Chapter 8 - The Father Who Sold the Secret
Emma reached the kitchen first.
Caleb sat strapped into an infant carrier on the table.
Alive.
No visible injuries.
She grabbed him.
Checked his breathing.
Pulse.
Pupils.
Then held him so tightly he protested.
“Thank God.”
Roman entered through the back door seconds later.
Emma turned.
For one heartbeat they stared at each other.
Roman saw Caleb in her arms.
Then Lucy against Katherine’s chest behind her.
Everything changed.
He crossed the room.
Emma handed him Caleb.
Roman pressed his forehead against his son’s.
No words.
None were needed.
Then he looked at Lucy.
Katherine stepped forward.
“This is her.”
Roman approached as if sudden movement might make the moment disappear.
Lucy stared at him.
Same gray-blue eyes as Caleb.
Same small crease between her eyebrows.
Roman touched one tiny hand.
Lucy wrapped her fingers around his.
Roman closed his eyes.
“My daughter.”
Emma watched him break without making a sound.
Then Daniel Carter stepped into the room.
Roman immediately reached for his gun.
Emma blocked him.
“Wait.”
“Who is he?”
“My father.”
Roman stared.
“You told me he was dead.”
“He was supposed to be.”
Roman looked around.
“Apparently death is optional now.”
Thomas entered last.
Victor followed Roman through the rear door.
When Victor saw Daniel, his face hardened.
“You.”
Daniel said nothing.
Roman looked at Emma.
“Why was Caleb here?”
Daniel answered.
“I took him from Shaw.”
Everyone turned.
Daniel explained that Shaw’s men had removed Caleb from Roman’s penthouse during the distraction. Daniel had followed them.
“You expect gratitude?” Roman asked.
“No.”
“Good.”
Emma said, “Tell us about Katherine’s tracker.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
Twenty-five years earlier, he said, Leonard Shaw had funded his research.
When Daniel tried to leave, Shaw threatened Katherine and Emma.
Daniel gave him information in exchange for protection.
At first small things.
Addresses.
Hospital records.
Later more.
“You kept helping him,” Emma whispered.
“Yes.”
“Even after Mom died?”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“Especially then.”
Emma understood.
“What happened to her?”
Daniel sat.
“Your mother discovered what I’d done.”
Katherine covered her mouth.
Daniel continued.
“She was going to testify.”
Emma felt cold.
“She died in a car accident.”
“No.”
One word.
Emma almost wished he would stop there.
Daniel said:
“Shaw arranged it.”
Emma turned away.
“And you stayed quiet?”
“I had two daughters.”
“You had two daughters whose mother deserved justice.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was she.”
Daniel had no answer.
Roman knew that particular kind of silence.
The silence of a man realizing fear did not excuse betrayal.
Victor asked, “Why track Katherine?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Shaw ordered me to place it during a prenatal appointment.”
Katherine’s eyes filled.
“You visited me pretending you wanted to reconnect.”
“I did want to reconnect.”
“You put a tracker on me.”
“I was trying to control what Shaw knew.”
Thomas scoffed.
“You fed him the birth location.”
“Yes.”
“And Caleb?”
“I told Shaw Roman had received him.”
Emma stared.
“You created all of this.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No. Shaw would have found them eventually.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
Roman stepped forward.
“Where is Shaw?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Going to Children’s Harbor.”
Emma frowned.
“Why?”
“Because the original embryo samples are stored there.”
Emma’s face changed.
“They shouldn’t exist.”
“They do.”
Roman asked, “What happens if he gets them?”
Daniel swallowed.
“He can prove the twins were produced from the preserved embryos.”
“Isn’t that what we want?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at Emma.
“The samples include something else.”
“What?”
“Additional embryos.”
Emma stared.
“How many?”
“Eleven.”
Silence.
Roman said, “Ours?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not all.”
Emma’s doctor instincts took over.
“Whose?”
“Families connected to Harbor Program cases.”
Victor swore.
Daniel continued.
“Shaw has spent years collecting embryos from patients with rare genetic markers. Some through fraudulent consent forms. Some through fertility clinics he controlled.”
Emma whispered, “Children as biological inventory.”
Daniel nodded.
Roman’s face became frighteningly calm.
“We end it tonight.”
The plan was simple because complicated plans failed around desperate men.
Victor’s FBI contact would move on Hawthorne House and the hidden medical network.
Marco would secure Roman’s penthouse and transport the twins to a private pediatric floor with guards Roman personally selected.
Emma refused to leave.
Roman did not argue this time.
At Children’s Harbor, Shaw entered through an underground service corridor.
Daniel knew the access code.
That fact earned him another look from Emma he couldn’t survive twice.
They reached the cryogenic storage wing.
Alarm disabled.
Door open.
Shaw stood inside.
He held a small transport container.
Behind him, shelves of frozen samples filled the room.
“You’re late,” Shaw said.
Roman raised his gun.
“Put it down.”
Shaw smiled.
“Roman Vale solving family trauma with a firearm. Genetics really are persistent.”
Emma stepped beside Roman.
“Those samples belong to patients.”
“They belong to science.”
“No. They belong to people.”
“People waste potential constantly.”
Emma’s disgust showed.
Shaw glanced at Daniel.
“You disappoint me.”
Daniel replied, “I’ve disappointed everyone.”
“At least you’ve become accurate.”
Roman said, “Container down.”
Shaw lifted it.
“If this falls, your proof disappears.”
Victor entered behind them.
“No, it doesn’t.”
Shaw frowned.
Victor held up a drive.
“Lenora kept records.”
“Records can be denied.”
Emma said, “Genetic testing can’t.”
Shaw smiled.
“You think courts will understand what happened here?”
Roman replied, “They don’t have to understand all of it tonight.”
Police sirens sounded outside.
Then federal vehicles.
Shaw’s smile faded.
“You brought them?”
Victor nodded.
“For once.”
Shaw looked toward an emergency exit.
Roman moved to block it.
Shaw reached inside his coat.
Emma shouted.
A gun appeared.
The shot hit Daniel.
Emma screamed.
Roman fired.
Shaw fell against the freezer cabinet.
The transport container dropped.
Emma caught it before it struck the floor.
Roman kicked Shaw’s weapon away.
Daniel collapsed.
Emma rushed to him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Dad.”
He looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. Stay awake.”
“I should have protected you.”
“Then do it now. Stay awake.”
Emma pressed both hands against the wound.
Medical staff rushed in minutes later.
Shaw was alive.
Shoulder wound.
In custody.
Daniel was taken into surgery.
Thomas was arrested at Hawthorne House.
Victor surrendered voluntarily.
Celeste gave a full statement.
By dawn, dozens of properties connected to the Harbor Program were being searched.
Roman stood beside Emma in the hospital corridor.
For the first time since the previous evening, there were no immediate alarms.
Emma leaned against him.
Roman put an arm around her.
Neither commented on it.
Marco approached.
“Roman.”
Something in his expression was wrong.
“What?”
“We found Katherine’s original prenatal records.”
Emma turned.
Marco held a folder.
“There were three fetal heartbeats at twelve weeks.”
Roman stared.
Emma took the file.
Twins.
Then a notation.
Spontaneous reduction suspected. Fetus C nonviable.
Emma’s medical eyes narrowed.
“That’s not enough documentation.”
She turned the page.
An ultrasound image.
Three embryos.
Caleb.
Lucy.
And another.
Roman looked at her.
“You’re saying…”
Emma turned another page.
Transfer record.
Infant Male B.
No death certificate.
No disposition.
Nothing.
Emma whispered:
“There weren’t two babies.”
May you like
Roman stopped breathing.
“There were three.”
