Chapter 3 - The Secret in Caleb’s File
Caleb looked impossibly small beneath the hospital blanket.
Emma stood beside his bed while medication ran through the IV.
“His heart rate is coming down.”
“How long until the fever breaks?”
“It could take time.”
I touched Caleb’s forehead.
Still hot.
“Come on, buddy.”
Emma watched me.
“What?”
“You talk to him differently.”
“Than what?”
“Everyone else.”
“He’s my son.”
“I know.”
Something in her voice bothered me.
Before I could ask, another doctor entered.
“Emma, toxicology called.”
She took the report.
Her eyes narrowed.
“What did they find?”
She looked at me.
“The medication was contaminated.”
My entire body went cold.
“With what?”
“A prescription compound that could be dangerous to an infant.”
“Was it enough to kill him?”
Emma hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
“Yes.”
One word.
Everything inside me went quiet.
Marcus stood outside the glass wall.
I looked at him.
He understood immediately.
Emma caught my arm.
“Gabriel.”
I turned.
“Don’t.”
“You don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You haven’t known me for three years.”
“I knew you for seven.”
I leaned closer.
“Someone tried to kill my child.”
“And if you disappear into whatever world you live in, Caleb wakes up without his father.”
That stopped me.
She released my arm.
“Stay here.”
I looked at my son.
She was right.
I hated that she was right.
An hour later, Caleb’s fever finally began falling.
For the first time all night, I could breathe.
Emma sat at the computer reviewing his medical history.
Then she stopped.
“What?”
She turned the screen slightly away.
“Nothing.”
I stood.
“Emma.”
She closed the file.
“Who chose the egg donor?”
“The agency gave me profiles.”
“Did you select one?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever receive her full identity?”
“No.”
Her face had gone white again.
“What is happening?”
She stared at me.
“Do you remember when we were trying to have a child?”
Every muscle in my body locked.
Of course I remembered.
Two failed pregnancies.
Doctors.
Tests.
Then the night everything between us collapsed.
“Yes.”
“You remember the fertility clinic?”
“Yes.”
“Gabriel…”
She stopped.
“Say it.”
“After the second loss, we created embryos.”
My throat tightened.
“Yes.”
“We were told they were destroyed after we separated.”
I stared at her.
“What does that have to do with Caleb?”
Emma opened the medical record again.
“There’s a donor identification code attached to his conception records.”
“So?”
“I know that code.”
The room became silent.
“How?”
Her eyes filled with something I couldn’t identify.
“Because part of it is mine.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“I need confirmation.”
“Emma.”
“I’m not saying anything until we confirm it.”
“You just said—”
“I know what I said.”
She stood.
“My genetic profile from the fertility clinic had a rare carrier marker. Caleb’s chart lists the same marker from the egg source.”
I looked at the baby sleeping between us.
“No.”
“It could be coincidence.”
“You don’t believe that.”
She didn’t answer.
I stepped toward her.
“Are you telling me Caleb could be biologically yours?”
Her eyes filled.
“I’m telling you someone needs to explain how genetic material connected to me ended up in your son’s conception records.”
I couldn’t speak.
Emma covered her mouth briefly.
Then she turned away.
“Three years.”
Her voice was barely audible.
“I thought everything was gone.”
“Emma.”
She looked at Caleb.
“Was he born in February?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes closed.
I did the math backward.
The agency.
The embryo transfer.
The dates.
My anger shifted into something colder.
“This wasn’t random.”
Emma looked at me.
“No.”
“Who arranged the surrogacy?”
“My family office handled the legal process.”
“Who specifically?”
I already knew.
Dominic.
My phone rang.
Marcus.
“What?”
His voice was tight.
“Maria’s talking.”
“About what?”
“She says she didn’t contaminate the medicine.”
“Then why was she at my penthouse?”
“She was paid to switch the bottle.”
“By whom?”
“She says she never met him directly.”
“Name.”
“She received instructions through an encrypted number.”
I looked through the glass wall.
Marcus continued.
“But the payment came through a shell company.”
“Whose?”
“We traced the company.”
I waited.
Marcus spoke quietly.
“It belongs to Dominic Vale.”
Across the room, Emma watched my face.
She didn’t need to hear the call.
She already knew.
My brother had lied to Emma three years ago.
He had handled Caleb’s surrogacy.
And now his money was connected to the contaminated medicine that nearly killed my son.
I looked at Caleb.
Then at Emma.
For three years, I had believed she abandoned me.
Now I was beginning to understand something much worse.
Maybe she hadn’t left me.
May you like
Maybe someone had removed her.
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