Chapter 12 - The Lie About Noah
Ethan recoiled.
“What?”
Richard’s eyes closed.
Doctors pushed Ethan back.
“We need space.”
“No. Dad!”
But Richard was already being rushed toward an ambulance.
Maya touched Ethan’s arm.
“Maybe he’s confused.”
“He said Noah is hers.”
“He’s been drugged for months.”
Ethan looked at Noah.
The baby rested quietly against his chest.
Claire had carried Noah.
Maya remembered the pregnancy.
The nursery.
The baby shower.
Everything.
It made no sense.
At the hospital, they searched Richard’s private files.
Brooks found a sealed envelope inside his briefcase.
It contained fertility clinic records.
Ethan read them twice.
Then handed them to Maya.
Years earlier, Claire and Ethan had struggled to have a child.
They used IVF.
One embryo became Noah.
But Vanessa Hart had once worked as an administrator at the fertility clinic.
“She had access,” Maya whispered.
Brooks nodded.
The records showed an unauthorized change to Claire’s file.
A second genetic profile had been entered.
Vanessa’s.
Ethan stared.
“No.”
Maya kept reading.
Noah was genetically Ethan’s son.
But the maternal DNA listed in a hidden lab report did not match Claire.
It matched Vanessa.
Ethan sat down.
“She switched Claire’s embryo?”
Brooks shook his head.
“Looks like Vanessa used her own egg with Ethan’s stored sample.”
Maya’s stomach turned.
Without Ethan’s knowledge.
Without Claire’s knowledge.
Vanessa had arranged for Claire to carry a child genetically belonging to Vanessa and Ethan.
Ethan looked physically sick.
“She planned this before Noah was born.”
Maya nodded.
“And Claire discovered it.”
That explained everything.
Vanessa didn’t just want control of a company.
She wanted the child.
A child she had secretly created.
Ethan whispered, “Why would Claire keep this from me?”
Maya knew.
“Because she loved Noah.”
He looked at her.
“She was afraid you’d see him differently.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“She didn’t know that.”
Ethan covered his face.
A nurse entered.
“Mr. Cole?”
He looked up.
“Your father is awake.”
Richard was weak.
But lucid.
Ethan stood beside his bed.
“Tell me everything.”
Richard cried.
Maya had never imagined a man like Richard Cole crying.
“I knew about the money,” he whispered. “I knew Vanessa wanted control. I thought I could use her to push you out for a year.”
“You helped destroy my marriage.”
“I didn’t know she killed Claire.”
“But you knew about Noah.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before he was born.”
Ethan stepped back as though struck.
“You knew?”
“I thought Vanessa would disappear if we paid her.”
“She didn’t.”
“No.”
Richard looked toward the door.
“She said Noah belonged to her.”
Ethan clenched his jaw.
“He belongs to himself.”
Richard nodded weakly.
“And she’ll never stop.”
Maya’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Vanessa’s voice whispered:
“He was mine before Claire ever held him.”
Maya looked toward Ethan.
May you like
Vanessa continued.
“And tomorrow morning, the whole world is going to know.”
