Chapter 7 - The Person Daniel Trusted
“Daniel.”
Lauren’s voice broke.
Daniel didn’t answer.
He was staring at the person who had just stepped through the doorway behind his sister.
Dr. Andrew Cole.
Daniel’s family physician.
The man who had treated him since college.
The doctor who had sat beside Daniel after his accident six years ago.
The man who had recommended Bellweather Fertility when Claire struggled to become pregnant.
Andrew calmly closed the door behind him.
Claire’s arms tightened around her newborn daughter.
“No.”
Andrew looked at her.
“Claire.”
“Stay away from my baby.”
Daniel stepped in front of the wheelchair.
“You heard her.”
Andrew stopped.
Victor’s expression had transformed.
The arrogance was gone.
“You.”
Andrew smiled faintly.
“Hello, Victor.”
Michael rose from the floor.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
Andrew looked at him.
“That seems to be a family tradition.”
Samuel stared at Andrew as if an impossible equation had suddenly solved itself.
“Cole wasn’t your original name.”
Andrew turned toward him.
“No.”
“What was it?”
Victor answered.
“Thomas.”
Daniel froze.
Claire looked at him.
“Daniel?”
He didn’t move.
His eyes remained on Andrew.
“My father’s name was Thomas.”
Andrew nodded.
“Yes.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Victor gripped the desk.
“Thomas Harrow was my son.”
Michael looked between them.
“You said Thomas disappeared.”
“He did.”
Andrew smiled.
“I learned from the best.”
Daniel stared.
“You’re Thomas Harrow?”
“My name has been Andrew Cole for twenty-eight years.”
Daniel’s voice became hollow.
“You’re the man I was taught was my father.”
“Yes.”
“But Michael is my biological father.”
“Yes.”
Daniel laughed once.
It contained no humor.
“So what exactly were you?”
Andrew’s eyes softened.
“The man who wanted to raise you.”
Michael stepped forward.
“You stole him.”
Andrew turned.
“I saved him.”
“From me?”
“From Victor.”
Michael’s hands curled into fists.
“You let him believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
Daniel slammed his hand against the desk.
“Stop.”
Everyone fell silent.
“No more people telling me they had no choice.”
Andrew looked at him.
“Daniel—”
“You had twenty-eight years.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You were my doctor.”
“Yes.”
“You stood at my wedding.”
“Yes.”
“You shook my hand.”
Andrew’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“You watched me marry Claire while knowing you had spent my entire life pretending to be someone else.”
“I needed to remain close.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“Close?”
His voice cracked.
“You examined me after my accident.”
Andrew said nothing.
“You knew exactly what Samuel found in my blood.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Anna.”
Andrew looked at Rebecca.
“Yes.”
Rebecca’s face hardened.
“You knew who I was too?”
“Not until three years ago.”
“That’s what Michael said.”
Andrew glanced at Michael.
“Because we learned together.”
Michael shook his head.
“No. You told me Margaret was dead.”
“She asked me to.”
Margaret stepped forward.
“That part is true.”
Rebecca looked at her mother.
“Please stop helping these people explain why lying to me was necessary.”
Margaret went silent.
Claire watched Daniel.
His shoulders were rigid.
She knew that posture.
It was the way he stood when anger was the only thing keeping him from breaking.
Their daughter stirred.
Daniel heard the tiny sound.
He looked back.
Claire met his eyes.
Stay here.
That was what her expression told him.
With us.
Daniel moved back beside her.
Andrew watched.
“You’re a good father.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“You don’t get to tell me that.”
Victor struck his cane against the floor.
“Enough.”
Everyone turned.
The deletion screen behind him had reached:
100%.
PROJECT CONTINUITY ARCHIVE REMOVED.
Victor stared at it.
Decades of control were gone.
Then he looked at Andrew.
“You did this.”
Andrew shook his head.
“Victoria did.”
“You helped her.”
“Yes.”
