CHAPTER 15 — THE WRONG HEIR
Emergency lights flickered on.
Emily was still on the bed.
The doctor was gone.
Preston’s guards were unconscious near the door.
The false infant had disappeared.
So had Lydia.
Claire held Emily’s hand.
“Breathe.”
Emily could barely hear her.
The contractions were too close together.
Preston stood near the wall with blood running from a cut above his eyebrow.
“Where did she take the child?”
Claire looked at him.
“You brought him here.”
“That infant was the only proof connected to the registered birth.”
Emily cried out as another contraction struck.
The man with Nathan’s face locked the door.
“We need a real doctor.”
A hidden panel opened behind the medical cabinets.
Charles entered.
Grant followed him, injured but conscious.
Emily stared at her father.
“You knew this clinic existed.”
“I built it.”
“Of course you did.”
Grant aimed at Preston.
“On the floor.”
Preston laughed.
“You still believe arresting me will solve this?”
He dropped to his knees.
“The trust has already activated.”
Charles moved to Emily’s bedside.
“The registration can be challenged.”
“Not without the real chain-of-custody report,” Preston said.
Everyone looked toward Claire.
She pulled a folded page from beneath her scrubs.
“I took it from Lydia.”
Charles reached for it.
Claire stepped back.
“No more secrets.”
She opened the report.
The biological mother was listed as Lydia Shaw.
The biological father’s name had been covered by a black security strip.
A code appeared beside it.
NB-02
Charles went pale.
“What does that code mean?” Emily demanded.
He did not answer.
The man near the door whispered, “Nathan Bennett, second specimen.”
Claire looked at him.
“Not Nathan.”
She removed the black strip.
The name beneath it was:
NICHOLAS BENNETT
Everyone turned toward the man with Nathan’s face.
He shook his head.
“I never provided a sample.”
Charles looked away.
Preston smiled.
“Not willingly.”
Emily stared at her father.
“What did you do to him?”
Charles’s voice broke.
“Nicholas was injured after the boat explosion. We preserved genetic material while he was unconscious.”
The man stepped toward Charles.
“So I am Nicholas.”
“You may be.”
“May be?”
“The boys were switched more than once.”
Nicholas grabbed Charles by the collar.
“You do not know which son survived?”
Charles did not resist.
“No.”
A baby’s cry came through the ventilation system.
Everyone froze.
The false infant was still inside the clinic.
Grant ordered Preston to reveal the hidden rooms.
Preston shook his head.
“This clinic was built by Charles.”
Emily looked at her father.
“Where is the baby?”
Charles pointed toward the eastern wall.
“There is an observation nursery behind it.”
Grant opened the hidden door.
The nursery was empty.
Only a warm bassinet remained.
A note lay inside.
THE FIRST HEIR HAS BEEN REMOVED.
Below it was Lydia’s signature.
Emily felt another contraction.
The doctor returned through the rear passage with two nurses.
“We have to deliver now.”
Grant forced everyone except Claire and Charles out of the room.
Preston resisted.
“That child determines ownership of the company.”
Emily looked at him through the doorway.
“My child is not a company.”
The door closed.
For the first time, Preston had no answer.
The delivery became a blur of pain, voices, and flashing lights.
Claire stayed beside Emily.
Charles stood near the wall, looking smaller than she had ever seen him.
Minutes later, a newborn cried.
The sound filled the room.
Emily reached forward.
“Give me my baby.”
The nurse hesitated.
“Why are you stopping?” Emily demanded.
The doctor looked at Charles.
Charles’s face turned white.
“What is it?” Claire asked.
The doctor lowered his voice.
“The child has the Bennett birthmark.”
Emily looked at the baby’s shoulder.
A dark crescent rested beneath the collarbone.
Nathan had carried the same mark.
So had Nicholas in the childhood photographs.
Charles stepped closer.
“That proves the child belongs to my son.”
“Which son?” Emily asked.
No one answered.
The lights went out again.
Claire screamed.
Emily held the baby tightly against her chest.
Someone struck the doctor.
Footsteps rushed through the room.
When the emergency power returned, Charles was gone.
Claire lay unconscious on the floor.
The nursery door stood open.
Grant ran inside.
Preston had vanished from police custody.
On Emily’s blanket rested the wooden bird charm from Vanessa’s bracelet.
Her phone vibrated.
A live video appeared.
Lydia stood inside an unknown house holding the false infant.
Behind her sat Charles and Preston.
Both were tied to chairs.
Lydia looked into the camera.
“You have the child carrying Nicholas’s blood.”
She lifted the infant in her arms.
“I have the child carrying Nathan’s.”
Emily held her newborn closer.
Lydia continued.
“In forty-eight hours, the Bennett board will recognize only one heir.”
The video camera moved.
A third crib appeared behind Lydia.
Another baby was sleeping inside it.
Emily stopped breathing.
“There were never two embryos,” Lydia said.
“There were three.”
The screen went black.
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Then a final message appeared:
Choose which child inherits, or all three disappear.
