Chapter 7 - THE CHILD HE NEVER KNEW EXISTED
Julian sat down.
Actually sat.
Hard.
“My child?”
Elise nodded.
“How?”
Her eyes filled with shame.
“Before I disappeared, we had embryos stored.”
Julian looked like the air had been pulled from the room.
He and Elise had spent years trying to have children.
Three IVF cycles.
Failed transfers.
One miscarriage.
Then her illness.
“You told me they were destroyed.”
“They weren’t.”
“Why?”
“I couldn’t.”
Her voice broke.
“After I disappeared, I transferred legal control to Dr. Keene.”
Julian stood.
“So Charles stole one?”
“Two.”
I understood.
“One Gabriel embryo.”
“One Julian embryo.”
Elise nodded.
Anna was carrying cousins.
Genetically half-siblings through their fathers?
No.
Julian and Gabriel were brothers.
The babies would be cousins.
But both tied directly to the Mercer estate.
Julian looked sick.
“Does Anna know?”
“No.”
“Does Sloane?”
“I don’t think she knows one is yours.”
“Charles?”
“Probably.”
Suddenly the fake pregnancy made more sense.
Sloane had planned to claim whichever baby gave her the strongest legal position.
Maybe both.
Julian turned to Mateo.
“We get Anna.”
“We will.”
“And no one touches those children.”
His voice changed on the last word.
Not heirs.
Children.
We reached the old shipyard after dark.
Julian insisted I stay in the command vehicle.
For once, I agreed.
Mostly.
The radio carried fragments.
“North entrance clear.”
“Movement on dock three.”
“Anna located.”
Then gunfire.
I stopped breathing.
“Julian?”
Static.
“Julian?”
Nothing.
I jumped from the vehicle.
Mateo’s deputy tried to stop me.
Then an explosion lit the far warehouse.
I ran.
Inside, smoke filled the air.
Anna was tied to a chair.
Elise was beside her.
Charles stood on the upper catwalk.
Sloane stood next to him.
No fake belly now.
No smile either.
Julian was below.
Blood ran down his arm.
Sloane laughed.
“You always were dramatic.”
Julian looked at her.
“You planned to murder me.”
“You would have died happy.”
“Believing you carried my child.”
She smiled.
“Exactly.”
Then she saw me.
Her face changed.
“You.”
I stopped.
“The maid.”
Charles looked down.
“So that’s her.”
Sloane’s hatred sharpened.
“She ruined everything.”
Julian moved between us.
“Do not look at her.”
Sloane laughed.
“Oh, Julian.”
“You’re protecting the help now?”
His expression became frighteningly calm.
“She saved my life.”
Then Charles pulled a gun.
Everything happened at once.
Elise screamed.
Julian moved.
A shot cracked.
Charles collapsed against the railing.
Sloane grabbed Anna.
“Move!”
Anna cried out.
“My stomach.”
Blood spread down her dress.
Julian’s face changed.
“She’s in labor.”
Anna gasped.
“Too early.”
Sloane froze.
For one second, even she looked terrified.
Then Anna doubled over.
Another contraction.
Elise shouted:
“We need a hospital now!”
Charles, bleeding but conscious, laughed from the catwalk.
“You still don’t understand.”
Julian looked up.
Charles smiled.
“The babies were never supposed to survive.”
Elise went white.
“What did you do?”
Charles whispered:
“Ask Dr. Keene what he put in the embryos.”
May you like
Then he laughed.
And the ambulance sirens arrived.
