Chapter 4 - THE TWO EMBRYOS
Miranda did not sleep.
At three in morning, she sat at kitchen table staring at fertility clinic records while Adrian made tea neither drank.
“I remember that cycle.”
“What happened?”
“They told me hormone levels weren't right and retrieval was canceled.”
“But this says retrieval happened.”
“Yes.”
“Were you sedated?”
Miranda closed eyes.
“I had procedure.”
“For what?”
“Julian said they needed diagnostic hysteroscopy.”
She felt sick.
Could eggs have been retrieved without her informed consent? That would be major medical wrongdoing. Need plausible. She was sedated and paperwork falsified. But eggs retrieval specific process. She would have stimulation. She had. Clinic told cancellation day but perhaps actually retrieved under false description. This is dark but possible fiction.
Dana warned:
“Do not assume records authentic.”
They subpoenaed clinic records through court process.
The fertility center had closed three years earlier after physician retired.
Records transferred.
Original chart showed retrieval of eleven oocytes.
Five fertilized.
Two blastocysts cryopreserved.
Consent pages had Miranda signature.
Handwriting expert later found likely not hers.
Julian’s signature genuine.
“What happened to embryos?”
Transferred.
“Where?”
A private storage facility in New Hampshire.
Then transfer request two years earlier.
During divorce.
Destination listed only coded reproductive agency.
Miranda’s hands shook.
“Were they used?”
Dana looked grim.
“We don't know.”
Adrian stood at window.
Miranda knew he was containing anger for her.
She appreciated.
“Say it.”
“What?”
“Whatever you're thinking.”
He turned.
“I’m thinking your ex-husband had no right.”
Simple.
No political threat.
No revenge fantasy.
Just right.
Investigation traced agency.
One embryo remained in storage.
The other had been transferred to a gestational carrier program eighteen months earlier.
Miranda could barely breathe.
“Was there a pregnancy?”
Privacy laws complicated.
Court intervention required.
Then Julian called Dana offering settlement.
$100 million.
Full financial release.
Return remaining embryo.
Permanent confidentiality.
Miranda laughed when heard.
“He knows.”
Dana nodded.
“Offer is not admission.”
“But he knows risk.”
“Likely.”
“Reject.”
“Think first.”
“I have.”
“Miranda, one hundred million—”
“I don't care.”
Dana smiled faintly.
“Good answer emotionally. Bad legal process. We still document and evaluate.”
Miranda respected her.
No impulsive theatrics.
Then Candace disappeared.
Not abducted.
She left apartment.
Phone off.
Elena panicked.
Julian claimed she was on wellness retreat.
Nobody believed.
Two days later Candace appeared at Miranda’s rented office.
No makeup.
One suitcase.
“I need help.”
Miranda stared.
“You laughed at me.”
Candace began crying.
“I know.”
“You watched Julian humiliate me for years.”
“I know.”
“You told people I married him for money.”
“I know.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
That answer stopped Miranda.
Candace sat.
“I spent my whole life doing whatever kept Julian pleased.”
“That's explanation, not apology.”
“I know.”
She swallowed.
“I’m sorry.”
Miranda did not forgive instantly.
Good.
“Why are you here?”
“Because I found out what happened to embryo.”
Silence.
Candace whispered a name.
Lydia Shaw.
Miranda knew it.
Julian’s executive assistant.
Thirty-three.
She left Hayes Meridian suddenly a year earlier.
According to office gossip, moved to Europe.
“She was surrogate?”
Candace shook head.
“No.”
“What?”
“She was supposed to be.”
Miranda stared.
“Explain.”
Julian arranged gestational carrier through private agency using embryo without Miranda’s valid authorization.
Lydia was not original carrier. She learned while processing confidential payment and threatened report.
Then something changed.
Candace had only fragments.
A trust payment of $3 million to Lydia.
Monthly medical expenses.
A birth certificate application? Not enough.
Then Candace said:
“There is a baby.”
Miranda stopped breathing.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Boy or girl?”
“A girl.”
“How old?”
“About nine months.”
Miranda’s hands went numb.
Her genetic daughter could exist somewhere.
Adrian moved closer but waited.
Miranda stood so fast chair fell.
“Julian has a child?”
“I don't know if he has custody.”
“Does Evelyn know?”
“Yes.”
Of course.
Evelyn.
Candace began sobbing.
“She calls baby ‘the Hayes heir.’”
Miranda felt rage so clean it frightened her.
