Chapter 11 - Rebecca
Evelyn had given birth to twins.
Melissa and Rebecca.
That was what she now admitted.
After the nightmare surrounding Ryan’s adoption, Arthur had tightened his control over Evelyn.
When she later became pregnant naturally, she delivered twin girls.
Arthur told her Rebecca died.
Evelyn believed him.
Again.
One daughter disappeared into Northstar.
One remained.
Melissa.
Sarah stared at Evelyn.
“How many children did your father take from you before you stopped believing him?”
The question destroyed her.
“Too many.”
Rebecca Hale was alive.
Raised under another name.
Rebecca Vale.
Dr. Martin Vale’s adopted daughter.
That explained the resemblance.
The footage.
The surname.
And perhaps Olivia’s disappearance.
Melissa stared at the screen.
“She knows about me?”
Thomas answered:
“Almost certainly.”
Rebecca had spent years working inside Northstar’s records division.
Dr. Vale had raised her to believe Evelyn voluntarily surrendered her.
Another manufactured grievance.
Arthur had divided a family and given each side a different story.
But Arthur was dead.
Someone living had maintained the lies.
Dr. Vale.
Before investigators could locate him, his car was found abandoned near Lake Berryessa.
Blood inside.
No body.
Rebecca disappeared too.
Then Olivia’s camera revealed another file.
Audio only.
Rebecca speaking with an unknown man.
“We don’t need Claire’s baby.”
“Then why keep Ryan focused on it?”
“Because as long as Ryan thinks the pregnancy is the secret, he never asks why Claire was chosen.”
“And why was she?”
Rebecca laughed softly.
“Ask Thomas.”
Claire looked at her father.
Again.
“Dad.”
Thomas appeared exhausted by his own secrets.
Claire had not been randomly included in Northstar as a child.
Thomas enrolled her.
Voluntarily.
“I needed money.”
Claire stared.
Her mother, Anna, had severe kidney disease.
Treatment was expensive.
Northstar paid families for long-term hereditary studies.
Thomas signed Claire into one.
He thought it was harmless.
Later he discovered the consent language gave Northstar extraordinarily broad rights over biological samples.
“I tried to withdraw you.”
“They wouldn’t let you?”
“They claimed the samples were already anonymized.”
“But they weren’t.”
“No.”
Then Claire asked:
“Did Mom know?”
Thomas looked away.
Claire understood.
“She did.”
Anna Bennett had not simply been a patient.
She worked briefly for Northstar.
Claire felt something shift.
“What did she do there?”
Thomas whispered:
“She recruited families.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Her mother died when Claire was twelve.
Another person unavailable to answer.
Then Thomas said something worse.
“Anna recruited Marianne Vale.”
Marianne looked stunned.
“What?”
“You knew my wife as Anna Brooks.”
Marianne sat down.
Twenty-eight years earlier, Anna had approached a frightened pregnant teenager named Marianne and offered free prenatal care through Northstar.
Marianne accepted.
Ryan was born.
Then taken.
Marianne whispered:
“Your mother delivered me to Arthur Hale.”
Claire stared at her father.
Thomas began:
“She didn’t know—”
“Stop saying people didn’t know.”
Silence.
Maybe Anna truly didn’t.
Maybe she did.
The only way forward was evidence.
Then Claire felt a sharp tightening across her abdomen.
She gasped.
Sarah moved instantly.
“Claire?”
Another contraction.
Too early.
Claire grabbed the table.
“My baby.”
Sarah checked the time.
Then another contraction came.
Closer.
Claire panicked.
Thomas reached for her.
She screamed:
“Don’t touch me!”
Everyone froze.
Claire breathed.
Then said:
“Hospital.”
A real hospital.
Not Northstar.
Not Dr. Vale.
Not anyone chosen by either family.
As paramedics carried her outside, Melissa’s phone rang.
Unknown caller.
Melissa answered.
Rebecca’s voice whispered:
“Sister?”
Melissa nearly dropped the phone.
“Rebecca?”
“Don’t take Claire to the hospital.”
Melissa looked at the ambulance.
“Why?”
May you like
Rebecca began crying.
“Because that’s where they’re waiting for the baby.”