Victor laughed.
“My two children finally cooperating.”
Andrew’s expression went cold.
“We stopped being your children a long time ago.”
Claire looked at Lauren.
Victoria’s phone remained in her hand.
“Where is she?”
Lauren swallowed.
“I don’t know.”
“You brought the phone.”
“Someone left it outside the ballroom.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t see.”
Andrew answered.
“I did.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Where’s my mother?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“Safe for the moment.”
Victor laughed.
“No one is safe.”
Andrew ignored him.
He reached inside his jacket.
Daniel immediately moved.
Andrew stopped.
“Documents.”
“Slowly.”
Andrew removed a folded envelope.
He placed it on the desk.
“Victor’s archive was only one layer.”
Victor’s face changed.
Michael noticed.
“What layer?”
Andrew looked at Victor.
“The one he knew about.”
Victor’s grip tightened around his cane.
Samuel whispered, “There was another database.”
Andrew nodded.
“Project Continuity was never Victor’s idea.”
Silence.
Victor snapped, “Enough.”
Andrew smiled.
“There it is.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“Fear.”
Andrew pointed at Victor.
“The great Victor Harrow spent thirty-four years pretending he created the program because admitting the truth would mean admitting he was never in control.”
Victor’s face darkened.
Michael stepped closer.
“Who created it?”
Andrew looked at Margaret.
Margaret closed her eyes.
Rebecca noticed.
“Mom?”
Margaret whispered, “Eleanor.”
Daniel stared.
“My grandmother?”
Victor shouted, “She was sick.”
Margaret looked at him.
“No.”
“She was obsessed.”
“You were obsessed.”
Claire asked, “Who was Eleanor?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“Victor’s wife.”
Andrew nodded.
“My mother.”
He opened the envelope.
A photograph slid onto the desk.
A woman in a white laboratory coat stood beside a much younger Victor.
Behind them was the original St. Matthew’s research unit.
ELEANOR HARROW, M.D.
Director of Reproductive Genetics.
Claire felt cold.
“She started Project Continuity?”
Andrew nodded.
“But not for Victor’s reason.”
“What was her reason?”
“To prevent a hereditary disease.”
Michael looked at him.
“The cardiac condition.”
“Yes.”
Andrew continued.
“The Harrow line carried a mutation that killed young men. Eleanor wanted to stop it.”
Victor said bitterly, “And I improved her work.”
“You corrupted it.”
“I funded it.”
“You turned prevention into selection.”
Victor stared at his son.
“I made our family stronger.”
“You made children into inventory.”
Claire looked down at her daughter.
Andrew’s eyes followed.
“She ended it.”
Victor’s face tightened.
Andrew continued.
“Eleanor discovered what Victor was doing and destroyed most of her research.”
Samuel frowned.
“Most?”
“One copy survived.”
Rebecca looked at Margaret.
“You have it.”
Margaret nodded slowly.
Victor’s head snapped toward her.
“You told me it was destroyed.”
“I lied.”
Victor started toward her.
Michael blocked him.
“Sit down.”
Victor glared.
Michael didn’t move.
For once, Victor obeyed.
Rebecca looked at Margaret.
“Where is the copy?”
“Not here.”
“County Regional?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
Margaret looked toward Claire’s baby.
“I gave it to Victoria.”
Daniel stared.
“My mother?”
“She has spent decades trying to decode Eleanor’s final research.”
Andrew nodded.
“She believed Eleanor left a way to identify every child Victor’s program touched.”
Claire understood.
“So they could be warned.”
“Yes.”
“And protected.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at Andrew.
“Then why did Victoria behave like a monster today?”
Andrew hesitated.
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“There it is again.”
“She panicked.”
“She locked my wife in a bathroom.”
“I know.”
“She tried to prevent an ambulance.”
“Because the ambulance dispatcher was compromised.”
“She told Claire the baby could wait.”
Andrew’s expression hardened.
