Chapter 5 - Daniel Asked the Question Emily Feared MostThe hospital went into security lockdown.
No one entered the maternity floor without identification.
Police searched entrances.
Cameras.
Parking structures.
No Adrian.
The newborn bracelet was authentic hospital stock.
Someone had printed it using an internal machine.
That meant either Adrian had entered—
Or someone inside was helping him.
Emily stared at the bracelet inside an evidence bag.
BABY CROSS.
Her stomach turned.
Daniel stood beside the window.
Silent.
Too silent.
“Say it.”
He looked back.
“What?”
“The question.”
“I don’t have one.”
“You do.”
Daniel rubbed both hands across his face.
Emily felt tears coming.
“Ask.”
He sat beside her.
“Did anything ever happen with Adrian after we met?”
“No.”
“After you married me?”
“No.”
“After we started IVF?”
“No.”
“Did you ever speak to him?”
“No.”
“Then I believe you.”
Emily stared.
“That easy?”
“No.”
He looked exhausted.
“But either I trust my wife or I let a stalker control our marriage.”
Emily reached for his hand.
Then Daniel asked:
“Do you want the DNA test?”
There it was.
The real question.
Emily swallowed.
“Yes.”
Daniel’s eyes tightened.
“You do?”
“I need to know what he did.”
Daniel nodded.
“So do I.”
The contractions slowed again by morning.
Doctors believed Emily might remain pregnant for days.
Maybe longer.
Her water had broken, but labor did not immediately progress.
She stayed hospitalized.
Police began investigating Adrian.
His history was disturbing.
Brilliant academic record.
Genetics.
Fertility research.
A career damaged by complaints about boundaries.
He had left Boston after Emily’s restraining order.
He later consulted for several clinics.
Then disappeared professionally eighteen months earlier.
No current employer.
No listed address.
His financial records revealed something else.
Payments.
Large ones.
Coming from a Nevada corporation.
The same corporation that sent Margaret $500,000.
Daniel stared at the report.
“So Adrian didn’t pay her.”
Detective Alicia Monroe shook her head.
“Not personally.”
“Who owns the corporation?”
“Layered ownership.”
“Meaning?”
“Someone is hiding behind it.”
Emily looked at Margaret.
Margaret sat across the room under police supervision.
“You said the caller was Adrian.”
“I assumed.”
“Did you recognize his voice?”
Margaret hesitated.
“No.”
Emily’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“He said something about Boston.”
“That was when I spoke to him.”
Margaret frowned.
“The voice outside the barn sounded different.”
Daniel turned.
“Different how?”
“Younger.”
Emily stared.
“Then the unknown caller wasn’t Adrian?”
Margaret shook her head slowly.
“Maybe not.”
Detective Monroe leaned forward.
“Walk us through every call.”
Margaret did.
The first man paid her.
Calm voice.
Older.
Controlled.
He told Margaret Emily had to be frightened.
He knew Daniel’s business plans.
He knew Margaret’s resentment.
He knew details from the family trust.
Then, during the helicopter crisis, the same voice said he wanted the baby.
At the barn, Adrian appeared.
Adrian claimed the baby.
But Margaret could not swear the voices matched.
Daniel’s face darkened.
“Someone used Adrian.”
Emily whispered:
“Or Adrian is using someone.”
Monroe nodded.
“Both possibilities remain.”
Margaret looked toward Emily.
“I’m sorry.”
Emily laughed.
The sound was cold.
“You want forgiveness already?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I want you to know I didn’t know.”
“That somebody wanted to kidnap my baby?”
“Yes.”
Emily stared.
“You knew enough.”
Margaret looked down.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then went pale.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“The fertility clinic found the deleted file.”
Emily’s heart started pounding.
“And?”
Daniel sat.
“The embryo transferred to you was labeled with my genetic sample.”
Emily exhaled.
“Okay.”
“But…”
He stopped.
“What?”
“The clinic stored part of my sample for quality control.”
Emily’s entire body stiffened.
“They tested it.”
Daniel looked at her.
“The DNA doesn’t match the record from the embryo.”
Silence.
Margaret covered her mouth.
Emily whispered:
“Meaning?”
Daniel could barely say it.
“The embryo wasn’t created with my genetic material.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“No.”
Daniel held her hand.
“We don’t know whose.”
“No.”
“We’ll test the baby after birth.”
Emily pulled her hand away.
“After birth?”
“There’s no safe reason to rush invasive testing now.”
She knew he was right.
That didn’t help.
Margaret whispered:
“Adrian.”
Emily looked at her.
Margaret continued.
“If he switched Daniel’s material for his own…”
Daniel’s chair scraped backward.
“Don’t.”
Margaret stopped.
Emily’s face crumpled.
“This isn’t possible.”
Daniel sat beside her again.
“You are still her mother.”
Emily looked at him.
“Her?”
He almost smiled.
“I’ve always thought girl.”
“You said boy yesterday.”
“I panicked.”
For one second, they laughed.
Then the room door opened.
Detective Monroe entered carrying another file.
“We identified the Nevada corporation’s beneficial owner.”
Daniel stood.
“Who?”
Monroe looked uncomfortable.
“Not Adrian Cross.”
“Then who?”
She turned the file around.
Daniel’s face went completely blank.
Emily saw the name.
And stopped breathing.
MICHAEL WHITMORE.
May you like
Daniel’s older brother.
The brother who had supposedly died six years earlier.
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