Chapter 3 - THE LIE THAT BROKE US
:
Adrian didn't let his mother leave.
Security blocked the hallway.
Eleanor remained strangely calm.
Too calm.
I stared at her.
“You knew I was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I was carrying twins.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Adrian was the father.”
“Yes.”
My hands shook.
“Then why did you make him hate me?”
Eleanor glanced at Adrian.
“Because he needed to believe you were capable of betrayal.”
Adrian's jaw clenched.
“You fabricated everything.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“For the same reason I built the Whitmore empire.”
“Power?”
“Survival.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You call destroying people's lives survival?”
She looked at me.
“My father nearly lost everything because he trusted someone outside the family.”
“Who?”
“My sister.”
Adrian frowned.
“Your aunt?”
Eleanor nodded.
“She stole proprietary research from us.”
My heart tightened.
“This is about your company.”
“No.”
She pointed toward the twins.
“It is about what your family gave ours.”
I stared at her.
“What did my family ever give you?”
She hesitated.
“Your mother.”
The room went silent.
I felt something strange.
“My mother?”
Eleanor continued.
“She worked at Whitmore Medical when she was young.”
I frowned.
“My mother was a nurse.”
“She was also part of a clinical research program.”
I stared.
“What program?”
Eleanor looked at Adrian.
“The original fertility study.”
Adrian went pale.
I whispered:
“What fertility study?”
Eleanor finally revealed it.
Sixteen years ago, the Whitmore family had secretly funded a reproductive medicine program.
It studied inherited cardiac conditions.
The goal was to identify embryos carrying a particular genetic marker.
A marker linked to heart disease.
But the program had been shut down after a patient died.
I looked at my son.
“Are you saying my babies were part of this?”
“No.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“They were created naturally.”
“Then why do they have the marker?”
“Because the marker comes from Adrian.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“You inherited it.”
He stared.
“I've never been sick.”
“Because you're a carrier.”
She looked at the babies.
“One of them inherited the dominant variant.”
I swallowed.
“Which one?”
She didn't answer.
I looked at Adrian.
“Does your family know how to treat it?”
“We don't know yet.”
Eleanor smiled.
“Yes, we do.”
Adrian turned.
“You do?”
“We developed a treatment.”
My heart surged.
“Then save my son.”
Eleanor's expression became cold.
“Under Whitmore control.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“The treatment is not available publicly.”
“You're holding medicine hostage?”
“I am protecting proprietary research.”
“That's my child.”
“You can either accept the trust agreement or watch him become progressively ill.”
Adrian stepped toward her.
“You're threatening our son.”
“I am offering you a choice.”
He looked at me.
I could see something breaking inside him.
For years, he had believed his mother's decisions came from love.
Now he was seeing what her love actually meant.
Control.
I picked up my son.
“You will never use him.”
Eleanor smiled.
“Then he may never receive the treatment.”
She walked toward the door.
Adrian stopped her.
“You're not taking him.”
She turned.
“You still don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
“The treatment isn't why I need him.”
She looked at me.
“The treatment is why everyone else is searching for him.”
I felt cold.
“Who?”
She didn't answer.
Then the hospital lights went out.
The monitors beeped.
Security alarms erupted.
Someone shouted from the corridor.
“LOCKDOWN!”
Adrian grabbed my shoulder.
“Stay with me.”
A loud crash came from the nursery.
Then another.
I screamed.
“My babies!”
We rushed toward the nursery.
A window was shattered.
One bassinet was overturned.
My daughter was still there.
But my son—
was gone.
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
Adrian stared at the empty bassinet.
His face shattered.
“Naomi…”
A security guard ran in.
“Doctor, someone accessed the service elevator.”
“How many?” Adrian shouted.
“One.”
“Who?”
The guard handed him a security still.
A woman.
Dark coat.
Medical mask.
Carrying the baby.
Eleanor looked at the image.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared in her eyes.
Adrian turned.
“You know her.”
Eleanor whispered:
“She was my research partner.”
“Who?”
Eleanor stared at the screen.
“Dr. Rebecca Shaw.”
May you like
Then she looked at me.
“And if she has the boy, we're all in danger.”
