Chapter 16 - The Lie at the Fertility Clinic
Miranda did not go alone.
She did not go at all.
Instead, investigators traced Margaret’s phone.
The signal led to a private club in Back Bay.
By the time police arrived, Margaret was gone.
But she had left an envelope for Miranda.
Inside was a medical record.
Miranda recognized the fertility clinic logo.
Her name.
Julian’s name.
A treatment cycle from four years earlier.
One line had been highlighted.
GENETIC SCREENING: ADDITIONAL REVIEW REQUESTED BY SPOUSE.
Miranda looked at Julian.
“What did you request?”
His confusion seemed genuine.
“Nothing.”
“Your name is here.”
“I did not request additional review.”
Adrien’s voice hardened.
“Then someone used your authorization.”
Julian took the page.
His hands shook.
“I signed general treatment permissions.”
Miranda closed her eyes.
Signatures.
Again.
Always signatures.
The clinic director agreed to meet privately.
They arrived after business hours.
Dr. Helen Moore had treated Miranda during two fertility cycles.
She looked older now.
And nervous.
“I owe you an apology,” she said.
Miranda’s stomach tightened.
“For what?”
“There were privacy violations.”
“How many?”
Dr. Moore folded her hands.
“Mrs. Margaret Hayes contacted a hospital board member repeatedly.”
“I know that.”
“She also contacted our former laboratory director.”
Julian stood.
“Name.”
“Dr. Stephen Vale.”
Peter Vale’s surname flashed through Miranda’s mind.
“Related to the reporter?”
“Father.”
The room went silent.
Another connection.
Dr. Moore continued.
“Stephen left the clinic two years ago.”
“Why?” Miranda asked.
“Improper access to patient records.”
“Mine?”
“Among others.”
Miranda’s throat tightened.
“What did he do?”
“He provided Mrs. Hayes information about embryo viability.”
Adrien swore under his breath.
Julian looked ready to break something.
Dr. Moore’s eyes filled with regret.
“When we discovered it, he claimed he believed he had Julian’s authorization.”
“I never gave it,” Julian said.
“I know that now.”
Miranda forced herself to ask the hardest question.
“Did anyone alter my treatment?”
Dr. Moore immediately shook her head.
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“Medications?”
“No.”
“Embryos?”
“No.”
“Testing?”
Dr. Moore hesitated.
Miranda saw it.
“What?”
“One screening panel was ordered unnecessarily.”
“Why?”
“To check for a hereditary condition.”
“What condition?”
“Hemophilia.”
Miranda frowned.
“There’s no hemophilia in my family.”
“No.”
Dr. Moore looked at Julian.
“There is in the Hayes family.”
Julian went still.
“My uncle.”
Miranda stared.
“You never told me.”
“I barely knew him.”
Dr. Moore continued.
“The test itself was not harmful.”
“That is not the point.”
“I know.”
“Who ordered it?”
“Stephen Vale.”
“At Margaret’s request?”
“We believe so.”
Miranda sat back.
All those years.
All those appointments.
All that vulnerability.
And somewhere outside the room, Margaret Hayes had been asking questions about the genetic suitability of grandchildren.
Miranda felt physically ill.
Then Dr. Moore said, “There is something else.”
Of course there was.
“When your final embryo storage agreement was updated after the divorce, an external attorney requested notification rights.”
Miranda frowned.
“What attorney?”
“We rejected the request.”
“Name.”
Dr. Moore opened a file.
“Dane, Carver & Holt.”
Adrien and Julian looked at each other.
Victor Dane.
Daniel Carver.
Miranda whispered, “They were trying to track the embryos.”
“Yes.”
Julian’s face filled with horror.
“I brought these people into her life.”
Miranda looked at him.
“No.”
He blinked.
“You brought some of them.”
She glanced at the documents.
“But they made their own choices.”
It was the first mercy she had given him.
Small.
But real.
The breakthrough came that night from Peter Vale.
He arrived at the townhouse without a camera.
Without a recorder.
Only an old box.
“My father died last year,” he said.
Miranda invited him inside.
“I found this after he died.”
The box contained letters.
Payments.
Notes from Margaret Hayes.
Peter looked ashamed.
“I became a corporate investigative reporter because I spent years thinking wealthy people bought silence.”
Julian, who had reluctantly joined the meeting by video, said, “They do.”
Peter ignored him.
“My father took money from Margaret. Later he regretted it.”
“How do you know?”
“He kept copies of everything.”
Peter handed Miranda a letter.
Margaret’s handwriting.
Ensure the embryos remain viable until succession matters are resolved.
Miranda read it twice.
“Remain viable?”
Peter nodded.
“She never wanted them destroyed.”
Adrien frowned.
“Then why frighten Miranda into thinking they’d been moved?”
Peter pulled out another letter.
Because she wanted control.
Margaret had written to Stephen Vale:
If Miranda remarries, we may require temporary legal intervention before she makes an irreversible decision.
Miranda felt anger burn.
“She thought she owned them.”
“She thought the trust gave the family an interest.”
“That is insane.”
“Yes.”
Julian’s voice came from the screen.
“It’s also how my mother thinks.”
Peter handed over one final page.
A meeting schedule.
Margaret Hayes.
Nathan Hayes.
Daniel Carver.
Victor Dane.
And one name no one expected.
Evelyn Calloway.
Adrien’s mother.
Miranda looked at him.
His face went blank.
“No.”
The meeting date was six months earlier.
Before Adrien and Miranda married.
May you like
Before their engagement.
Before Miranda believed Evelyn Calloway even knew she existed.
