Chương 11
Priya frowned.
“By whom?”
“The clinic.”
“When?”
“Before transfer.”
“And after?”
Michelle hesitated.
“No.”
Christopher stood very still.
“So you knew there was one of each.”
“Yes.”
“You said you didn’t know.”
“I said I didn’t know which baby was which.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“I know.”
His jaw tightened.
“You let me believe both were mine.”
“Yes.”
The word barely left her mouth.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Christopher walked toward the patio doors.
For a moment, I thought he might punch the glass.
Instead he unlocked them and stepped outside.
Heat rushed briefly into the room before the door closed behind him.
No one followed.
Michelle sat down with Noah still against her.
Her shoulders sagged.
“I was going to tell him after the DNA test.”
I said nothing.
She looked at me.
“You think that makes it worse.”
“I think you keep choosing future honesty.”
Her eyes filled.
“That’s fair.”
“I’m not trying to be fair.”
“I know.”
I looked away.
There were too many moments when she still sounded like my friend.
That was the cruelest part.
Evelyn carried Emma to the bassinet and lowered her carefully.
Then she remained bent over it for several seconds longer than necessary.
“I want a test.”
Michelle looked at her.
“For the babies?”
“For everyone.”
Priya’s expression sharpened.
“Everyone who?”
Evelyn straightened.
“Christopher.”
“Michelle.”
“The twins.”
“And me.”
I frowned.
“You?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“Because if Richard was moving reproductive material through companies he controlled, I want to know whether this started and ended with Andrew.”
Daniel said, “Evelyn.”
“No.”
She turned toward him.
“My husband lied to me for years.”
She pointed at the paperwork.
“He used our son’s biological material as if it were part of the estate.”
Her voice cracked.
That was the first moment I fully understood that Evelyn’s anger was not only about the twins.
It was grief contaminated by the discovery that the dead could still betray you.
Priya said, “DNA testing may answer paternity questions.”
“It may not answer what Richard did.”
“Then records will have to.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Get them.”
Priya gave her a tired look.
“That is not how legal access works.”
“Then tell me how it does.”
The old Evelyn was returning.
The one who solved discomfort by converting it into tasks.
Priya seemed to recognize the pattern too.
“We start with records each person can request directly.”
She pointed to Michelle.
“Her medical records.”
Then Christopher through the glass.
“His authorization history if he agrees.”
Then to Evelyn.
“Richard’s estate records.”
Daniel added, “And Sonoran’s corporate records.”
I said, “Vextor too.”
Everyone looked at me.
“The transfers started there.”
Priya nodded.
“We’ll need Lena.”
At the mention of her name, Christopher came back inside.
He had heard enough through the glass.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Lena doesn’t get dragged into this.”
“She already opened the inquiry.”
“That’s company business.”
“It stopped being only company business when Vextor money paid reproductive storage fees.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You always hated how she challenged you.”
“This isn’t about that.”
“Then why protect her?”
“I’m not protecting her.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“I’m protecting the company.”
I almost laughed.
“From facts?”
“From panic.”
“Those are not the same thing.”
“You don’t know what happens if employees think money was misused.”
“I know exactly what happens.”
“Investors call.”
“Board members ask questions.”
“People start looking for reasons to leave.”
He pointed toward the table.
“If this becomes gossip before we understand it, Vextor gets hurt.”
I heard the old instinct in his voice.
Not guilt.
Control.
He was trying to put the company back inside a box where he could manage the narrative.
I knew that instinct because I had helped him use it.
That realization embarrassed me.
“How many times did I help you make a problem look smaller before we knew what it was?”
Christopher stared at me.
“This is different.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Because this time I’m not your wife?”
He looked away.
That was answer enough.
Priya’s phone buzzed.
She checked the screen.
“Lena is asking for a video call.”
Christopher said, “No.”
Priya looked at him.
“She says it concerns Meridian and an employee benefit account.”
“No.”
Daniel sighed.
“Chris.”
“I said no.”
Michelle looked at him.
“Why are you so afraid of this call?”
“I am not afraid.”
“Then take it.”
He turned on her.
“Stop acting like you suddenly have moral authority.”
Michelle flinched.
He saw it and kept going anyway.
“You lied to me about my own children.”
“And you lied to Victoria about your fertility.”
“That is not the same.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“It isn’t.”
I did not expect her to say that.
Christopher seemed not to either.
Michelle’s voice stayed quiet.
“What I did to you was wrong.”
He scoffed.
“That’s convenient.”
“No.”
She tightened her arms around Noah.
“Convenient was what I did before.”
The room went still.
“I wanted the babies.”
Her mouth trembled.
“I wanted you.”
She looked at me then.
“And I wanted to believe I could take both without becoming the kind of person who takes things.”
I felt the sentence in my chest.
She continued.
“So I kept changing the names.”
“Affair.”
“Love.”
“Secret.”
“Timing.”
“Lie.”
“Complication.”
Her eyes dropped.
“It didn’t change what I was doing.”
No one spoke.
Christopher looked at the floor.
I hated that some part of me wanted to comfort her.
I hated even more that another part wanted her to hurt.
Both feelings could apparently live in the same body without killing each other.
Priya’s phone buzzed again.
This time she answered without asking.
“Lena?”
A woman’s voice came through.
“Am I on speaker?”
“Yes.”
Christopher closed his eyes.
Lena said, “Christopher, if you’re there, I need you not to hang up.”
He stared at the phone.
“Everyone seems very comfortable giving me instructions today.”
“Good.”
That sounded exactly like Lena.
May you like
“Then maybe one of them will work.”
Even Daniel smiled slightly.
