Chapter 5 - Noah's MotherAdrian moved so quickly Catherine nearly dropped her glass.
“What about my wife?”
Catherine didn't answer.
His wife, Claire Sterling, had died six years earlier.
Cancer.
Aggressive ovarian cancer discovered eight months after Noah's birth.
Fourteen brutal months of treatment.
Adrian had watched her disappear piece by piece.
She died when Noah was twenty months old.
Nothing about Claire's death had ever seemed mysterious.
Until now.
“What happened to Claire?” Adrian repeated.
Catherine looked at Vivian.
“Ask your mother.”
Adrian turned.
Vivian's face had gone gray.
Scarlett stared at the red paper.
“I don't understand this.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Neither do I.”
“I never donated eggs.”
Catherine tilted her head.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Ever undergo fertility treatment?”
Scarlett froze.
Richard looked toward her.
“Scarlett?”
Her voice became smaller.
“When I was twenty-six.”
Adrian calculated.
Eight years ago.
Noah was seven.
Scarlett continued.
“I froze eggs.”
“Where?”
“St. Matthew's.”
Adrian's blood went cold.
Scarlett closed her eyes.
“Oh God.”
Catherine said quietly:
“Now we're getting somewhere.”
Scarlett faced Vivian.
“You knew.”
Vivian didn't answer.
Scarlett's voice rose.
“You knew I froze eggs.”
“I had access to medical information through the family foundation.”
Richard stared at Vivian.
“You stole her genetic material?”
“Don't be ridiculous.”
Adrian held up the torn page.
“Then explain this.”
Vivian looked around the ballroom.
The remaining people were family and Marcus.
No audience now.
No reason to perform.
When she finally spoke, her voice was tired.
“Claire couldn't conceive.”
Adrian stared.
“We knew that.”
Claire had undergone several procedures before Noah.
Then one day she became pregnant.
Doctors called it an extraordinary success after IVF.
They'd been grateful.
Ecstatic.
Adrian had never asked whose eggs were used because he had no reason to.
Claire's eggs.
Obviously.
Except maybe not.
Vivian continued.
“Her final IVF cycle failed before transfer.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“She didn't tell you.”
“You're lying.”
“She was devastated.”
“Stop.”
“She came to me.”
Adrian felt sick.
“Claire hated asking you for anything.”
“Yes.”
Vivian's mouth tightened.
“But she wanted a child more than she hated me.”
Scarlett whispered:
“What did you do?”
Vivian looked at her.
“I helped her.”
Scarlett stepped back.
“You used my eggs?”
“You had abandoned the storage fees.”
“No, I hadn't.”
“The clinic was acquired by a Sterling Foundation affiliate.”
Scarlett's eyes widened.
Richard looked murderous.
Vivian continued.
“Your reproductive material became part of a disputed storage inventory.”
“You stole my eggs.”
“I arranged a transfer.”
Scarlett laughed in disbelief.
“Without my consent.”
Vivian said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Adrian looked at the red page.
“Noah…”
He couldn't finish.
Scarlett stared at the boy.
Noah watched everyone with frightened confusion.
Adrian immediately moved to him.
Whatever the biology said, nothing changed.
Nothing.
He crouched.
“Hey.”
Noah looked at him.
“Are you mad?”
“No.”
“Did I do something?”
“No.”
Adrian held his face gently.
“You didn't do anything.”
“Is she my mom?”
The question shattered the room.
Scarlett covered her mouth.
Adrian felt tears burn behind his eyes.
He chose each word carefully.
“Claire was your mom.”
Noah looked toward Scarlett.
“Then what is she?”
Adrian swallowed.
“We're still figuring that out.”
Noah nodded because children sometimes accepted temporary uncertainty better than adults.
Adrian stood and faced Vivian.
“Did Claire know?”
“Yes.”
Scarlett whispered:
“She agreed to this?”
Vivian hesitated.
“Yes.”
Catherine laughed.
Vivian turned.
“What?”
“You always add one lie too many.”
Adrian looked at Catherine.
“What do you mean?”
Catherine set down the glass.
“Claire did not know the eggs were Scarlett's.”
Silence.
“She thought they came from an anonymous donor.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Vivian said:
“She wanted anonymity.”