Not because Julian had child.
Because her genetic material had potentially been used without consent.
Because they had stolen decision.
“Where is Evelyn?”
“Usually Brookline estate.”
Miranda wanted drive there.
Dana stopped.
“No.”
“They have my daughter.”
“We don't know legal parentage or custody. Do not storm property.”
“But—”
“Miranda. We do this correctly.”
Adrian supported Dana.
Miranda hated both for ten minutes.
Then knew they were right.
Court filings emergency sealed.
Authorities notified.
The fertility matter became subject to criminal investigation into forgery and unauthorized reproductive use.
Julian’s lawyers denied.
Evelyn denied.
Then Lydia Shaw contacted Dana.
Alive.
Living in Vermont.
She had baby.
She was not surrogate.
She was guardian.
Story emerged.
When Lydia discovered unauthorized embryo plan, she confronted Julian.
The intended gestational carrier had already become pregnant.
Carrier learned consent dispute mid-pregnancy and refused to surrender child until court clarity.
Julian paid enormous confidential settlement and arranged Lydia—whom he trusted—to manage legal process privately.
But Lydia secretly sided with carrier.
After birth, carrier did not want parenthood but insisted baby be protected from Hayes family until Miranda located.
Lydia became temporary legal guardian through confidential proceeding based on representations? This is legally complex. We can say child placed with Lydia by agreement while parentage litigation remained sealed.
“Why didn't she contact me?”
“Julian told her you had consented then changed mind and wanted child destroyed? Hmm cruel. Better: Julian provided documents showing Miranda had relinquished parental rights.”
Forged again.
Lydia believed at first.
Later discovered inconsistencies.
She contacted Candace.
That's why Candace investigated.
Miranda met Lydia at attorney office.
Lydia carried photographs, not baby.
Safety.
The child’s name:
Rose.
Miranda looked at photograph.
Dark hair.
Gray-green eyes.
Nine months old.
Her mouth resembled Miranda’s mother.
Miranda cried so hard she couldn't speak.
Adrian sat beside.
No jealousy.
No claim.
Just presence.
Lydia said:
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn't know.”
“I should've checked.”
“So should everyone apparently.”
Then Lydia revealed Julian had recently demanded Rose be transferred to Evelyn’s custody.
Why now?
Because Miranda married Adrian.
Julian feared discovery.
Also perhaps wanted child as leverage.
“He said if Miranda ever learned, he would say she abandoned Rose.”
Miranda’s tears stopped.
There it was.
He had prepared story.
Just as divorce.
Just as Elena.
Control narrative first.
Dana asked:
“Do you have evidence?”
Lydia placed phone recorder.
Julian’s voice:
Miranda signed everything. If she comes back later pretending she didn't, we'll remind court she walked away.
Lydia:
What if signature challenged?
Julian:
Stephen handled it. It won't be.
Stephen Carrow.
Again.
Then:
And if she becomes difficult, my mother has the medical records. Nobody gives custody to an unstable woman.
Miranda understood therapy file.
They had stolen it to weaponize against her.
She stood.
Adrian asked:
“Where are you going?”
“To bathroom.”
Not revenge.
She needed vomit.
When she returned, Dana had one more fact.
DNA testing could establish genetic relationship, subject court.
Miranda consented.
Julian would too? Existing stored samples? Court ordered.
Results weeks later:
Rose was genetically Miranda’s daughter.
But Julian was not father.
Miranda stared at Dana.
“What?”
The embryo had been created with donor sperm.
Not Julian’s.
“Did I consent to donor sperm?”
“No valid record we've confirmed.”
“Whose?”
Unknown donor code.
Then Candace whispered:
“Julian couldn't have children. Evelyn knew.”
Miranda looked at her.
Candace’s face was white.
“My mother wanted a Hayes heir.”
“But donor sperm wouldn't be Hayes.”
Candace shook head.
“Unless donor was Hayes.”
Miranda understood.
“No.”
Candace started crying.
“Julian used our cousin Nathan’s sample.”
A close male relative from Hayes paternal line.
Miranda recoiled.
Not incest biologically with Miranda, but unauthorized family donor. Dark.
“Why?”
“So Evelyn could claim Rose was biologically Hayes.”
The secret was no longer simply divorce fraud.
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It was a family obsession with bloodline so extreme they had stolen Miranda’s reproductive autonomy to manufacture an heir.
And Evelyn Hayes had orchestrated it.
