire could breathe.
May you like
Police are coming to question you.
* * *
