Chapter 6: The Woman Carrying My Child
I didn't remember leaving Dr. Mercer's office.
I remembered rain against the windows. The smell of old paper. The taste of cold coffee on my tongue.
But the rest of the morning blurred into a sequence of movements: walking to the elevator, crossing the lobby, sitting in the back of my car.
Then Robert's words returned.
The embryo was transferred to Vanessa Reed.
I called him before the car reached Park Avenue.
"Tell me exactly what you know.""
"We have a record linking the transfer to Hudson Family Reproductive Center," Robert said.
"The file identifies Vanessa as the recipient, but we haven't independently authenticated the document.""
"She told everyone she was twelve weeks pregnant.""
"That's what she announced.""
"Could the pregnancy be connected to our embryo?""
"It's possible, but we don't have enough evidence to conclude that.""
I pressed my forehead against the cool window.
Seven years ago, Everett and I had created embryos because we desperately wanted a child together. We had chosen names, argued over nursery colors, and imagined whether our baby would inherit his blue eyes or my dark hair.
When the final embryo was supposedly lost, I had buried those dreams.
Now the possibility that one of them had been taken from me and implanted in another woman was almost too cruel to comprehend.
"Can we establish the chain of custody?"" I asked.
"Yes. We'll need the original laboratory records, the transfer documentation, and any consent forms. We also need to determine who accessed the records and whether the transfer was authorized.""
"And Vanessa?""
"We cannot assume she knew where the embryo came from.""
I stared out at the passing traffic.
That was the part I hadn't considered.
Vanessa might have been lying about the financial transfers. She might have known about the affair. She might even have agreed to help Everett remove me from his life.
But did she know that the child she carried might have been conceived using an embryo created from my egg?
I needed to hear her answer.
"Arrange a meeting.""
"Charlotte, are you certain?""
"No. But I'm going to ask her.""
Vanessa agreed to meet me at a private lounge inside a hotel near Central Park.
She arrived twenty minutes late, wearing a cream-colored coat and oversized sunglasses. Without the gala lights and the audience, she looked younger and more nervous.
She ordered sparkling water.
I ordered nothing.
"You wanted to see me?"" she asked.
"Yes.""
"Everett said you were threatening to destroy his company.""
"I'm reviewing its finances.""
"Same thing, apparently.""
She pulled off her sunglasses and studied me.
"Look, Charlotte, I know the gala got out of hand. I shouldn't have thrown the wine. But Everett and I are going to have a baby, and you need to accept that your marriage is over.""
"I accepted that when he threw his wedding ring at my feet.""
"Then what do you want from me?""
"The truth.""
She laughed without humor.
"About what?""
I placed the photocopy of the transfer record on the table.
Her gaze dropped to the page.
The color slowly drained from her face.
"Where did you get that?""
"From a doctor who treated me seven years ago.""
Vanessa pushed the paper away.
"I don't know what you're talking about.""
"The embryo transferred to Hudson Family Reproductive Center was created during my fertility treatment with Everett.""
She said nothing.
"Your name appears on the receiving record.""
Her fingers tightened around the glass.
"That doesn't prove anything.""
"No. It doesn't. That's why I'm asking you.""
She looked toward the door.
I kept my voice steady.
"Did you receive fertility treatment at Hudson?""
"I've been to several clinics.""
"Did Everett arrange it?""
Her lips parted, then closed.
"Why does it matter?""
"Because I was told my last embryo had died. According to the laboratory records, it survived. Someone transferred it under a consent form I never signed.""
Vanessa's face changed.
For the first time, the arrogance disappeared completely.
"Everett told me you had donated your remaining embryos.""
I felt as though someone had struck me.
"He told you what?""
"He said you had decided not to use them. He said you wanted to help another woman have a child.""
"And you believed him?""
Her eyes filled with tears.
"He showed me documents.""
"What documents?""
"Consent forms. Medical records. He said everything had been handled legally.""
I leaned forward.
"Did he tell you the embryo was mine?""
She nodded once.
A tear slid down her cheek.
