Chapter 10 - Before Richard
The files on Martin’s computer reached back more than twelve years.
Before Maya.
Before Richard and Caroline’s wedding.
Before Richard had even met Caroline.
The earliest file contained surveillance photographs of Caroline leaving a biotechnology conference.
Another showed her meeting Victoria.
Richard struggled to understand.
Caroline had told him she met Victoria only after discovering the donor connection.
That had been a lie.
Alan recovered deleted emails.
Caroline and Victoria had once been friends.
Close friends.
They had attended graduate school together.
Victoria had never mentioned it.
Neither had Caroline.
Richard listened to another recovered recording from Caroline.
This one was dated six months before her death.
“I should have told Richard everything before we married.”
“He deserves to hate me for that.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Caroline continued.
“When Victoria offered embryos through the program, I knew.”
“I knew exactly whose they were.”
Richard stood abruptly.
He felt betrayed even though Caroline was dead.
She had knowingly chosen Victoria’s embryo.
Why?
The recording answered.
“I believed I was saving them.”
“Victoria was desperate for money.”
“She said the embryos would go to strangers.”
“I thought if Richard and I used one, at least one child would grow up safe.”
Richard covered his mouth.
Caroline had not deceived him for money.
She had made an impossible decision without telling him.
But there was more.
“Years later Victoria discovered Harrison’s trust.”
“That was when Maya became valuable to her.”
“She wanted her back.”
“She said blood gave her rights.”
“I told her blood gave her nothing.”
Richard replayed that sentence.
Blood gave her nothing.
The same message Caroline had later taught Maya.
Alan found the next file.
Caroline describing Edmund.
“Richard’s father learned about Maya’s genetics.”
“He demanded that Victoria stay silent.”
“Not to protect Maya.”
“To protect the Hale name.”
“He paid her.”
“When she demanded more, Edmund involved Martin.”
That arrangement created the criminal partnership.
Money.
Blackmail.
Forgery.
And eventually murder.
Richard’s grief changed shape.
He had spent years believing Caroline died from illness.
Now he knew she had spent her final months fighting alone to protect Maya.
And she had hidden the truth from Richard because she no longer knew whom to trust.
Including David.
Including Edmund.
Maybe even Richard himself.
Then police made progress.
Martin’s laptop had connected to a private network six hours earlier.
The IP address led to an abandoned boarding school in Pennsylvania.
SWAT teams surrounded it.
Richard waited outside with Grant.
Rooms were cleared.
One by one.
Empty.
Then an officer called over the radio.
“We found a child.”
Richard stopped breathing.
He ran despite Grant shouting behind him.
Inside a second-floor classroom, Maya sat on a mattress.
She was alone.
Richard dropped to his knees.
Maya ran into him.
He held her so tightly she finally whispered, “Daddy, I can’t breathe.”
He loosened his arms.
“I’m sorry.”
She smiled weakly.
“I knew you’d come.”
Martin was gone.
But Maya had heard him speaking to someone before he left.
“Do you remember what he said?”
Maya nodded.
“He said Victoria messed everything up.”
“What else?”
“He said he was going to fix the Caroline problem.”
Richard and Grant exchanged a look.
Caroline was dead.
Then Maya added something.
“He also said Caroline wasn’t supposed to die.”
Richard froze.
“What exactly did he say?”
Maya thought carefully.
“He said, ‘Victoria wasn’t supposed to kill Caroline.’”
That sentence changed the investigation.
Martin had not ordered Caroline’s death.
Victoria had acted alone.
Which meant Martin wanted something Caroline possessed.
Something he still had not recovered.
Richard returned to the safe-deposit materials.
Three envelopes had been inside.
He had opened only one.
The second envelope was addressed to MAYA WHEN SHE IS OLD ENOUGH.
The third had no name.
Only a date.
The date of Richard and Caroline’s wedding.
Richard opened it.
Inside was a marriage certificate.
But not Richard’s.
Caroline’s.
Dated two years before Richard met her.
The spouse’s name was printed clearly.
May you like
Martin Cross.
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