Scarlett shouted:
“I DIDN'T DONATE THEM!”
Noah flinched.
Scarlett immediately lowered her voice.
“I'm sorry.”
She turned away, crying.
Richard moved toward her but stopped before touching her.
Scarlett looked at him.
“Don't.”
He obeyed.
Adrian stared at Vivian.
“Why Scarlett?”
“Compatibility.”
“Don't give me medical language.”
Vivian said nothing.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Why?”
Catherine answered for her.
“Because Vivian wanted a Sterling child.”
Adrian frowned.
“I am a Sterling.”
“Biologically, yes.”
“But Claire wasn't.”
Catherine nodded.
“Vivian wanted Noah's bloodline tied entirely to Richard's family.”
Richard looked disgusted.
“Scarlett is my daughter.”
“Exactly.”
Adrian understood.
Scarlett carried Richard Sterling's genetics.
Adrian carried Richard Sterling's genetics.
A child created from Adrian and Scarlett's egg—
Adrian went pale.
“Jesus Christ.”
Scarlett looked physically ill.
Although Adrian and Scarlett had never grown up as siblings, biologically they were half-siblings.
Noah had been conceived using genetic material from two children of the same father.
“No.”
Adrian looked at Vivian.
“You knew.”
Vivian's composure cracked.
“It wasn't supposed to happen that way.”
“What?”
“I didn't know Scarlett was Richard's daughter at the time.”
Scarlett stared.
“You said you knew before I was born.”
Vivian stopped.
Another lie.
Richard stepped forward.
“You knew.”
Vivian looked away.
“You knew exactly who Scarlett was.”
Adrian's stomach twisted.
“What did you do?”
Vivian's eyes filled for the first time.
Not fake tears.
Something worse.
Shame.
“Claire was already pregnant when I confirmed the truth.”
Adrian stared.
“And you said nothing.”
“I couldn't.”
“You let us have Noah without telling us?”
“I was protecting him.”
“Protecting him from what? The truth?”
“The scandal.”
Adrian laughed in disbelief.
Always the same word.
Family.
Scandal.
Reputation.
Catherine opened her handbag.
“I brought something.”
Vivian's eyes snapped toward it.
“Don't.”
Catherine removed a second envelope.
“This was Claire's.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
“She gave it to me three weeks before she died.”
His heart stopped.
“Why didn't you give it to me?”
“Because Vivian threatened to destroy you financially if I did.”
Adrian stared at Catherine.
“And that worked?”
“For a while.”
She held out the envelope.
“Not anymore.”
Adrian took it.
Claire's handwriting.
His name.
He opened it.
Inside were eight pages.
The first line made his knees weak.
Adrian,
If you're reading this, I'm gone, and your mother can no longer stop me from telling you what she did to Noah.
He looked at Vivian.
She whispered:
“Claire was sick.”
Adrian ignored her.
He kept reading.
Halfway down the second page, his face changed.
Scarlett saw it.
“What?”
Adrian couldn't speak.
Claire had discovered the truth about Scarlett's eggs shortly after Noah's first birthday.
She confronted Vivian.
Vivian threatened her.
Not financially.
With Noah.
According to Claire, Vivian had secretly arranged documents establishing that Claire had knowingly participated in an illegal fertility procedure.
If exposed, Vivian claimed Adrian could lose custody during the scandal.
Claire had been terrified.
Then came the final paragraph.
Three days after I confronted Vivian, I became ill.
At first doctors believed it was exhaustion.
Then they found the cancer.
I have no proof your mother caused it.
But there is one thing I never told the doctors.
Before I became sick, Vivian gave me medication from a private clinic.
She said it would help stabilize my hormones.
Adrian stopped.
Marcus stepped closer.
“What medication?”
Adrian handed him the page.
Marcus read.
His face changed.
“This name…”
“What?”
Marcus looked at Vivian.
“Where did you get this?”
Vivian backed away.
Adrian's voice became dangerously quiet.
“What was in those pills?”
Marcus looked at him.
“I don't know.”
Then Catherine said:
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
She reached into her bag again.
And placed a small amber prescription bottle on the table.
Claire Sterling.
Seven years old.
Still sealed inside an evidence pouch.
Vivian looked as if she might faint.
May you like
Catherine whispered:
“I kept one.”
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