Chương 6
“Then how?”
Mara hesitated.
Emily said, “From the nurse.”
Mara closed her eyes.
“Emily.”
“What? They’ll find out.”
Dana’s tone sharpened.
“Do not identify the nurse to anyone else. Not until we discuss protection and counsel.”
Mara frowned.
“Why?”
“Because if that person improperly accessed medical records, she may have exposure even if she was trying to help. Because whistleblower protections are not magic. Because Gregory has lawyers. The hospital has lawyers. Everyone in this room has incentives.”
Gregory said, “Finally, someone speaks sense.”
Dana turned to him.
“You are not included in the compliment.”
Marcus looked down to hide a smile.
At one thirty in the morning, they stopped.
Not because they had answers.
Because Emily began vomiting in the hotel bathroom.
Mara went with her.
Claire sat in the conference room staring at the baby monitor on her phone.
Alexander stood at the window.
Below them, black cars moved through Manhattan.
People crossed intersections carrying takeout bags. A sanitation truck idled beside a curb. Somewhere, someone was having an ordinary Saturday night.
“Alex.”
Claire had said his name three times before he noticed.
He turned.
“I’m sorry.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I know.”
She looked at him for a moment.
“Did you know?”
The question hurt more because she asked it calmly.
“No.”
“Did you ever wonder why it happened so fast?”
“Yes.”
Her face changed.
“You did?”
“I thought Dad leaned on somebody.”
Claire stood.
“What does that mean?”
“I thought he got our application moved.”
“You never told me.”
“I didn’t think—”
“No. You thought.”
Alexander closed his mouth.
She walked away from the table.
“I asked you.”
He remembered.
A week after Ava came home, Claire had asked whether Gregory had done something.
Alexander had said, He probably made a call.
She had looked uncomfortable.
He had kissed her forehead and told her not to manufacture guilt.
The phrase returned now like rot.
“I thought he accelerated paperwork,” Alexander said.
“And that was okay with you?”
“No.”
“But you accepted it.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
Claire laughed softly.
“That’s what people like us do, isn’t it?”
“Claire.”
“We don’t bribe anyone. We don’t steal anything. We just walk through doors other people opened improperly and tell ourselves we didn’t touch the handle.”
He had no defense.
She sat again.
“I love her.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know what happens if loving her means giving her up.”
Alexander crossed the room.
This time when he reached for her hand, she let him take it.
“I don’t either.”
Claire looked at him.
“You’re not allowed to fix this like a company.”
“I know.”
“You’re going to try.”
“Yes.”
That almost made her smile.
“You’ll make spreadsheets.”
“Probably.”
“You’ll call people at six in the morning.”
“Definitely.”
“You’ll try to control all the variables.”
“I don’t know how not to.”
She leaned her forehead against his hand.
“Learn.”
The next morning, the story broke.
By eight fifteen, a headline appeared on a financial news site:
VALE FOUNDATION GALA DISRUPTED BY WOMAN CLAIMING BABY ADOPTION FRAUD.
By nine, Gregory’s name was trending.
By nine thirty, Vale Meridian’s board had scheduled an emergency call.
Alexander sat in the hotel suite kitchen wearing the same white shirt from the night before, sleeves rolled to his elbows, drinking coffee that had gone cold.
Claire stood by the window with Ava.
The children were eating pancakes in the next room under the supervision of their nanny and Marcus’s wife, who had come without being asked.
Television stayed off.
Phones did not.
Alexander’s chief of staff called.
Then the board chairman.
Then a senator.
Then Alexander’s brother-in-law.
Then a reporter who somehow had his private number.
He turned the phone facedown.
Claire said, “That one looked painful.”
“Board.”
“Are they firing you?”
“Not yet.”
“Comforting.”
“Dana says I should voluntarily step back from foundation activity until we know what happened.”
Claire nodded.
“And the company?”
“Different issue.”
“Is it?”
Alexander looked at her.
She shifted Ava to her other shoulder.
“If your father used family money, company lawyers, company staff, company relationships…”
“He used GV Holdings.”
“That we know of.”
He hated that she was right.
The doorbell rang.
Marcus entered with Dana and another lawyer, Priya Deshmukh, who specialized in family law.
Priya refused coffee and immediately asked to see Ava’s adoption decree.
Claire brought the binder.
Alexander had once thought the binder represented security.
Official stamps.
Signatures.
Certified copies.
Now Priya turned the pages with a yellow legal pad beside her, occasionally making a small mark.
“This is facially valid,” she said.
Claire looked almost offended.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning nothing on the decree itself announces fraud.”
“Can it be undone?”
“Yes.”
Claire’s breathing changed.
Priya continued carefully.
“Potentially. But that is not the same as saying it automatically will be. If the birth mother’s consent was invalid or forged, the court will need to determine the appropriate remedy. Ava’s interests matter. Emily’s rights matter. Your reliance on the decree matters. Timing matters. What everyone knew matters.”
Alexander asked, “How fast?”
Priya gave him a look.
“Not fast.”
“What happens meanwhile?”
“We may seek temporary orders.”
“Who has custody?”
“You do, legally, right now.”
Claire glanced toward the bedroom.
“For how long?”
“I can’t answer that.”
The silence after was heavy.
Priya closed the binder.
“There is another problem.”
Alexander almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“The consent form lists a witness from St. Vincent and a notary.”
“Names?”
“Yes.”
Dana looked over.
“The notary died last month.”
Alexander sat back.
Mara, who had arrived with Emily, said, “Convenient.”
Dana shook her head.
“Car accident. Public record. I checked. Don’t build a conspiracy where we don’t need one.”
Mara looked annoyed.
Emily whispered, “Who’s the witness?”
Priya read the name.
“Tanya Burke.”
Emily froze.
Mara looked at her.
“You know her?”
Emily nodded.
“She was a social worker.”
“At the hospital?”
“I thought so.”
Dana was already typing.
Within minutes, she found a licensing record.
May you like
“Tanya Burke was not employed by St. Vincent.”
Emily frowned.