“I never said Victoria was innocent.”
Daniel went silent.
Andrew continued.
“Your mother spent so many years controlling every variable that she stopped recognizing the difference between protecting people and controlling them.”
Claire nodded slowly.
That, she believed.
“She endangered us.”
“Yes.”
“She owes me an explanation.”
“Yes.”
“And an apology will not erase it.”
“No.”
Daniel studied Andrew.
“You’re not defending her.”
“I’m explaining her.”
Michael laughed coldly.
“You always were good at that.”
Andrew turned.
“And you were good at running.”
Michael stepped forward.
“Say that again.”
“Stop.”
Rebecca’s voice silenced both men.
She looked exhausted.
“My sister just gave birth in an ambulance while armed people chased us through a vineyard.”
She pointed at Claire.
“My niece is less than an hour old.”
Then she looked around the room.
“So unless one of you has something useful to say, shut up.”
Nobody argued.
Claire almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Lauren spoke.
“What about Mom?”
Andrew looked at Victoria’s phone.
“Play the video again.”
Lauren did.
Victoria appeared tied to the chair.
Daniel watched more carefully.
“Daniel, if you’re seeing this, Victor was never the person in charge.”
The image shook.
A hand entered.
Victoria looked up.
Fear.
Then she whispered:
“Eleanor.”
Michael dropped to his knees again.
But this time Daniel understood.
“Grandmother?”
Andrew stared at the screen.
“She died thirty years ago.”
Victor said nothing.
Daniel turned toward him.
“Did she?”
Victor looked away.
Everyone noticed.
Andrew crossed the room.
“Father.”
Victor’s face remained blank.
“Where is she?”
“She died.”
“Look at me.”
Victor didn’t.
Andrew grabbed his shoulder.
“Where is Eleanor?”
Victor finally looked up.
“You think you understand your mother?”
“I remember burying her.”
Victor smiled.
“So did everyone.”
Daniel felt a chill.
Another person declared dead.
Another false grave.
Michael whispered, “How many?”
Victor looked toward him.
“How many what?”
“How many people did this family bury while they were still alive?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Enough.”
Claire felt suddenly sick.
She looked at the baby.
“What does Eleanor have to do with my daughter?”
Andrew turned.
“If Eleanor is alive, everything changes.”
“How?”
“She created the marker screening.”
Samuel shook his head.
“She also knew how to disable it.”
Claire frowned.
“Disable a genetic marker?”
“Not the DNA itself,” Samuel said. “Its identification pathway.”
Rebecca understood.
“She could make the database stop recognizing carriers.”
Andrew nodded.
“That may be what Victoria was trying to obtain.”
Daniel looked at the deleted archive.
“So even if Victor rebuilt the database—”
“He wouldn’t be able to find the children.”
Victor laughed.
Everyone turned.
It was quiet.
Almost amused.
“You still think this is about a database.”
Andrew stared.
“What is it about?”
Victor leaned back.
“Eleanor learned something in the final year of the project.”
“What?”
Victor looked directly at Claire.
“The marker does not come from the Harrow line.”
Silence.
Michael frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
“We traced it through your descendants.”
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“You traced it through the women they married.”
Claire felt cold.
Andrew stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Victor looked at Margaret.
She had gone pale.
Rebecca saw it.
“Mom?”
Margaret backed away.
Victor continued.
“Eleanor discovered the marker in a completely unrelated family.”
Daniel followed his gaze.
Margaret.
Then Rebecca.
Then Claire.
His face changed.
“No.”
Claire stared at him.
“What?”
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
Claire’s sister.
Then at Claire.
“Rebecca isn’t biologically related to you.”
Claire nodded.
“We know that.”
Rebecca had been adopted.
It had never mattered.
Victor smiled.
“But Margaret is.”
Claire’s head snapped toward him.
“What?”
Margaret’s face collapsed.
Claire whispered, “Rebecca was adopted by Aunt Margaret.”
