CHAPTER 21: THE BLOODLINE
Claire survived.
Doctors found a rare sedative in her bloodstream.
The water bottle had been sealed.
Someone had replaced it before the meeting.
Police moved Claire to a guarded room under a false name.
Amelia could not forget her final words.
His blood.
Mara searched Theo’s medical records.
“The hospital ran a genetic screening because he was premature.”
“And?”
“An abnormal marker appeared.”
Amelia’s heart tightened.
“Is he sick?”
“We don’t know.”
The marker was not linked to a disease.
It matched a classified research identifier owned by Whitmore Biotechnologies.
Claire’s family company had funded genetic studies for twenty years.
The program’s director had been William Carter.
Ethan looked stunned.
“My father was a fire chief.”
“He was also listed as a consultant for Whitmore’s research division,” Mara said.
“Researching what?”
“Hereditary resistance to chemical exposure.”
The illegal materials stored at Whitmore Mill had not been ordinary accelerants.
They were experimental compounds.
Evelyn Bennett, Thomas Reed, and Julian Whitmore had discovered human testing records.
The documents in Noah’s box listed dozens of firefighters and their families.
Ethan’s name appeared repeatedly.
Amelia found her own name beneath his.
SUBJECT PAIR APPROVED.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
Noah turned the next page.
The last section contained a projected child profile.
Male.
Estimated birth date.
Genetic probability.
Amelia stepped away.
“They knew about Theo before I became pregnant.”
Mara shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
“Unless someone had been tracking us.”
Ethan looked toward the NICU.
“My father encouraged us to try for a baby.”
Amelia remembered the vitamins William mailed them.
The specialist he recommended.
The fertility tests he insisted Ethan complete.
Her stomach turned.
Mara examined the date on the document.
It had been created six years earlier.
One month before Amelia and Ethan’s wedding.
May you like
Someone had not merely watched their marriage.
Someone had planned it.
