CHAPTER 7 — TWO WOMEN NAMED CLAIRE
Nathan stepped toward the phone.
“That is not possible.”
Charles looked older than Emily remembered.
Exhausted.
“The woman living with Preston changed her name, appearance, and medical records.”
Emily thought of Vanessa laughing while Emily knelt on the floor.
“She tried to hurt me.”
“She was not originally working for Preston,” Charles said. “She was trying to recover the embryo.”
Nathan shook his head.
“My wife would never do that.”
“You do not know what twelve years did to her.”
The video flickered.
Charles looked over his shoulder.
Then the connection ended.
Detective Grant tried tracing the call.
It had been routed through several countries.
By evening, Preston had vanished.
Ashford Development’s accounts were frozen.
Reporters surrounded the mansion.
Vanessa remained in custody, refusing to speak.
Nathan was taken for medical examination and DNA testing.
Emily stayed inside a secure hospital room.
At 9:17 p.m., she received a voice message from Preston.
“You think the man at the bank is Nathan. Ask him what happened to the real Nathan Bennett.”
Emily replayed it.
Then she asked Detective Grant for the DNA results.
He arrived after midnight.
“The man shares enough genetic material to be your close relative.”
“So he is my brother.”
“Possibly.”
Emily frowned.
“What else could he be?”
Grant placed the report on the bed.
“He could also be an unknown half-brother.”
Emily stared at him.
“My father had no other son.”
“That may not be true.”
A knock sounded at the door.
A nurse entered.
“There is a woman asking to see Emily.”
“No visitors,” Grant said.
The woman stepped into the hallway anyway.
She had dark hair, green eyes, and a small scar above her eyebrow.
Emily recognized her from the wedding photograph found in Charles’s library.
The woman slowly lowered herself to the floor.
“My name is Claire Bennett.”
Nathan’s missing wife.
Grant drew his weapon.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Claire obeyed.
Then she looked at Emily’s stomach.
“That baby belongs to me.”
Emily’s heartbeat raced.
“Then who is Vanessa?”
“She was my nurse at the fertility clinic.”
“Why did she pretend to be you?”
“Because Preston paid her to exchange the embryos.”
Emily covered her stomach.
“Exchange mine with yours?”
Claire shook her head.
“No. The embryo you are carrying was created for someone else.”
“Who?”
Claire’s face filled with fear.
“Charles Bennett.”
Emily stared at her.
“My father?”
Before Claire could explain, alarms sounded throughout the hospital.
The lights went out.
Emergency red lamps flooded the room.
Gunshots echoed from downstairs.
Detective Grant locked the door.
Footsteps raced up the stairwell.
Emily’s phone vibrated.
A message arrived from her father’s number.
Do not believe Claire. She watched Nathan die.
Then someone knocked.
A man spoke from the other side.
“Emily, open the door.”
It sounded exactly like Charles.
Claire grabbed Emily’s arm.
“That is not your father.”
The door handle began to turn.
May you like
Then Nathan’s voice came through the darkness.
“Em, whatever happens next, do not let them take the baby.”
