Chapter 5
I didn't sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Damon's notebook.
Payment complete after successful birth.
By morning, fear had turned into anger.
I was done being confused.
Done being frightened.
Done letting Damon control what I knew.
Detective Sloan arrived just after breakfast.
“We contacted Riverside Reproductive Health.”
“And?”
“The clinic closed four months ago.”
Dad swore under his breath.
“Where's Dr. Vale?”
“Missing.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“He hasn't been seen at his registered address in several weeks.”
Dad paced beside the window.
“So Damon was working with a doctor who disappeared.”
Sloan continued.
“We're obtaining records from the company that owned the clinic.”
“Will they show what happened to me?”
“If records still exist.”
I looked toward my phone.
Lacey had sent six messages overnight.
The newest one said:
I need to meet you. I have something Damon gave me.
Dad immediately refused.
“No.”
“I need to know.”
“She watched him lock you in a kennel.”
“I know.”
“She laughed.”
“I know.”
“Then why would you trust her?”
“I don't.”
I showed the message to Sloan.
“But she may have evidence.”
Sloan arranged a controlled meeting in the hospital cafeteria.
Lacey arrived an hour later wearing borrowed jeans and a sweatshirt.
Without makeup and without my robe, she looked younger.
And terrified.
Dad stood when she approached.
“Don't come near my daughter.”
Lacey stopped.
“I deserve that.”
“Yes, you do.”
I stared at her.
“Sit down.”
She sat across from me.
Her hands shook.
“I didn't know most of it.”
“You knew he was married.”
“He told me you were separated.”
“You slept in my bed.”
Her eyes dropped.
“He told me you moved out.”
“You saw me in the house.”
“He said you refused to accept the divorce.”
Anger burned through me.
“You watched him put me in a kennel.”
Lacey swallowed.
“I thought he was scaring you for a minute. Then your father arrived.”
“You laughed.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I was trying to impress Damon.”
“That doesn't make it better.”
“I know.”
For once, she didn't defend herself.
Detective Sloan leaned forward.
“What did Damon give you?”
Lacey reached into her bag.
Dad tensed.
She removed a small black flash drive.
“Three weeks ago, Damon gave me this and said if anything happened to him, I should take it to his mother.”
“Did you open it?” Sloan asked.
“No.”
“Why bring it here?”
“Because last night Elaine came to my apartment.”
My skin prickled.
“What happened?”
“She wanted the drive.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“No.”
Lacey looked at me.
“She said you were dangerous. She said Damon had spent months preparing to protect himself from you.”
Dad laughed bitterly.
“Protect himself?”
“Then she offered me twenty thousand dollars.”
“For the drive?”
Lacey nodded.
“I realized whatever was on it mattered more than Damon had told me.”
Sloan took the drive as evidence.
Before Lacey left, I asked one more question.
“Did Damon ever talk about my baby?”
Her face changed.
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He said she was the reason everything had to happen before September.”
My blood went cold.
My due date was September 18.
“Anything else?”
Lacey hesitated.
“Once he got drunk.”
Dad stared at her.
“What did he say?”
“He said the baby was his ticket into your family forever.”
I felt sick.
“Did he say she was biologically his?”
Lacey shook her head.
“He said biology wasn't what mattered.”
Silence.
Detective Sloan leaned closer.
“What exactly did he say?”
Lacey closed her eyes, remembering.
“He said, ‘Once Claire gives birth, nobody can undo what I did.’”
My hand gripped the edge of the table.
Later that afternoon, Sloan returned with news about the flash drive.
It contained scanned financial documents.
Emails.
Recordings.
And one video.
Damon had apparently recorded a meeting in case Dr. Vale ever betrayed him.
Sloan couldn't show me everything because it was evidence.
But she told me enough.
Damon had paid Vale.
Not to help us conceive.
To manipulate the process.
My voice shook.
“Manipulate how?”
Sloan took a breath.
“The records indicate Damon believed he was infertile.”
Dad stared at her.
I couldn't move.
“He knew?”
“For almost two years.”
“Then whose biological material was used?”
“We don't know yet.”
My baby kicked.
I pressed both hands against her.
Detective Sloan looked down at the file.
“But Damon apparently knew the answer.”
She slid a printed email toward me.
It was from Dr. Vale.
One line was highlighted.
The selected donor has been confirmed according to your instructions.
May you like
Below it was Damon's reply.
Make sure Claire never learns who he is.
