Chapter 6 - The Missing Embryo
By morning, the second embryo had become another ghost in my house.
Marco wanted to focus on Vittorio.
I couldn't.
Somewhere in the world, there might be another child carrying Sofia's blood and mine.
Or the embryo had been destroyed.
Or sold.
Or used for something worse.
The clinic claimed its historical records were incomplete.
I sent attorneys.
Then investigators.
By noon, we had a name.
Dr. Evelyn Hart.
The embryologist who authorized the release.
She had retired to Wisconsin.
We found her before Vittorio could.
She agreed to meet at a public hotel with cameras everywhere.
When I showed her Sofia's photograph, she started crying.
“I knew this day would come.”
I leaned forward.
“Where is the embryo?”
“I don't know.”
“That's not good enough.”
“I never transferred it.”
Marco frowned.
“The paperwork has your signature.”
“Forged.”
She explained that after Sofia's death, someone arrived with court documents authorizing disposal of all stored genetic material.
Dr. Hart became suspicious.
Sofia had left private instructions contradicting that order.
So Hart secretly relocated the second embryo to a separate facility.
“Who knew?”
“Only Sofia's attorney and me.”
“Then how was it removed?”
She swallowed.
“Because someone came with the correct authorization code.”
“What code?”
“A phrase.”
She looked at me.
“Four birds beneath one roof.”
I froze.
Elena called the boys her little birds.
Only people inside Sofia's circle would know that phrase.
“Who collected it?”
“A woman.”
“Name.”
“She identified herself as Elena Ruiz.”
I stood.
Elena had told me nothing about a second embryo.
Marco called the mansion.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
We drove back at a speed that would have terrified anyone else.
The mansion was secure.
The boys were safe.
Elena was gone.
Her bedroom had been emptied.
Not entirely.
Clothes remained.
Pictures remained.
But her passport was missing.
So was the metal case containing Sofia's original medical files.
On the pillow lay a note.
Alejandro,
Do not come looking for me until you understand what Sofia asked me to protect.
I felt betrayed all over again.
Then Luca walked into the room.
“Elena went to get Ana.”
I turned.
“Who is Ana?”
He shrugged.
“Ana.”
“Is she a friend?”
“Our sister.”
The world stopped.
Marco stared at him.
“What did you say?”
“Our sister Ana.”
The four boys knew.
Elena had kept another child from me.
“Where is she?”
Matteo answered.
“She lives with Auntie Isabel.”
The surrogate.
Elena's niece.
We found Isabel outside Milwaukee.
Elena was there.
So was a little girl sitting on the porch steps holding a red ball.
She was four.
Dark hair.
Sofia's eyes.
My mouth went dry.
Elena stepped between us.
“Alejandro, please listen before you get angry.”
“You took the second embryo.”
“No.”
“Then who is she?”
Isabel came forward.
“Ana is mine.”
I stared.
She explained.
When the embryo split into quadruplets, the pregnancy became dangerous.
Doctors advised against carrying another embryo later.
Sofia's second embryo remained frozen.
Months after the boys were born, someone tried to obtain it.
Dr. Hart contacted Elena.
Elena panicked.
She moved it again.
Eventually, Isabel volunteered to carry it.
“You implanted my child without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elena's eyes filled.
“Because Sofia wrote that if the second embryo survived, the child should never be raised inside the Moretti world.”
Ana watched us.
I couldn't breathe.
Five children.
I had five children.
“Why separate her from her brothers?”
“To make sure if someone found one group, they didn't find everyone.”
I turned away.
The logic was brutal.
And effective.
“Does Vittorio know about her?”
“No.”
“Then he cannot.”
Elena nodded.
That was when Ana stood.
She walked toward me carefully.
“You're Alejandro?”
I knelt.
“Yes.”
“Elena said you were scary.”
Elena looked embarrassed.
Ana continued.
“But only to bad people.”
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
Then she held out the red ball.
“Can you catch?”
I took it.
“Yes.”
For ten minutes, I threw a ball with the daughter I hadn't known existed.
Then Marco's phone rang.
His face changed instantly.
“What?”
He walked away to listen.
When he returned, his jaw was tight.
“Vittorio requested a family council tonight.”
“Why?”
“He says he has proof that you violated the Continuity Trust.”
“How?”
Marco looked at Ana.
“He knows about the children.”
“All of them?”
“No.”
May you like
He swallowed.
“He believes there are six.”
