Chapter 5 - Dominic's Locked Drawer
Lucia Moretti had not simply been a Northstar patient.
She had worked there.
Dominic told me everything.
She discovered what Victor and Dr. Evelyn Vale were doing and began copying records.
When they realized she knew too much, her treatment was altered.
She died from complications six weeks later.
Dominic had spent three years trying to prove it.
The key opened a safe-deposit box Lucia had rented under another name.
Inside were ledgers.
Photographs.
Consent forms.
And a flash drive.
My name appeared eleven times.
Grant's appeared twenty-three.
Victor's appeared on nearly every page.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked Dominic.
"Because when I met you, I didn't know whether you were involved."
That hurt.
"And later?"
"Later I knew you weren't."
"But you still waited."
"Because you were pregnant. You were terrified. And every time I considered telling you, I saw what Grant had already done to you."
"You decided for me."
"Yes."
At least he didn't excuse it.
"I was wrong."
I looked away.
Trust didn't disappear in one dramatic moment.
Sometimes it cracked quietly.
Dominic had been kind to me.
He had also kept the truth.
Both things could exist at once.
The flash drive contained a video from Lucia.
She looked pale.
Frightened.
"If you're watching this, something happened to me."
Dominic's face went rigid.
Lucia described Project R.
Northstar's private genetic-selection program.
Victor Kingsley wanted an heir without genetic risk.
Evelyn Vale wanted something larger: a commercial system for selecting embryos for wealthy families while secretly retaining biological material.
Then Lucia said my name.
"Claire Bennett is important. She doesn't know it yet."
I covered my mouth.
"Her genetic profile was entered before she married Grant Kingsley."
Grant looked at me.
"Before?"
Lucia continued.
"Victor selected her."
The video ended.
My marriage had not been chance.
Grant had met me at a charity auction.
Or so I thought.
Had Victor arranged that too?
Grant stood abruptly.
"I need to speak to him."
"No," Elena said.
"He engineered my marriage."
"Which means confronting him without evidence gives him time to destroy evidence."
Grant looked ready to punch the wall.
For once, I understood his anger.
The next morning, a judge issued temporary orders protecting Rose's location while paternity proceedings continued.
Grant was granted supervised access.
He didn't fight the supervision.
That surprised me.
He came every afternoon.
He learned how to hold Rose.
How to support her neck.
How to change a diaper badly.
He never asked me to return to him.
Maybe even Grant understood that bridge had burned.
Sienna disappeared into protective custody after agreeing to cooperate.
Then Victor called me.
"Claire."
His voice was warm.
Grandfatherly.
It made my skin crawl.
"I understand you've been hearing some ugly stories."
"I've been reading documents."
"Documents can be fabricated."
"So can medical records."
A pause.
"You always were clever."
"Was that why you chose me?"
Silence.
Then he laughed.
"You think too highly of yourself."
"Did you arrange my marriage?"
"Grant loved you."
"That's not what I asked."
"Come see me."
"No."
"Then you'll never know why Rose exists."
My blood froze.
"She exists because your plan failed."
Another pause.
"Is that what Dominic told you?"
I looked toward him.
Victor continued.
"Ask Moretti what happened the night Lucia died."
The call ended.
Dominic saw my face.
"What did he say?"
I repeated it.
For the first time since I'd known him, Dominic looked afraid.
"What happened that night?"
He didn't answer.
"Dominic."
"I was there."
The words landed heavily.
"At Northstar?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Lucia called me. She said she'd found proof."
"What happened?"
"I got there too late."
His voice cracked almost invisibly.
"The lab was on fire."
"Fire?"
"They called it an electrical accident."
"Was Lucia inside?"
"Yes."
I stared at him.
"But you said she died from treatment complications."
"Because that's what the death certificate says."
My stomach twisted.
"You lied again."
"I wasn't ready to tell you."
"Stop deciding what I'm ready for."
He closed his eyes.
"You're right."
Then he reached into his pocket.
"I recovered something from the fire."
A small metal storage tag.
R-17.
Same code.
Again.
"Why does everything lead back to that?"
"Because R-17 wasn't a treatment."
"What was it?"
"A person."
I stared.
"Who?"
Before he could answer, the hospital alarm sounded.
Not a fire alarm.
A security alarm.
The door locked automatically.
Rose began crying.
Dominic moved toward the window.
Grant stood.
Then every monitor in the room flickered.
A message appeared on the medical screen.
R-17 HAS BEEN LOCATED.
Below it, another line appeared.
May you like
PREPARE THE MOTHER.
And someone began unlocking my hospital door from the outside.