Margaret nodded.
“Yes.”
“You’re my mother’s sister.”
“Yes.”
“So what is he saying?”
Victor answered.
“Your maternal family carried the marker before any Harrow did.”
Claire’s hand moved to her daughter.
“No.”
Samuel looked stunned.
“That would mean Daniel wasn’t the reason the marker returned.”
Victor nodded.
Claire whispered, “I was.”
“Yes.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Daniel looked at Claire.
Their daughter hadn’t been selected because of him.
She had inherited something from Claire.
Rebecca stared at Margaret.
“You knew?”
Margaret shook her head.
“Not until recently.”
Victor smiled.
“Eleanor knew.”
Claire’s voice trembled.
“Why?”
Victor looked toward the photograph.
“Because Eleanor Harrow was not born Eleanor Harrow.”
Andrew frowned.
“Obviously.”
Victor ignored him.
“She was born Eleanor Bennett.”
Rebecca’s phone slipped from her hand.
Margaret closed her eyes.
Claire stared.
Bennett.
Rebecca’s adopted surname.
Margaret’s surname.
Andrew stepped backward.
“No.”
Victor smiled at his son.
“Yes.”
Daniel whispered, “Eleanor and Margaret…”
Margaret looked at him.
“My mother was Eleanor’s younger sister.”
Claire’s breath caught.
That made Eleanor her great-aunt.
The Harrow mystery had never begun with Daniel.
It had begun with Claire’s own family.
Victor watched the realization spread.
“That is why your daughter matters.”
Claire stared at him.
“Because she carries both family lines.”
“Yes.”
Daniel moved in front of Claire.
“You’re never getting near her.”
Victor smiled.
“I no longer need to.”
Everyone froze.
“What does that mean?” Daniel asked.
Victor looked toward Lauren.
More precisely, toward Victoria’s phone.
The screen had changed.
The video was gone.
A live location appeared.
Andrew grabbed it.
“Where is that?”
Margaret looked over his shoulder.
Her face went white.
“Bellweather Fertility.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Daniel stared.
“The clinic?”
Andrew looked at Margaret.
“What is there?”
She didn’t answer.
“Margaret.”
“There were seven embryos.”
Claire felt the world tilt.
Daniel grabbed the desk.
“No.”
Claire stared at Margaret.
“You said one carried the marker.”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“That’s what the report said.”
“What happened to the others?”
“Stored.”
Claire’s voice broke.
“We ordered them destroyed after the pregnancy was confirmed.”
Margaret looked at Victor.
Victor smiled.
“They weren’t.”
Daniel lunged toward him.
Michael caught Daniel around the chest.
Victor laughed.
“Six embryos remained.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
Andrew stared at the live location.
“What is Victoria doing there?”
Victor’s smile vanished.
“I don’t know.”
The phone vibrated.
A new video arrived.
Lauren pressed it.
Victoria appeared on-screen.
She was no longer tied to the chair.
She stood inside a laboratory.
Behind her were cryogenic storage tanks.
Victoria looked directly into the camera.
“Claire, I’m sorry.”
Claire gripped Daniel.
Victoria continued.
“Victor lied about the embryos.”
Victor stood abruptly.
“No.”
Victoria looked off-camera.
Someone handed her a file.
She opened it.
“There were never six remaining embryos.”
Claire stared.
Victoria’s voice shook.
“There was only one.”
Daniel whispered, “What?”
Victoria looked into the camera.
“The other five were transferred years ago.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Rebecca stared.
“To whom?” Claire whispered.
Victoria turned toward someone outside the camera frame.
Her face changed.
She whispered:
“You.”
The camera moved.
A woman stepped into view.
Claire recognized her instantly.
Her heart stopped.
The woman placed both hands on her visibly pregnant stomach.
May you like
Then she looked straight into the camera and said:
“Claire, your baby isn’t the first child from your embryos.”
