Chapter 10 - Claire’s Letter
Lucas Ward kept the envelope for three years.
Why?
Because Corinne told him Claire's letter would destroy Ethan.
Lucas already hated Ethan without meeting him.
Corinne had described Ethan as controlling.
Cold.
Obsessed with replacing Claire.
None of that was true.
But Lucas had his own reasons to distrust the Carters.
His biological father was Samuel Reeves.
His half-sister Melissa had lost Maisie through Larkspur.
Lucas believed every wealthy Carter connected to the clinic was complicit.
Then he read Claire's letter.
He realized Ethan knew almost nothing.
Still, he stayed silent.
Why?
The letter mentioned Corinne's missing embryo child.
Lucas had spent years searching.
Eventually he found the child.
A boy.
Age eight.
Living in Colorado.
Adopted legally.
Name:
Noah Parker.
Lucas believed Noah was his biological son with Corinne.
DNA testing later confirmed it.
Corinne and Lucas's embryo had been transferred without their final authorization to a gestational carrier through an intermediary program.
The carrier believed consent was complete.
Noah's adoptive parents believed the process legal.
Another child whose life could not simply be uprooted because adults discovered paperwork problems.
Lucas chose not to tell Corinne initially because he feared she would try to take Noah.
Was that his choice to make?
No.
He admitted it.
“I thought I was protecting him.”
Ethan almost laughed.
Everyone eventually used the same sentence.
Claire's letter finally reached Ethan.
He opened it alone.
Ethan,
Maisie is not biologically ours.
But if you're reading this, don't let anyone tell you that means she is less ours in the life we gave her.
Ethan stopped.
Claire had understood before him.
The letter continued.
I found another child who may actually be ours.
A girl.
I don't know whether approaching her would save anything or only destroy the family she knows.
Please do not take her because biology says you can.
Ava.
Claire had known.
Then:
Morrow knows the clinic mixed records.
Corinne knows enough to be dangerous but not enough to be the mastermind everyone will want her to be.
Ethan stared.
Claire was warning him not to oversimplify Corinne.
Then:
If something happens to me, it may be completely unrelated. Please do not turn my death into a conspiracy unless evidence proves one.
Ethan smiled sadly.
Claire knew him.
Her death had indeed been medical.
No evidence anyone caused it.
Then the final section.
The night before Claire's embolism, she met Corinne.
Claire asked Corinne to take the evidence to Ethan if she became too ill.
Corinne promised.
Then didn't.
That betrayal was enormous.
But not murder.
Claire wrote:
Corinne is afraid because she has been told her embryos were destroyed. They weren't. She thinks Morrow can return a child to her if she stays quiet.
So Corinne's silence began years before their marriage.
Morrow had controlled her with Noah's existence.
Later Corinne found Ethan.
Did Morrow arrange that too?
Corinne said no.
They met at a museum fundraiser.
Independent records supported that.
Coincidence.
But once Morrow discovered who she was dating, he used it.
He told Corinne marrying Ethan could help her gain access to Larkspur voting shares.
Corinne stayed.
Love?
Maybe partly.
Opportunity?
Also.
Then Claire's letter ended:
The safest person in this mess may be the one nobody is watching.
Ethan frowned.
Who?
At the bottom:
Elena Price.
His house manager.
Elena.
The woman who had worked in Ethan's home for six years.
The woman who had access to Corinne.
Maisie.
The printer.
May you like
The teddy bear.
Everything.
