Chapter 3 - Case 4471
Ethan and Claire had created six embryos three years earlier.
Not twelve.
Not dozens.
Six.
Two were genetically unsuitable for transfer.
One failed to develop.
Three were frozen.
Claire’s first transfer failed.
A second embryo remained in storage.
The third was transferred into Claire eight months earlier.
That was the child she now carried.
Every document Ethan possessed supported that history.
So where did Sarah’s embryo come from?
St. Catherine initially claimed Sarah's gestational pregnancy had nothing to do with Bennetts.
Confidentiality prevented identifying intended parents.
Then police obtained emergency court order after Sarah produced paperwork with identical case number.
The clinic changed position.
“Administrative duplication.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“You accidentally gave two pregnancies same case number?”
Clinic counsel answered carefully:
“That possibility is being investigated.”
Claire asked for embryo inventory.
St. Catherine produced ledger:
4471-A — transferred to Claire Bennett.
4471-B — research-discard designation.
Claire stared.
“Discard?”
B was recorded nonviable and destroyed two years earlier.
Yet Sarah had delivered a newborn tagged B.
Either record false...
or Baby B was not from Bennett embryo.
Independent DNA could answer.
Ethan immediately consented.
Claire too.
Sarah consented on infant’s behalf only after temporary legal guardian approved testing.
Results would take time.
Eleanor seemed terrified of them.
That made Ethan suspicious.
“You know what they’ll show.”
“No.”
“You knew Baby B existed.”
“I knew Sarah existed.”
“How?”
Eleanor sat down.
She had served on St. Catherine charitable advisory board seven years earlier.
Not medical board.
Not owner.
Not fertility specialist.
But she maintained relationships.
Three weeks earlier, former embryology technician named Melissa Grant contacted her.
Melissa wrote:
CASE 4471 HAS TWO LIVE OUTCOMES.
Eleanor thought scam.
Then Melissa sent Sarah’s pregnancy authorization.
It bore Claire’s case number.
Eleanor confronted clinic administrator Dr. Martin Keene.
Keene said duplicate was paperwork error.
Then Melissa disappeared from contact.
Not physically.
She resigned and stopped answering Eleanor.
Eleanor hired private investigator.
He found Sarah.
Eight months pregnant.
Sarah herself believed intended parents were anonymous married couple represented through St. Catherine donor program.
She had no idea Bennett name was attached.
Then why hide Sarah in mansion?
Claire did that.
Yesterday Claire met Sarah secretly after Eleanor finally confessed.
Sarah went into labor unexpectedly that evening.
She delivered at independent hospital.
Baby was discharged? Four days later impossible if delivered last night. Need fix timeline. Sarah delivered four days ago, Claire learned yesterday after Eleanor found her. She brought Sarah and newborn to mansion for one night while attorneys prepared emergency filing.
Claire told no Ethan because he had been overseas at company conference and was returning that evening.
She wanted DNA confirmation before detonating family.
Ethan was furious.
“You decided I shouldn't know another baby might be mine?”
Claire cried.
“I didn't know if she was.”
“You could have told me uncertainty.”
“Yes.”
She did not defend silence.
Then one mystery sharpened.
Sarah’s baby had been born at thirty-eight weeks.
Claire was thirty-four weeks pregnant.
The pregnancies began approximately four weeks apart.
They could not be biological twins in ordinary obstetric sense.
So “Baby A” and “Baby B” were not twins.
They were two separately transferred embryos linked under one case.
Who authorized second transfer?
Sarah produced consent.
Intended father signature:
ETHAN BENNETT.
Ethan stared.
Forgery.
Or something he had unknowingly signed.
Then Claire whispered:
“I've seen that signature before.”
“Where?”
“On my transfer authorization.”
The signatures were identical.
Not merely similar.
May you like
Identical down to pen hesitation.
One of them had been copied.