"He said it was the only way he could have a biological child without putting you through more treatment.""
I couldn't speak.
For seven years, I had believed my body had failed me.
Everett had apparently known that the embryo survived. He had allowed me to mourn it, then used the same embryo to create the child he now paraded before Manhattan's elite as proof that I had been an inadequate wife.
"Does he know the baby may be genetically mine?"" I asked.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
"I don't know what he knows.""
"Have you had genetic testing?""
"No. Not yet.""
"Has anyone explained the embryo's origins to your doctor?""
She shook her head.
I looked at her for a long moment.
"Vanessa, I need you to understand something. If those records are authentic, neither you nor Everett had the right to use my genetic material without my informed consent.""
She began to cry harder.
"I thought you agreed.""
"I didn't.""
"He told me you wanted a divorce. He said you couldn't bear the thought of having a child, and that you had signed everything months before we met.""
I felt a bitter laugh rise in my throat.
"He told you I didn't want a child?""
"He said you were relieved when the embryo failed.""
I looked down at my hands.
For years, I had carried guilt that never belonged to me. I had apologized to Everett for my body's supposed failure. I had watched him drift away and wondered whether I had made him miserable by being unable to give him a family.
All the while, he had been building a future around a lie.
"Did you know about Northbridge Advisory?"" I asked.
Vanessa's crying stopped.
"What?""
"The twelve million dollars transferred from the company.""
She shook her head quickly.
"No.""
"Your messages suggest you knew money was being moved before the divorce.""
"I knew Everett was arranging something. He said it was a settlement fund.""
"For whom?""
"For us.""
"Us?""
She looked at her stomach.
"He said once the divorce was finalized, we'd have enough money to start over. He promised we'd move to California. He said the company was safe and that you'd never be able to interfere again.""
"Did he promise to marry you?""
She hesitated.
"Yes.""
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
Because whatever Everett had told her, she had stood in that ballroom and poured wine over me. She had mocked my infertility and smiled while he called me a leech.
She had believed she was winning a contest.
She hadn't considered what it meant that the prize had been built on someone else's pain.
I stood.
"Preserve every message you have from Everett and Richard Cole. Don't delete anything. If the records are genuine, the investigators will need them.""
Vanessa grabbed my hand.
"Charlotte, please. What happens to my baby?""
I looked at her fingers wrapped around mine.
"I don't know.""
"Will you take the baby away from me?""
The question hurt more than I expected.
"I am not going to make a decision about a child based on anger. But I will not pretend that what happened was acceptable.""
She released my hand.
I turned toward the door.
Then Vanessa spoke again.
"Charlotte?""
I stopped.
"There's something else.""
I faced her.
She reached into her purse and removed a folded document.
"Everett gave me this last week. He said it was just a precaution in case you tried to challenge the divorce.""
I unfolded it.
It was a draft agreement concerning the ownership of my family investment trust.
A paragraph near the bottom stated that I would relinquish any claims against Whitmore Urban Holdings in exchange for a nominal settlement.
My supposed signature appeared on the final page.
It was dated three days before the gala.
I had never seen the document.
And beneath the signature was a clause that made my blood run cold.
If I challenged the agreement, the company could disclose confidential medical records to establish that I was mentally unstable and incapable of making sound financial decisions.
Everett hadn't merely planned to divorce me.
He had prepared to discredit me, strip me of my financial rights, and use my most painful memories as weapons.
My phone rang.
Robert.
"Charlotte, I need you to come to the office immediately.""
"What happened?""
"The board has received an anonymous package containing the original medical authorization, the divorce agreement, and evidence of the Northbridge transfers.""
I gripped the document.
"Who sent it?""
"We don't know. But there's a handwritten note inside.""
"What does it say?""
Robert paused.
Then he read the words aloud.
*If Charlotte wants the truth about her child, she must learn what Everett did before the embryo ever left the laboratory.*
I looked at Vanessa.
May you like
She was staring at me, trembling.
Because suddenly, neither of us knew whether Everett's secret began with a stolen embryo—or whether someone had been planning this long before either of us understood what was happening.
